FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#16)
1994-05-29

	MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD Homage @ Little 5 Points, Atlanta, GA Sunday, May 29, 1994 One Set: Open Improv > Vergessene Improv* > Open Improv > Shack, We’re So Happy > Friday Afternoon In The Universe, Wiggly’s Way * this improvisation centres around a melody we find popping up later in MMW’s shows: On April 14/2000 they open an acoustic show with a loose working of this melody but it’s underdeveloped and never heard from again; the song first debuted in full on April 25/2007 as part of a short acoustic tour. A version of the song from that tour was later released on the 2012 live acoustic album Free Magic with the following title: Ballade In C Minor, ‘Vergessene Seelen’. The song was then subsequently played on the Fall ’12 and Spring ’13 acoustic tours in support of the album. ‘Vergessene Seelen’ translates to “Forgotten Souls”, so I labeled this improvisation ‘Vergessene Improv’ — the forgotten improv. From 3:50-6:45 of the track is kind of a lead-in to the ‘Vergessene’ melody which comes in strong at that point and is the main theme for the following 6min or so. + “Mystery Gus” melody first introduced just past the 9min mark and solidified @10:05 of this track, might be from a real song but the only other place I’ve identified the melody is during the band’s 4 instrumental performances of the Combustication tune ‘Whatever Happened to Gus’ in early 1999 (1/14, 1/16, 3/20 & 3/23) — see The Shack Project 1999 page for links to the shows. ^ recording fades out/cuts at the end of this track leaving Set II incomplete
Trouble playing tunes?

Little Five Points, Atlanta, GA

Source info:
1994-05-29.akg414.26569.t-flac16 [TSP1994#2]

– SET I (tracks 1-5) –
– SET II incomplete (tracks 6-8) –

– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#16)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!

This show was a real treasure to listen to, by which I mean I found some special unique musical items that should prove VERY interesting for those of you interested in such stuff. I’d made some notes years ago when listening to this show and noted a couple of parts that had sounded familiar to me at the time, and then listening to this show over this past week I’ve paid fresh attention to those passages and discovered some melodies and music used here that don’t really surface again as more complete songs until years later in MMW’s performing history. Let’s dig into this week’s FAITU pick and find these treats along with the fun of hearing a young MMW in the early stages of developing their onstage explorations … this show is a perfect example of why this band is so rewarding with repeated listens, and how rich the music is …

MMW c.1994/95

– SET I –

Complete chaos! That’s how things begin — it’s MADNESS! Like they’re trying to scare the weak-hearted, thin the crowd … was there even much of a crowd? ’94 MMW in Atlanta? Sounds like a small group … this isn’t the band’s first visit to the venue though and the crowd seems engaged.

@3:50 this opening track takes on a nice funky feel — Chris’ bassline is super fun! This is the beginning of something more though, leading somewhere … to the first buried treasure my listening dug up this past week >>>

OH WOW! @6:45 the melody here that John strikes on the keys is something that eventually made it’s way into an acoustic tune, Ballade In C Minor, ‘Vergessene Seelen’, which the band didn’t debut until April 2007! That melody was sitting around that long … incredible. They bat this riff around and play inside its context for the next few minutes, getting funky and circling back to that head. Unreal … can’t believe I just found this melody — again! The only other place I’ve found it since it became an actual tune in ’07 was in the opening of an acoustic gig from April 2000, so it seemed at that point the band (or John?) felt the melody belonged more in the acoustic realm, tried it, and then left it for 7 more years before flushing out a more proper composition and arrangement, which was then released on the live acoustic album Free Magic, released in 2012, and the subsequent acoustic tours that fall in the spring of 2013 found the band just nailing Ballade In C Minor, ‘Vergessene Seelen’ and seemingly loving it. Haven’t heard from the tune since … mind you, the band’s schedule has been pretty sporadic these past few years as well … but interesting that ‘Vergessene Seelen’ translates into ‘Forgotten Souls’ because this melody is oft forgotten … anyhoo, we’re led back into more open space that gets pretty wacky for a few minutes before settling down into some calm open space with just some subdued keys, one long bowed note from Chris, and sprinkle of gentle percussive sounds from illyB … this all leads nicely into the first proper tune of the gig, 20min into the show …

Shack twinkles in, grows very smooth and organically, interrupted by the keys that closed out the preceding improvisational section, and then you’re suddenly shuffling along with the Shack groove and it feels good. The band brings the sound way down and intimate at times and then they just erupt into the celebratory groove — fun listen.

Billy lets loose with some quick scattered metallic percussive sounds before moving to the kit to drop the beat a little more proper, @1min Chris plunks in heavily and the mood is getting cheery folks … John weighs in tentatively with some sprinkles from his Clav, starts working it a bit more frenetically but still underscoring the groove that illyB & Wood are laying down … the mood is getting more ebullient yet again … tension building a bit … groove pulsing … a break here and there — will it kick in? … not yet … then just past 3min the Clav sprinkles bring in the happiness, you can feel it, but they’re still fuckin’ with us … and @4:20 (nice timing!) the swirl comes in and WE’RE SO HAPPY! And the happy feeling just keeps growing until it unravels over the last couple minutes … breaking down further and further … until it’s time for a wonderful …

Friday Afternoon In The Universe … oh yeah. Love the open tinkering that gets the piece moving — this is a composition of the utmost gravitas, if I could get serious for a moment. FAITU, also the moniker for this weekly series, is a song the band has never overplayed throughout their career and always delivers. It’s an incredible balance between that open exploration, but composed, and the discovery of a sweet, sweet riff/groove, also pre-written. But it sounds like a surprise every Friday Afternoon I spend In The MMW Universe …

MMW

Wiggly’s Way wiggles its way in, like really wiggles, and finally arrives to the full groove which still maintains this dragging pulse to it … like the beat is gonna fall behind, but doesn’t … how can it? *It’s* the beat! A great groove to wrap up the set — although you can hear the guys wonder if they’ve reached break time or not, and then, surprisingly to modern MMW listeners, John (not Billy) speaks up and introduces the band and whatnot and says they’ll be back after a break.

– SET II – INCOMPLETE

Unfortunately, we don’t have a full recording of the 2nd set, but what we do have is really great to hear and also provides the 2nd treasure I found while re-listening this past week. But first …

The set opens in fine form with a song I think we all love (you will if you don’t know it yet) and can’t understand why it fell by the wayside: PAKALOLO! Hits smooth in musical and herbal form … and always welcome. As far as we know from circulating recordings the tune debuted in spring of ’94 and was a treat from the start — this version does not disappoint.

Syeeda’s Song Flute, that oddity-to-my-ears in an MMW set, is up next and the band delivers a hard hitting version of such a sweet tune which busts out its ending into some Open Improvisation before finding a groove @5:42 on this last track which again sets the stage for a melody we don’t hear again until years later. The groove moves along and just past 9min something I’m calling “Mystery Gus” sneaks into the groove and then the melody hits in full @10:05 — WHAT IS THAT? DO YOU KNOW?! If you know, please leave a comment! The reason I call it “Mystery Gus” is because before this week I hadn’t placed that familiar melody, which I’ve now realized is a melody that John plays during instrumental takes on Whatever Happened To Gus at 4 acoustic gigs in early 1999 (1/14, 1/16, 3/20 & 3/23) — see The Shack Project 1999 page page for links to the shows.

Anyway, I’ve never been able to place that melody which I think belongs to some old jazz tune or familiar tune of some kind — it’s always eluded me. John mixes it into Gus the same way he mixes Creole Love Call into Your Name Is Snake Anthony. At this ’94 gig the melody drives the improvisation around it — or is it composed? We don’t really have enough of ’94 to know what else may have happened with this melody, or the Vergessene piece, but hearing that stuff in this gig this past week was muchos fun for this MMW addict …

enjoy the grooves,
dug

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