Author Archives: mmwshackproject
FAITU#12
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#12)
2007-05-03
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Martin & Wood @Langerado Music Festival, Markham Park, Sunrise, FL 2007-03-10
Source info:
2007-05-03.senn441.85121.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-7) –
– SET II (tracks 8-15) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#12)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
What we’ve got here is MMW at the opposite end of the spectrum from the 2006 acoustic gigs I’ve been seeding in my 10 YEARS AGO seeds. This show is FREAKIN’ AWESOME! The opening Improv is hot leading > a quick Bass Solo that finds us in a TRIO ONLY version of Miles Behind — and it is incredibly energetic. That energy moves forward to a fun New New Orleans, which is just always a good time. Cat Creeps was a tune we were digging but not knowing the name at this time — it’s temp name had been “Creeping” or something like that though, oddly enough! HA! That tune opens up the remaining run of the set and breaks down to an Organ Intro > Tubby (with a Drum Solo in the middle, which is unusual) > an always welcome Dracula, and a tune that doesn’t often close a set: New Planet. I dig it!
Martin @Lugano Estival Jazz, Lugano, Switzerland 2007-07-05
Fuck You Guys was brand new at this time — I think this was it’s 2nd performance, after debuting at the Fillmore in Colorado back in April. We were calling it “Fillmore Freak” for a while until somebody caught site of an onstage setlist at an MSMW gig and saw it was noted as “Fuck You” on one night and Fuck You Guys on another. Its recent release in the 20 download series confirms the title as Fuck You Guys. (Speaking of which, if you haven’t grabbed those 20 studio tracks released this past year, why the hell not?!? Go and get them, NOW!) Baby Goats was still new at this time, dubbed “New ’07” for a while, but actually originating in some Medeski trio gigs outside MMW in the summer of ’06. Back & Forth, always catching flack, was also new at this time — I totally dig the carnivalesque feel to the song, and Chris always tears it up. What’d I Say is some good blues .. but the Spy Kiss > Shackman (aka After the Onsen) and the Sugar Craft to close ends the evening on a high note for sure with Logic helping the guys create some crazy sounds through Set II.
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#11
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#11)
2008-11-19
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MMW poster 2008-11-19
Source info:
2008-11-19.fob.neumann-km140.96123.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-6) –
– SET II (tracks 7-13) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#11)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
2008, year of the Radiolarians! 3 new sets of music over 3 seasons, Winter, Summer, and Fall. MMW basically rebuilt their live repertoire and from ’08 through ’10 MMW will play exclusively Radiolarians music aside from a few exceptions. The band plays the 3 new sets of music separately during each season, and then the 3 sets of tunes mix over ’09-’10 to become their new repertoire, along with some new music from their children’s album and the Zaebos disc they recorded for Zorn’s Book of Angels series.
MMW @McDonald Theatre, Eugene, OR 2008-11-15
On this Radiolarians 3 tour some of the tunes found usual placement, but in this gig some of those usual setlist spots get shifted around. And we also get quite a treat in the encore.
– SET I –
Unlike the other Radiolarians tours, this tour the band opened gigs with the exploration of open space, which in this case finds them landing into Broken Mirror, which is a simply beautiful piece of music — check out John using the Melodica on this tune in place of some of the piano string plucking! It’s fun to go back and listen to these inaugural Radiolarians tours because the tunes hadn’t solidified into what they became in the album recording process that followed the tour and/or what the playing over the next couple of years developed. Raw honest music. Gwyra Mi is a HEAVY reggae-ish beat that often leads to a Drum Outro, but not always. Walk Back is a wonderful dancey groove, leading to some more open space (guys are itching to loosen the confines of composition, maybe?) and coming to one of my favourite Radiolarian tunes, Chantes Des Femmes. On the album this tune leads to a song that it became inseparable from over the next couple of years, and with which it was paired a few times on this tour as well, but that tune instead opens the 2nd set …
Martin & Wood @McDonald Theatre, Eugene, OR 2008-11-15
– SET II –
Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down begins, as usual, with a solo from John before hopping into the melody proper, and this is eventually the usual device used to have this song follow Chantes Des Femmes, but it’s cool to hear the solo just erupt on the spot and off we go — when Chris picks up the slide and starts in with that main melody, WHOAH! I love that sound! (Had the pleasure of catching this tune once the following year and I was standing right in front of Chris all night, so this tune was a VERY nice treat to watch him dig into that slide sound on the bass!) SYKMCD always slammed into Satan Pt.II during this R3 tour (or as I liked to call it, “Satan’s Little Helper”) and it is a great groove! They played it a handful of times in winter/spring ’09, and then it disappeared … like so many other tunes, so enjoy ’em while you hear ’em!
The rest of the set continues the onslaught of new R3 tunes, with Jean’s Scene finding the guys having a hard time keeping it together, which is interesting to hear … at least it sounds to me like they haven’t quite hooked up on the tune just yet — let’s remember this music is ONE WEEK old at this time. Bold move, these tours. Kota, like Broken Mirror, is a thing of beauty, but leaning a little on the scary side of that, a dark haunting tune, again in its early stages of development. Clifton didn’t make it onto R3 the album, but did get added as a bonus track to R2 in the Radiolarians box set that came out later in ’09. It’s a raunchy blues, nothing ground breaking, but damn it’s solid with a heavy edge I dig.
Wood & Medeski @McDonald Theatre, Eugene, OR 2008-11-15
Undone is incredible. A pop-tinged anthem of celebration. Wow. I love it. Hearing it at this point, it hasn’t quite hit its stride but you can feel it. Interesting it’s not in the closer slot, a set position it comes to inherit often over the next couple years. Wonton closes the night in fine fashion getting your head bopping and feet moving.
The encore is a treat with the cover I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, a tune you may have heard around by a number of other artists — I love the Derek Trucks Band version, myself. The tune is written by Billy Taylor and Richard Carroll Lamb (Dick Dallas), and according to Wikipedia is best known for the version by Nina Simone — check it out! It’s super nice:
… or check out Billy Taylor’s instrumental:
… I’m not sure it matters who is playing it since that melody is infectious! I’m humming it for days …
And in case anyone’s interested, or has this show but has the setlist we circulated around the time the show happened, here’s a list noting what the actual album title is for a given R3 tune and what the temp name used to be. For R3 we actually got an onstage setlist so these are the titles the band was using for reference before locking down the album titles (except for “Satan’s Little Helper”, that was my temp name — I think the band only identified “Satan” and the 2 were always paired on the tour).
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RADIOLARIANS III Tour
ALBUM TITLE = TEMP TITLE
1 Chantes Des Femmes = “Chant”
2 Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down = “Satan”
3 Kota = “Koto”
4 Undone = “Yeah”
5 Wonton = “Won Ton”
6 Walk Back = “Moose”
7 Jean’s Scene = “Mon Tum”
8 Broken Mirror = “Mancini”
9 Gwyra Mi = “Dub”
Clifton = “Clifton” (Bonus track on R2)
Satan Pt. II = “Satan’s Little Helper” (Bonus track on R3)
===============
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#10
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#10)
2003-11-01
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John Medeski 2003-08-18 @Club Laga, Pittsburgh, PA
Source info:
2003-11-01.akg482.31417.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-7) –
– SET II (tracks 8-18) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#10)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
In the interests of getting this torrent up and seeding, let me keep this short and sweet: Download it. Or stream it. That’s why I’m sharing the gig!
MMW c.2002/2003
Reasons, in case you need them:
- first known performances of both Bloody Oil and Queen Bee, in nice raw and raunchy forms, sandwiching some killer improvisation
- Improv (short) > We’re So Happy — this tune is ALWAYS worth hearing, and was kind of a treat at this time and certainly would be now
- Note Bleu > Open Improv > Church of Logic is a wonderfully delicious deep 2nd set run of music
- Hendrix Fire means there’s Smoke, interesting combo to close
- Gospel vibes close us out with I Wanna Ride You, always fun
- the rest of the show is worth your listen too, but those moments strike me
(Oh, love me some Acht O’Clock Rock too!)
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#9
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#9)
2002-04-15
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| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
MMW ticket stub 2002-04-15
Source info:
2002-04-15.fob.dpa4022.9274.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-5) –
– SET II (tracks 6-16) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#9)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
Scrambled at the last minute for this week’s FAITU pick — had a different idea that didn’t work out this week (stay tuned for next week!), but then stumbled back upon this gem from spring ’02, a tour known for its inclusion of the Uninvisible Horns led by Steven Bernstein (plays in Billy’s new-ish band Wicked Knee). However, this gig precedes the point where the horns join the tour (and the players differed a bit over the tour, with Bernstein being the only constant), but we’ve still got a couple of guests adding nice flavour to the gig. Brahim always fits nicely with the guys … I have a very neutral attitude towards DJs in general … none of them make me overly excited, and others work better than some … P Love fits fine for my tastes and there’s some fun interplay in the 2nd set with him, Brahim and illyB …
Wood & Martin c.2002/03
– SET I –
Show begins exploring the space with a nice beat from Billy and Brahim, P Love sprinkling sounds, and John and Chris making noise, albeit searching noise that settles in eventually with the 5 performers all locking into this spontaneous composition. A fine start to any evening, which moves ever so smoothly into the opening notes of Henduck. Henduck has cool percussion/DJ breakdown in the middle, with Billy kicking in on the kit at one point and we’re led back to the closing refrains of Henduck … and that pairs so well with the Lifeblood that follows — this opening Improv > Henduck > Lifeblood is exactly what you’re looking for. Check it.
The set closes in a less brooding atmosphere with the combo of Pappy Check > Partido Alto — again, so nice playful sounds from Brahim during the transition between tunes, and he fits perfectly on Partido! End set.
– SET II –
The set begins with the swirling gospel organ intro to I Wanna Ride You, and then the trip begins. Nice tight concise version of the tune gets us dancing, followed by the HEAVY groove of Uninvisible — oh, I dig that bass! — which is the beginning of a nice run taking us into another HEAVY groove in Big Time, and wrapping with the wackyness of Seven Deadlies which grows out of the usual open ending from Big Time, and that open ending has some fun sounds from Brahim.
After a brief pause we’re suddenly on Fire, MMW/Hendrix style! And where there’s fire there’s Smoke — seriously, at this time these tunes are virtually inseparable, switching their order on any given performance, but together like 99% of the time. I always liked that though, how we couldn’t have Smoke without Fire, or vice versa depending on the show.
MMW c.2002/03
Out of the Smoke a super slinky Improv emerges, maintaining that Smoke-y vibe but a substance all its own which helps open up a VERY playful mood for the remainder of the set.
The run Ten Dollar High > Percussion Improv > Percussion/DJ/Bass > Bass Solo > Shacklyn Knights > Percussion’n’DJ > Moti Mo is, once again, exactly what you’re looking for — you better download or listen to this gig! Seriously, this closing of the show involves so many wonderful moments between all 5, or just a couple players at a time, to just some solo moments. Moti Mo is the perfect closer, bringing us back to the methodic grooves that opened the show.
Then some Wiggly’s Way leaves a smile on your face … at least it does on mine.
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#8
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#8)
1999-11-14
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| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
MMW c.1999
Source info:
1999-11-14.mg-m210.117421.t-flac16
– ONE SET (tracks 1-20) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS — The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#8)
This week’s pick actually contains a version of the song Friday Afternoon In The Universe — and it’s awesome! This whole gig is fantastic, one of the tops of ’99 for sure, and it’s just one long set …
Medeski & Wood c.1999
– ONE SET –
As the guys are often prone to do, the set begins with some open space, but this quickly resolves into Going Home. This is a nice gentle groove that just keeps pulsing along with Chris carrying the melody — what happened to this song? Why didn’t they ever play this much? Is this an original or a cover tune? I’ve never been sure … I did some snooping and found songs called “Going Home” written/performed by Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Kenny G (!?), and numerous others that pre/post-date MMW’s original ’97 performance of the tune, but none of them really sound like it to me … I mean, we’re playing in blues-territory here, so maybe some of those are really all the same song-HA! Who knows! If *you* do, please speak up! Regardless, this is a great tune with some cool sections, and eventually simmers down a bit as John slides into the organ and we are served a hefty Philly Cheese Blunt rocking the usual gospel-groove. This Blunt actually expands out in slightly unusual way, taking a minor twist just before 5min, so you can really feel the hit – nice! Then things quiet down a bit as Chris pumps out that line, John drops out, and just Billy and Chris give us some further Philly news riding out the ending, unusually, with a Bass’n’Drums outro.
Afrique follows with John jumping right in on the end of Philly Cheese — just listen! The way this tune works and the way MMW manipulate that structure is sublime.
Tsukemono (literally “pickled things”) is one of the wild tunes I love off The Dropper album. When you listen to each guy separately the song just makes no sense — more so than the usual result this exercise might exhibit about any song and its musicians. It seems Chris and Billy share holding down the song proper for the most part, with John interweaving and sprinkling onto their base with the piano and the, what is that? Is that the mellotron he wields at times with those crazy symphonic fills? I think so … whatever it is, that coupled with John’s usual tearing apart of the ivories yields a VERY intense pickling session, which is boiled down to a short Piano Solo accompanied by some Bowed Bass that leads us into Seven Deadlies, so John’s sticking on piano for a while more.
Billy Martin @Seaport Atrium, New York, NY 1999-06-07
It’s occurring to me right now that Seven Deadlies is similar in structure and attack to the older tune Oscillation, yielding far different results. Both tunes build an intensive groove the boils over until the band seemingly falls apart, and then they start putting it back together again. Oscillation is soothing in this exercise; Seven Deadlies is nerve-rattling and anxiety inducing — why do I like this? HA!
A short drum beat carries us over into a Coconut Boogaloo which doesn’t boogy too long before Ancora slides in — oh, I LOVE this tune! I could Ancora everyday, all day … Ancora’s vibe is so wicked good — could listen to this over and over … and it slides into Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho to get our butts movin’ again!
Night Marchers busts out the end of HHHH, Logic joins, and the next 30min+ is just nasty! The Marchers take us into one of the weirdest versions you’ll ever hear of Where’s Sly? — like, where is he? Because this version is almost unrecognizable at times, but Sly’s there!
The wacky vibe continues as the band moves into the track bearing our series title, Friday Afternoon In the Universe — it’s nice this isn’t played often, but when it is it’s SO NICE to hear! I love how the song drifts in/out from the melody to open space and back … one of my favourite MMW compositions, hands down (This share is for you Mike V! (aka shackaholic)). Just when you think they’ve broken out into free space, the universe circles us back around to Friday’s groove … so nice …
Then listen to The Lover — what’s John doing in there in the opening? Cool sounds! (Or is that Logic??) A Bass Solo erupts out the end of The Lover and bridges us to the set’s closing tune, Chubb Sub, which is always a cool rockin’ closer.
The gospel beauty of MMW’s take on Hendrix’s Hey Joe is played the Encore, easy us out at the end of the night with a peaceful vibe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
The Shack Project 