Blog Archives
FAITU#29
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#29)
1996-09-30 – SHACK PARTY III
 |
|
|||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
MMW mid-90s Promo
Source info:
1996-09-30.schoeps-cmc6.21608.t-flac16 [TSP1996#14]
– SET I (tracks 1-5) –
– SET II (tracks 6-12) –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#29)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
– SHACK THOUGHTS — SHACK PARTIES I-VII ’96 –
Listen to these gigs. Listen to all of these gigs — it’s the best advice I can give you. These Shack Parties, where the band played for 7 Mondays in a row at the Knitting Factory in NYC, encompass such a wide range of the band’s talents and musical interests that a summation would simply do the music an injustice. Whether you dig a certain track or guest through this run, you have to admit that each guest brings something unique to the mix which in turn causes the band to react and shift, making the music they all create something adventuresome and real for that moment only. There are also plenty of moments where it’s just the trio and you’ll love it. As they explore both groove and open space with/out guests, it is clear this is a band out to make inspired music.
Oren Bloedow’s speech during Set II of the last Shack Party puts it best … so take a listen and Shack-out with these near 20 year-old musical explorations …
MMW c.1996
– SHACK PARTY III THOUGHTS –
illyB kicks down a beat to get the groove rolling, and the other musicians just start piling on, layering the sound, and a superb groove is born! Over the next 30min the group on stage, MMW + Logic, Bernstein, & Scheps, take us through 4 distinct improvisations before we hit some Open space that winds us down to just the trio with Logic on the Horace Silver tune/jazz standard, Cape Verdean Blues — nothing standard in MMW’s take on the tune though! The horns return after a Bass Solo from Chris, and stick out for another Improv > Organ’n’Trumpet jam that smoothly leads into Wiggly’s Way before the horns exit again. Bernstein is a perfect fit for MMW any time, and in this set he’s a monster on that slide trumpet — just KILLER! The set ends with Jennifer Jackson’s beautiful vocals accompanying the trio on an “Unknown Bassanova”.
And then there’s a 2nd set! It begins on a subdued note with Medeski solo on piano which opens up into a killer improvisation when the guests join in with Logic quite prominent and Oren (must be him on guitar) — I mean, Oren is nailing it here! Great stuff! We get a Drums’n’DJ breakdown at a few points (Weston eventually joins the percussive fray later in the set), some Open explorations, Bass’n’Drums, and incredible groove improvisations — where do all these melodies come from!?! Rufus Cappadocia on cello is an INCREDIBLE addition to this set of musicians and his input on the latter part of the set’s improvisations as well as on the tune Friday Afternoon In The Universe, makes this afternoon’s listen all the more special … the closing number is an Oren Bloedow tune that wraps up the set in a similarly subdued manner as Medeski’s solo started … some sweet sax from Aaron Heik on this number too …
Gotta say I just love how far out the FAITU tune gets in that 2nd set … and this quote makes me chuckle each time I hear Billy utter these words near the start of the show, “New record coming out in a couple of weeks, check it out. We’re *not* playing any of the music from that record tonight …” — HA!
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#28
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#28)
1996-09-23 – SHACK PARTY II
~ John Coltrane’s Birthday ~
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
1996-09-23 ticket stub
Source info:
1996-09-23.gefell-m300.12.t-flac16 [TSP1996#13]
– SET I (tracks 1-12) –
– SET II (tracks 13-19) –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#28)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
– SHACK THOUGHTS — SHACK PARTIES I-VII ’96 –
Listen to these gigs. Listen to all of these gigs — it’s the best advice I can give you. These Shack Parties, where the band played for 7 Mondays in a row at the Knitting Factory in NYC, encompass such a wide range of the band’s talents and musical interests that a summation would simply do the music an injustice. Whether you dig a certain track or guest through this run, you have to admit that each guest brings something unique to the mix which in turn causes the band to react and shift, making the music they all create something adventuresome and real for that moment only. There are also plenty of moments where it’s just the trio and you’ll love it. As they explore both groove and open space with/out guests, it is clear this is a band out to make inspired music.
Oren Bloedow’s speech during Set II of the last Shack Party puts it best … so take a listen and Shack-out with these near 20 year-old musical explorations …
1996-09-23 ticket stub
– SHACK PARTY II THOUGHTS – JOHN COLTRANE’S BIRTHDAY
2nd of 7 weekly Shack Party gigs falls on the anniversary of John Coltrane’s birthday, so MMW (being obvious fans) sprinkle much of the evening with Coltrane music — three of the 6 actual songs played are Coltrane tunes (Naima, Syeeda’s Song Flute, & Africa), but songs aren’t really the focus. Coltrane’s music, like their own songs they play (Spy Kiss & ITAHTLMJ) along with one Ellington number (Chinoiserie), sends the band and their welcome guests out into the ether at times. The Africa that opens Set II, for example, is a MONSTER of space and groove with everyone contributing to the whole in true collaborative fashion — cool to hear Africa in here, but too bad the it took over a year for the song to return to MMW’s live shows, and then again too bad that it left again shortly after its return!). Outstanding group work here — this ain’t a case of 4+ guitar players on stage all strumming along together, this a mess of unique instrumentation all finding pockets to fill in the music — you have to hear this! Blume and Ribot offer contrasting styles in the guitar vein, but both have such invention and chemistry with MMW; Hammadi, Scheps and Blake provide sax at various moments, separately and together at times, with unique voices honouring Coltrane on this night. I could keep blabbing, but … just listen.
A nice treat at the end finds Sherri Jackson delivering some vocals on the MMW classic, their take on the old Spiritual, Is There Anybody Here That Love My Jesus … I’m still singing it now …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#27
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#27)
1996-09-16 – SHACK PARTY I
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
1996-09-16 ticket stub
Source info:
1996-09-16.b+k4021.127771.t-flac16 [TSP1996#11]
– SET I (tracks 1-12) –
– SET II (tracks 13-22) –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#27)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
– SHACK THOUGHTS — SHACK PARTIES I-VII ’96 –
Listen to these gigs. Listen to all of these gigs — it’s the best advice I can give you. These Shack Parties, where the band played for 7 Mondays in a row at the Knitting Factory in NYC, encompass such a wide range of the band’s talents and musical interests that a summation would simply do the music an injustice. Whether you dig a certain track or guest through this run, you have to admit that each guest brings something unique to the mix which in turn causes the band to react and shift, making the music they all create something adventuresome and real for that moment only. There are also plenty of moments where it’s just the trio and you’ll love it. As they explore both groove and open space with/out guests, it is clear this is a band out to make inspired music.
Oren Bloedow’s speech during Set II of the last Shack Party puts it best … so take a listen and Shack-out with these near 20 year-old musical explorations …
1996-09-16 ticket stub
– SHACK PARTY I THOUGHTS –
Very open and loose with LOTS of improvisation — reports are there were only a handful of folks in attendance this first week, I believe. Bob Moses, MMW’s musical father, sits in for parts of the show adding some extra drums and piano at times; Rob Scheps wails on the sax, with some nice 3rd Stone From The Sun teasing during one of the Improvs; and Danny Blume plays a sweet guitar — love his input on the Uninvisible album years later, but check out this earlier sit-in. And I don’t know about you, but I prefer my Pork Pie Hat sans (Dean’s) vocals … very beautiful 100% instrumental take on the Mingus classic …
This is MMW in a purely raw and elemental form — dig those ears into these sounds! 20 years ago, eh? Sounds pretty fresh to these ears … music for the ages …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#26
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#26)
2002-07-04
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
MMW c.2002
Source info:
2002-07-04.fob.neumann-km184.11843.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-6) –
– SET II (tracks 7-16) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#26)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
The Montréal theme picks back up after another absent week last Friday – sorry, folks, it’s summer and last minute plans to hit the sunshine/woods/beach can get in the way of sharing tunes … but I’m not going anywhere, so more tunes will always be coming, if a bit delayed, and of course The Shack Project is open 24/7/365 for streaming/downloading HUNDREDS of shows. But back to the gig at hand (or at ear?) …
Wood & Martin c.2002/03
– SET I –
Big Time > I Wanna Ride You kicks of the 1st set in fine energetic fashion, and then Brahim Fribgane joins the trio for Lifeblood and the sounds get a little more expansive and percussive over the rest of the set, and show when Trilok Gurtu joins in as well. Brahim adds a nice layer in Lifeblood that carries over into the plodding opening to Think – illyB and Brahim, along with John’s squonks, lay the bed that Wood bows over and moves to plucking, building up the tension as we wait for the Think melody to really kick in from John just before the 2min mark. There is some stellar piano work from John in the middle of this tune – like, wow! – before the tune opens into a Drums/Percussion session for a couple of minutes that eventually leads us to Fire! Hendrix-style, through an MMW lense … and where there’s Fire, there’s Smoke (sometimes the reverse) – a subtly groovy end to this pumping set. Clocking in at just under an hour, that is still some dense musicality to wade through – it’s about quality, not quantity. The set has a perfect overall feel and arc to it … the 2nd set gives us a little more quantity with our quality though …
Brahim Fribgane
– SET II –
After roughly a minute of sounds gurgling and building, the HEAVY Uninvisible bassline begins, everyone jumps in and this set is off to a HIGH energy start – there’s quite a sound palette on stage with the trio now that Charlie Hunter (8-string guitar) and Trilok Gurtu (tablas & percussion) have joined the mix in addition to Brahim. So when the Open Improv busts out the end of the track, it actually develops into this percussive heavy groove by the end of it before veering into a very smooth Improv on the next track, again with a heavy percussive feel. Oh yeah, this sounds real nice and eventually the melodic instruments drop out and we are in a full on drums jam – sweet! These guys are having fun together, lots of different toys in the mix, Billy (presumably) moves to the kit after a while as the other two(?) carry on with some more hand-based percussion. The Percussion Improv takes us into a jiggly Jelly Belly, and again so cool to hear the sounds the guests bring to this familiar tune, which opens into its common Drum Solo outro, but Billy is once again accompanied by our percussive guests who colour the classic Nostalgia In Times Square as well when the others join back in after the drum break. Interestingly, Nostalgia isn’t its usually medleyed-self since Sun Ra’s Angel Race (I’ll Wait For You) is absent from the performance, so instead we get a full fleshed-out take on this old tune with the life of these new young sounds.
Trilok Gurtu
Next up is Start/Stop, which is a groove I can’t get enough of. Love the way the tune pushes itself out into space, further and further with each “stop” break, again HEAVILY coloured by percussion, so these moments of open space have a little extra umph to them (and is Charlie absent here? Not sure I hear him? Sometimes he’s getting lost in the mix though, so …). Just when you’re not sure if the open space is just pushing out further only to “start” again into the main melody, or whether the band is just pushing out into open space more, suddenly a beat starts @11:20 of the track and we are instantly Toy Dancing – nice! Love when Billy starts that beat on his hand drum. So this has a nice slow burn for a start as the percussive groove builds up more and more, creating a bit of tension to finally be released when the tune kicks in a bit more, Billy moves to the kit and the groove settles out – not sure if that’s Trilok on vocals? I think so … only show we have with the guy, and I don’t recall Brahim ever vocalizing in the past. Charlie steps up nicely in Toy Dancing for an extended solo, before the track eventually simmers down to more percussion interaction and then eventual silence, followed by some line-up announcements by Billy.
A high energy combo of Pappy Check > The Lover, so new > old, closes the set. Oddly, it sounds to my ears like both Brahim and Trilok have left the stage when Pappy Check begins, leaving only Charlie to guest on this tune, but then it seems like those guys return to close out the set on The Lover.
Charlie Hunter
And then as the encore, for the first time in 2002, Bubblehouse is played much to the crowd’s delight! (I sometimes wonder if folks calling for “Bubblehouse” at every show even know *what* song they’re requesting, but I digress.) Billy announces they’re going to play this song for the LAST TIME ever simply because of the very special guests – last time Charlie played with them in ’96 Bubblehouse was one of the tunes – but that they don’t play this song anymore, and this is basically it. (They do play the song again, but not until 2003 which only has like 2 performances, 2004 has 4 takes on the track, and it starts coming back a bit more after than until we get to the Radiolarians years, after which Bubblehouse makes a triumphant return being the *only* song requested for *every* show on the band’s 2011 tour where they solicited audience requests for their first sets along the tour, and improvised the 2nd sets.) And the version’s intense Bubbles bring the House down!
So anyway, this is a very HEADY version of Bubblehouse so soak it up and check out this whole show top-to-bottom as you enjoy your Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#24+#25
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#24 & #25)
2000-07-05
2001-06-29
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
~ 2000-07-05 ~
MMW c.2002/03
Source info:
2000-07-05.sony-lapel.5588.t-flac16
– SET 1 (tracks 1-9) –
– SET 2 (tracks 10-20) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS — The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#24)
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, being on the road out of town for the Fridays, so I’m making it up a bit this week, sharing shows #24 & #25 for FAITU’s 25th week, the theme of which will extend over several weeks throughout the summer.
Festival Int’l de Jazz de Montréal.
MMW in Montreal, for this Canadian fan was a sweet deal. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it the first few times, but did catch a couple of the Montreal “events”. Each time MMW played Montreal it was a little special, at least to my ears. Always more than you might find from the trio at other festivals – not to say other festivals haven’t featured some killer MMW, which often depends on time slots, but Montreal seemed to always offer a good slot which afforded the band the chance to really put on an “MMW show”, rather than a more typical festival set.
This week we’ll dig into the first Montreal Fest gig from 2000, and the following year’s return in 2001.
MMW c.2002/03
** Wednesday, July 05, 2000 **
Medeski Martin & Wood w/ Marc Ribot, George Garzone, Mino Cinelu & DJ Logic
– SET I –
We Are Rolling has to be one of the BEST opening tunes. Ever. Killer version that stretches out there a bit into that wacked reggae mid-section before wrapping around and drifting into the Latin love of Brigas Nunca Mais. Macha starts a run that leads the trio through to the end of the set, first finding comfort in twisting out ITAHTLMJ before the Latin beat pushes forth again with Latin Shuffle, featuring solos from illyB and Chris before an Open Improv leads to the set closer Swamp Road, which is a super groovy way to close the set, surprisingly played without Logic on stage, who comes out next set. Love when MMW give you a full trio set before settling in with some guests for an evening, and this hour of music – before the 2hr 2nd set – is more than satisfying on its own. But how great for there to be a 2nd set …
MMW c.2000
– SET II –
With a full stage of musicians, the set begins in some open exploration of HUGE LAYERED sound – everyone is looking for their pocket and gradually the sound breaks down a bit, thins out, as various musical conversations erupt across the stage, interjections interrupting ideas while others flow a little more smoothly. All the while, those on stage are working together towards something meaningful. This is beautiful to hear even if it is ugly and harsh to start. As we approach the 5min mark of the opening Improvisation a groove has settled and Garzone and Ribot have been zapping each other with Medeski playing along. This develops into a solid groove and track #2’s Improv is really like a natural outgrowth of the first Improv’s development – but also sounds DAMN familiar! Like a crossbreed of Note Bleu (played later in the set) & Smoke (debuts over a year later). Whatever it is, it once again has fantastic interplay between the three lead voices (Medeski, Garzone, & Ribot) while the rhythm section (Martin, Wood, & Cinelu) lays the bed for the play – and of course, nobody adheres strictly to these roles, but that’s a general breakdown. This slides nicely into Start/Stop which fits this group so well, moving through a cool Percussion/Logic breakdown into Dracula – which has this odd percussive “boom-boom” at the end of the usual bassline melody run, presumably initiated by Cinelu, and it adds a cool twist to Dracula’s usual sly groove, making it bumpier. A Percussion/Logic Improv gains some momentum for a couple of minutes before launching into the Sugar Craft groove, where the solo hat gets passed around to wonderful effect. The Sugar groove just keeps pushing out there landing in Hey Joe – now, it sounds to me like the guests have left the stage or are silent for this tune, but then you can hear them in the final outro chord crescendo which oddly just leads to silence. After a quick break Note Bleu kicks in – reminding us of that earlier improvisation – and the guests are throwing in full on this tune, extending it nicely to lead into the EVER welcome Africa. Africa once again allows the ensemble to breathe together and show off a bit for each other before driving us home with the Bubblehouse groove – complete madness with these 6 players on stage.
Moti Mo, with all these cats, is so full and rich – and when Garzone belts in with the melody on his tenor sax it all just feels so right … what a wonderful celebration Moti Mo is for ending an evening. I often think of it as a quieter number, but the build that rises over the performance, as the solo hat is passed around and group interplay weaves those moments, it really brings the energy way up – yeah, a celebration!
=================================
** Friday, June 29, 2001 ** >>> 2001-06-29
And so begins our run through MMW’s history at the Festival Int’l de Jazz de Montréal.
As always, BIG THANKS to the tapers, and a special shout-out to Blane Harvey for all his work in getting Canadian shows taped and/or shared – as a fellow Canuck, I’m forever grateful, and I’m sure the other MMW Shackers are too! Not sure if you’re still out there, Blane, but next time MMW hit Montreal we gotta have a beer together!
More Montreal MMW Madness coming over the next few Friday Afternoons In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
2001-06-29
MMW 2001-06-24 @Toronto Jazz Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Source info:
2001-06-29.mbho603-200.5589.t-flac16
– ONE SET (tracks 1-16) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS — The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#24)
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, being on the road out of town for the Fridays, so I’m making it up a bit this week, sharing shows #24 & #25 for FAITU’s 25th week, the theme of which will extend over several weeks throughout the summer.
Festival Int’l de Jazz de Montréal.
MMW in Montreal, for this Canadian fan was a sweet deal. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it the first few times, but did catch a couple of the Montreal “events”. Each time MMW played Montreal it was a little special, at least to my ears. Always more than you might find from the trio at other festivals – not to say other festivals haven’t featured some killer MMW, which often depends on time slots, but Montreal seemed to always offer a good slot which afforded the band the chance to really put on an “MMW show”, rather than a more typical festival set.
This week we’ll dig into the first Montreal Fest gig from 2000, and the following year’s return in 2001.
** Wednesday, July 05, 2000 ** >>> 2000-07-05
** Friday, June 29, 2001 **
Medeski Martin & Wood w/ John Scofield & DJ Logic
– ONE SET –
Exploring some open space that’s really just a loose intro to Bone Digger – once again letting the Montreal crowd know that the trio is not just laying down your typically groovy funked-out festival set – they are here to find new sounds with this festival audience, and that’s what they do. MMW keep Digging the Bones – man this tune is wacked! – and this dying groove slides into the more upbeat Big Time and lets the band welcome the crowd with a bit more friendly sounds, and begins a run of some more groovier numbers that should get the crowd dancing.
MMW 2001-06-24 @Toronto Jazz Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Big Time, always a nice big groove itself, moves into its outro as some Coconut Boogaloo emerges, coloured by some nice Medeski piano work, sprinkled with a small illyB solo, some raunchy bass fuzz from Wood, and joined by Logic near the end of the tune before we head into the PHAT groove of Jelly Belly – it’s THICK! Some wonderful back and forth between Medeski and Logic on this tune before it busts into a Drum Solo … and interestingly, since he’s onstage, but Logic doesn’t join in with illyB … a few years previous, when Logic was a on tour more often with the trio he and Billy would regularly jam off one another when John and Chris dropped out.
The sweet bassline of ITAHTLMJ pops up next, some wonderful screeching from John’s keys on the main theme, Logic jumping into the fray, while Billy propels us along. A solid take on the tune with Logic bits for intrigue, but then the tune drifts into some short open space exploration that leads us into the crazy Felic groove – it’s a weird tune and I love it for that reason; not easy listening.
More wacky Open Improvisation follows Felic, and Scofield finally joins the fray in the aftermath, tinkering as his sound cuts right into the Open Space – he’s unmistakable, much to the chagrin of some, and to the joy of the rest of us. The overall sound thins out as Medeski, Sco and Logic trade some “licks”, illyB gets his talking drum in there, Chris plunks a little, and it all drops into The Dropper. For you Sco haters out there, just check out the imagination on this tune as he creates his own part throughout the song – this is NOT a tune Sco guests on, usually, but this is the 2nd – and last – time within a week, so he’s not oblivious to the song, but still! Very interesting to hear Sco’s input on The Dropper, vs. Ribot’s (plays on the album version and a couple of live performances).
MMW c.2001
Next up, another MMW live staple, Partido Alto has Logic and Scofield adding new textures, before we get to some Scofield tunes from the A Go Go album he made with MMW a few years prior. The title track, nice slinky groove, and Hottentot, a rocking groove, follow next with Sco taking charge a bit for those tunes. (An aside: I caught Sco at the Montreal Fest in ’98 after the release of A Go Go. He was the featured musician that year so he played like 5 nights with different ensembles, so we caught the A Go Go night with Bill Stewart, Larry Golding, and some terribly boring bass player (seriously, especially in comparison to Wood’s input on the album itself), but the overall music was incredible; then we caught Sco with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and finally got to stand and dance at the festival – upon request from the DDBB to get our butts shakin’!)
The guests remain onstage until the end of the show, but we’re back to some MMW live show tunes again, with first Note Bleu – another chance for comparing Sco’s input to Ribot’s album take – resulting in a hefty Bass Solo intro into the Hendrix tune, Third Stone From The Sun – again, Logic fits nicely in here, as usual, and cool to hear Sco’s take on the rock number. MMW’s take on the Hendrix tune is ALWAYS a treat!
The Hendrix theme continues into the encore, and so do the guests, with a PUMPING Crosstown Traffic to close out the evening.
And so begins our run through MMW’s history at the Festival Int’l de Jazz de Montréal.
As always, BIG THANKS to the tapers, and a special shout-out to Blane Harvey for all his work in getting Canadian shows taped and/or shared – as a fellow Canuck, I’m forever grateful, and I’m sure the other MMW Shackers are too! Not sure if you’re still out there, Blane, but next time MMW hit Montreal we gotta have a beer together!
More Montreal MMW Madness coming over the next few Friday Afternoons In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
The Shack Project 