Blog Archives
FAITU#44+#45+#46+#47+#48
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#44) ~ 1999-01-13
(FAITU#45) ~ 1999-01-14
(FAITU#46) ~ 1999-01-15
(FAITU#47) ~ 1999-01-16
(FAITU#48) ~ 1999-01-17
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1999-01-13
Chris Wood c.1999
Source info:
1999-01-13.unknown.22.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-8) –
– SET II (tracks 9-16) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#44 + #45+ #46 + #47 + #48)
MMW @the Bowery Ballroom, Jan 13-17, 1999. What can I say? LOTS! Read below – HA! But honestly, *listen*. Just do yourself a favour and soak up EVERY NIGHT OF THIS RUN. Then, *YOU* tell me which is the best of the run – huh? I can’t decide! I’ve listened to all these gigs, so many times … and just did again, a number of times over the past few weeks. Again, was blown away, heard some sounds I hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about, and simply had a VERY rewarding time listening through these 5 nights. We get a taste of so much different MMW, and the guys have gotten nothing but stronger as a trio by ’99 so bringing in the guests finds them wielding their trio power underneath with perhaps a little more control than we hear, by comparison, in the edgy sounds of the ’96 SHACK PARTIES — not that one run is “better” than the other, just different. Listen to both! But for now, let’s dig into these ’99 MMW sounds, and the audible space they shared so joyously with their musical guests on this 5 night Bowery Ballroom run in mid-January ’99 …
MMW c.1999
** WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1999 **
– Wig Wise to start is a nice way to get the 5-night Bowery Ballroom run underway as it echoes back to an earlier time in jazz history, and thus Blue Note history — the run’s impetus being a celebration of Blue Note’s 60th anniversary. It’s a Duke Ellington tune from the album MONEY JUNGLE, played by a trio of Ellington on piano, Charles Mingus on bass, and Max Roach on drums — it’s not a Blue Note album, but it is an old school jazz album we know the trio loves, is in some sense modeled after, and Billy has professed his love from the stage for the album — CHECK IT OUT if you haven’t! But here’s the Ellington trio playing Wig Wise:
– Then we jump ahead to the late ’90s and the full electric MMW sound with a darkly sinister improvisation — these next 10min or so are insanely tight and groovy with the trio just locked right in, leading to a Bass’n’Drums breakdown that takes us into the first known performance of Note Bleu — really cool to hear, and they play it each night of the run along with a few other tunes they focus on, but which is also a perfect example of how the band can play the same song each night and really make something new of it, for real.
– Latin Shuffle, followed by some Drum work that opens into another Improv section, with again the trio riding high together and taking us to the sweet sounds of Brigas Nunca Mais, a short percussion Improv, and then a KILLER Start/Stop to close the set — they really know how to work this tune by this time, and Logic adds a nice layer.
– 2nd set opens with some very loose open space exploration — I always wonder what’s going through the musicians’ heads in these sections? Especially some of the guests … ? I love following through these open improvisations into the more solid grooves and spontaneous compositions the band creates, but if they didn’t *lead* somewhere, I’m not sure I’d be as big of a fan … like, if this is all the band came out and did … well, maybe once in a while, but if this was there main “thang”, I couldn’t dig in as much, I don’t think. The beauty and fun in the grooves is what I love those open spaces helping to find.
Daniel Carter
– Toy Dancing comes out of the opening improvisations, and is another tune that’s featured each of these 5 nights, and we should be glad it is because EACH VERSION of this tune over the run is INCREDIBLE. Start with this one and move forward … Daniel Carter on sax is extra cool on this one …
– More Open Improvisation follows, along with some more groovy vibes, before we get what I’ve labelled as a Whatever Happened To Gus Improv because it’s not quite the tune, and it doesn’t utilize the alternate melody that the other versions do over the course of this run. Love that bassline …
– Buster Rides Again moves us into a Drums’n’DJ jam, which stops and then Psychedelic Sally (another run staple) launches out in groovy form (what happened to this tune? They don’t play it beyond spring ’99 … ?), another short Improv, leading to some further Drum and Bass work, and finishing us on a gospel vibe, as they do each night of the run (although with a different tune for the other 4 nights), we get treated to a lovely cover of Sly’s Everyday People.
~ JANUARY 14, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 15, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 16, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 17, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
A legendary historic run by some of the greatest improvisers to hit the live stage. MMW were helping Blue Note celebrate its anniversary, but now we can use these recordings — THANK YOU TAPERS!!! — to celebrate MMW any time with 5 outstanding shows, 10 sets of music, splattered with musical guests who all seem to be of like mind … yeah, a good way to start your Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
1999-01-14
Billy Martin @Seaport Atrium, New York, NY
1999-06-07
Source info:
1999-01-14.mg3000.112708.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-5) –
– SET II (tracks 6-9) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#44 + #45+ #46 + #47 + #48)
MMW @the Bowery Ballroom, Jan 13-17, 1999. What can I say? LOTS! Read below – HA! But honestly, *listen*. Just do yourself a favour and soak up EVERY NIGHT OF THIS RUN. Then, *YOU* tell me which is the best of the run – huh? I can’t decide! I’ve listened to all these gigs, so many times … and just did again, a number of times over the past few weeks. Again, was blown away, heard some sounds I hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about, and simply had a VERY rewarding time listening through these 5 nights. We get a taste of so much different MMW, and the guys have gotten nothing but stronger as a trio by ’99 so bringing in the guests finds them wielding their trio power underneath with perhaps a little more control than we hear, by comparison, in the edgy sounds of the ’96 SHACK PARTIES — not that one run is “better” than the other, just different. Listen to both! But for now, let’s dig into these ’99 MMW sounds, and the audible space they shared so joyously with their musical guests on this 5 night Bowery Ballroom run in mid-January ’99 …
MMW c.1999
~ JANUARY 13, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
** THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1999 **
– Exploration of Open space by the trio gets the 2nd night going at the Bowery Ballroom run celebrating Blue Note’s 60th Anniversary, which moves into some great Improv from the trio, beginning this night in fine form and setting the vibe for what will be an experimental evening of music — arguably the best of the run, but honestly *EACH NIGHT* can make that case for different reasons.
– Note Bleu follows, making its 2nd appearance of both its life and the run, indicating the guys are digging this new groove, which opens into a short Drum Solo leading to an Improv featuring Jay Rodriguez on sax and he KILLS it! This Improv dissolves into a Bass’n’Drums jam, then Bass Solo, into yet another appearance by Brigas Nunca Mais — it too making its 2nd appearance of both its life and the run, having debuted the night before. The super groovy Psychedelic Sally closes the set with Logic joining the trio, allowing he and illyB to get down a bit mid-tune, with Charlie Hunter filling into the groove with his super sweet guitar sounds (if you like Charlie on this gig, be sure to check out his sit-in during MMW’s 2002 Montreal Jazz Fest performance.
Billy Martin @Seaport Atrium, New York, NY 1999-06-07
– A Percussion Improv > Improv begins the 2nd set, a further exploration into the wild vibes of this night, and this is a weird borderline-Open-groove that explodes into a HEAVY Combustication Improv — SO GOOD! — and then Whatever Happened to Gus saunters in, accompanied by an UNKNOWN MELODY that appears in live versions of Gus … if anyone recognizes this, I’d love to know what it is! (The band does a similar treatment with live versions of Your Name Is Snake Anthony which they couple with the melody from Creole Love Call.)
– A Drum Solo follows Gus and serves as an intro to the Seven Deadlies (Bridge), a piece MMW seemed to debut over the course of the end of the fall ’98 tour, it was like it appeared in an improvisation on 11/19/98 and then later developed into what we labelled Seven Deadlies (Bridge), an incomplete composition that will eventually be more fleshed out to become the full tune we know as Seven Deadlies. Anyway, it’s at this point that Jay Rodriguez and Charlie Hunter return to the stage, and the two jump right into this wacked groove.
Charlie Hunter
– Another Toy Dancing comes next, 2nd of the run (there will be 3 more), and again VERY cool to hear them twist this tune around and open up so much room to the guests. Super nice flute sounds from Rodriguez during this one and Hunter adds lots of little flavours throughout, so the trio and Logic dig in and rock this tune hard. The dancing then blurts out to just some Open exploration and tinkering before we feel the power from the Church of Logic — LOVE that tune, its groove, and this version is HOT with what the guests add … then things cool down nicely as we slide into the gospel-zone of Hey Joe, with this being the first known performance of the Hendrix cover … a nice finish to the evening, showcasing the guests, and setting a precedent for the closing of the next 3 nights … Hey Joe gospelized will be their final notes …
~ JANUARY 15, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 16, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 17, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
A legendary historic run by some of the greatest improvisers to hit the live stage. MMW were helping Blue Note celebrate its anniversary, but now we can use these recordings — THANK YOU TAPERS!!! — to celebrate MMW any time with 5 outstanding shows, 10 sets of music, splattered with musical guests who all seem to be of like mind … yeah, a good way to start your Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
1999-01-15
MMW @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC, NY 1999-01-15
Source info:
1999-01-15.akg-c100.984.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-7) –
– SET II (tracks 8-17) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#44 + #45+ #46 + #47 + #48)
MMW @the Bowery Ballroom, Jan 13-17, 1999. What can I say? LOTS! Read below – HA! But honestly, *listen*. Just do yourself a favour and soak up EVERY NIGHT OF THIS RUN. Then, *YOU* tell me which is the best of the run – huh? I can’t decide! I’ve listened to all these gigs, so many times … and just did again, a number of times over the past few weeks. Again, was blown away, heard some sounds I hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about, and simply had a VERY rewarding time listening through these 5 nights. We get a taste of so much different MMW, and the guys have gotten nothing but stronger as a trio by ’99 so bringing in the guests finds them wielding their trio power underneath with perhaps a little more control than we hear, by comparison, in the edgy sounds of the ’96 SHACK PARTIES — not that one run is “better” than the other, just different. Listen to both! But for now, let’s dig into these ’99 MMW sounds, and the audible space they shared so joyously with their musical guests on this 5 night Bowery Ballroom run in mid-January ’99 …
MMW c.1999
~ JANUARY 13, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 14, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
** FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1999 **
– Sounds begin slow and exploratory, seeking comforts of other sounds … illyB adding metal, John organ swirls, and then Chris comes in with a steady quiet plunk on the acoustic. The sounds separate and converge in various forms over the next few minutes, creating a beautiful soundscape of sorts … with that wacky MMW edge … with that harsher edge creeping a bit more a few minutes into this journey. Then the edge drops off a bit, things get a bit more open and chaos builds as John swirls on the piano, illyB is now on the kit and Chris is following right along, until we land in the sounds of Note Bleu, as noted clearly a favourite of the band’s being brand new, and opens interestingly into a Bass Solo — they kind of toy with how to surround this groove over the course of the run and later spring tour.
MMW @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC, NY 1999-01-15
– A groove begins from nothing and they are ready to groove begins things solidify pretty quickly into a REALLY nice bouncing Improv. John working the clav and organ together, tweaking cool sounds among his melody, while Chris and Billy propel the beat along. John is really leading this here and the other guys are happy to follow his lead, adding their responses to his shifts. Then close to 5min or so the groove downshifts a bit to something more intimate and less celebratory. The 3 working as 1 — this is the MMW improvisations we all love, me thinks. VERY much a group mind at work, tension builds with a heavier vibe taking root and pushing out until it deflates to a metronomic lullaby feel, then an open feel, and the improvisation finishes up as a stand alone piece.
Josh Roseman
– Josh Roseman is invited to the stage after Billy’s welcome to night #3, and the players kick into Horace Silver’s classic Cape Verdean Blues
… and this is just great jazzy fun. A cool treat in the MMW repertoire as they’ve never played this much — just during HOT gigs! (Yes, this night could also be the *best* of the run … depending on what you’re listening for!)
– Roseman leaves the stage, the trio jives through the beautiful Brigas Nunca Mais, one of the regular tunes on this run, and then Chris Whitley hits the stage for a rockin’ Home Is Where You Get Across.
– Some Percussive sounds get the 2nd set going, moving into some Open Improv exploration, before we start hearing some piano tinkering and suddenly Buster Rides Again! Buster is always a hoppin’ tune, never disappoints. Check out the original by Bud Powell if you haven’t:
– The band rides Buster out into the slinky groove of Start/Stop — oh, the Stops! Oh, the Starts! DIG IT!
– Sounds emerge from the end of S/S, and once again Toy Dancing shakes its ass, with Josh Roseman’s trombone and Vernon Reid’s guitar blowing this version WIDE OPEN! This is a great tune for guests!
Vernon Reid
– Toy Dancing spills into the start of the subsequent Improv with Roseman and Reid remaining on stage. The slide into improvisation takes on a bit of an ambient open feel as the players search for where to go. The sounds remain pretty open until around 4min when a quirky groove emerges, seemingly with everyone morphing at the same time — good listeners on stage! This is a very weird thing that’s growing here, cool playful back and forth between the trombone and guitar, and eventually turns into something you can REALLY DANCE to — I just sat down, myself! Slows down into a walking bassline with Logic mixing against it, then the trombone takes lead as things wind down into yet another SMOKIN’ Psychedelic Sally, again Roseman and Reid adding super nice flavours.
Danny Blume
– Roseman and Reid leave the stage, and trio + Logic strike into the beauty of No Ke Ano Ahiahi, which drifts into the always welcome Church of Logic groove! Danny Blume has hit the stage for Church and he is KILLING it! This moves into an Open Improv, before once again the gospelized Hey Joe takes us to the end of the evening …
~ JANUARY 16, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 17, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
A legendary historic run by some of the greatest improvisers to hit the live stage. MMW were helping Blue Note celebrate its anniversary, but now we can use these recordings — THANK YOU TAPERS!!! — to celebrate MMW any time with 5 outstanding shows, 10 sets of music, splattered with musical guests who all seem to be of like mind … yeah, a good way to start your Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
1999-01-16
Chris Wood, DJ Logic & Billy Martin c.1999
Source info:
1999-01-16.akg391.112712.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-7) –
– SET II (tracks 8-17) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#44 + #45+ #46 + #47 + #48)
MMW @the Bowery Ballroom, Jan 13-17, 1999. What can I say? LOTS! Read below – HA! But honestly, *listen*. Just do yourself a favour and soak up EVERY NIGHT OF THIS RUN. Then, *YOU* tell me which is the best of the run – huh? I can’t decide! I’ve listened to all these gigs, so many times … and just did again, a number of times over the past few weeks. Again, was blown away, heard some sounds I hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about, and simply had a VERY rewarding time listening through these 5 nights. We get a taste of so much different MMW, and the guys have gotten nothing but stronger as a trio by ’99 so bringing in the guests finds them wielding their trio power underneath with perhaps a little more control than we hear, by comparison, in the edgy sounds of the ’96 SHACK PARTIES — not that one run is “better” than the other, just different. Listen to both! But for now, let’s dig into these ’99 MMW sounds, and the audible space they shared so joyously with their musical guests on this 5 night Bowery Ballroom run in mid-January ’99 …
MMW c.1999
~ JANUARY 13, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 14, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 15, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
** SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1999 **
– A stand alone Open Improv gets this 4th night underway on a wacky note …
– The Scrontch Meister rises and gets the groove portion of the evening going, and the Meister nails it!
Chris Wood, DJ Logic & Billy Martin c.1999
– Next up a dark distorted keys chord begins things with a fuzzy bassline and weighted drum beat — the trio is NOT messing around with the time they’re allotting to improvisation during these nights. This Improv cooks along in super groovy mode for about 6min, some cool funking by Chris in here, takes a darker turn just before that 6min mark (Chris is just thumping his bass!) lasting about a minute, and then the space Opens up, led by Billy, and the sounds of the room are explored for a few minutes before coming to a stop.
– Brigas Nunca Mais, boppin’ out again on this run, is a beat the band loves.
– Sugar Crafts itself down into an illyB groove, with Chris adding a cool sound, Logic sampling, and John’s murky keys, as Oren Bloedow hits the stage, and this turns into a nice raucous bluesy jam. Set closes with one of Oren’s tunes, The Love Bug, which is a fun bluesy rock tune.
– 2nd set = best of the run? Maybe … ? Again, not the lone contender for the title … but we’ve just got the trio and Logic for this set and lots of room to move! Psychedelic Sally > Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho begins the set in a SUPER GROOVY vibe that permeates what follows, giving us some stellar improvisations as a result.
– Logic sounds out a siren (that’s him, right?), and some watery percussion begins, more murky keys from John, and I think Chris is doing some bow work before switching to some plucking — which is a sweet sound to emerge from this dark-ish vibe. Billy picks up the pace with his percussive shell work, John adds some odd quick piano, while Chris continues to plunk along and Logic adds atmosphere. Things are pretty loose, but something is brewing … the band is tinkering a bit, sounding a bit open, and perhaps these last few minutes are better heard as an introduction of sorts as Chris slides into the bassline after about 5min, Billy starts that familiar beat on the toms, and John brings in the piano melody I’m sure we all love: Caravan moves across our ears. The trio doesn’t play this often, clearly an homage to the Money Jungle trio of Ellington/Mingus/Roach, which I’m sure was a bit of a model for the MMW trio.
John Medeski c.1999
– We get some hilarious stage replies from Billy to what I’m sure sounds like nonsense as some of the audience shouts/demands requests — love it! HA!
– Suddenly another dark groove begins with John on some unique key sounds compared to what we’ve been hearing; Chris on some bowing; Billy tinkering and Logic inserting some scratches, until Billy moves to the kit and this picks up a bit but then takes a bit of a sudden shift between 4-5min, getting almost Worms-like — oh yeah, this is cool! The tempo picks up more and more, pulsing, until it crashes a bit, and then (just like Worms) it re-starts and we’re swirling again. I’ve found this behaviour to be something the band uses at times, where an improvisation is modelled after a song’s structure … but maybe that’s me listening in too much? Nah, I think they do this at times … which is fine by me, and has created lots of cool grooves … not a crutch, just another improvisation tool, I think; they’re also completely original in at times in their improvisation, so I think the modelling is just a mode. Anyhoo, this boils down to some percussive sounds leading into a Percussion Improv to finish out the moment.
– A Drum Solo > Whatever Happened To Gus (w/?? melody) follows, and it’s cool to hear the guys toy with this tune but WHAT IS THAT MELODY John plays along with an instrumental Gus!? Anyone?! Bueller? Man, I wish I could place that … I’m sure it has to be something we know, a melody from an old jazz tune or …
– Toy Dancing is up next, no real guest solos on this one, just the trio and Logic tearing up the Dancing groove — yep, they dig this and I love the Toy Dancings from ’99 … I guess the tune got off on a good foot happening every night of this year’s opening run … good vibes! Bass Solo bumps out the end, with a soothing Note Bleu > Hey Joe to settle down the grooves a bit, with no less intensity, and close out the night …
~ JANUARY 17, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
A legendary historic run by some of the greatest improvisers to hit the live stage. MMW were helping Blue Note celebrate its anniversary, but now we can use these recordings — THANK YOU TAPERS!!! — to celebrate MMW any time with 5 outstanding shows, 10 sets of music, splattered with musical guests who all seem to be of like mind … yeah, a good way to start your Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
1999-01-17
Bowery Ballroom
Source info:
1999-01-17.akg-c3000.986.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-8) –
– SET II (tracks 9-16) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#44 + #45+ #46 + #47 + #48)
MMW @the Bowery Ballroom, Jan 13-17, 1999. What can I say? LOTS! Read below – HA! But honestly, *listen*. Just do yourself a favour and soak up EVERY NIGHT OF THIS RUN. Then, *YOU* tell me which is the best of the run – huh? I can’t decide! I’ve listened to all these gigs, so many times … and just did again, a number of times over the past few weeks. Again, was blown away, heard some sounds I hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about, and simply had a VERY rewarding time listening through these 5 nights. We get a taste of so much different MMW, and the guys have gotten nothing but stronger as a trio by ’99 so bringing in the guests finds them wielding their trio power underneath with perhaps a little more control than we hear, by comparison, in the edgy sounds of the ’96 SHACK PARTIES — not that one run is “better” than the other, just different. Listen to both! But for now, let’s dig into these ’99 MMW sounds, and the audible space they shared so joyously with their musical guests on this 5 night Bowery Ballroom run in mid-January ’99 …
MMW c.1999
~ JANUARY 13, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 14, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 15, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
~ JANUARY 16, 1999 ~ SHACK page >>>
** SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 1999 **
– Another performance of Psychedelic Sally begins this 5th and final night at the Bowery, featuring Mr. Marc Ribot on guitar — need I say more. DIG IT!
– A GROOVIN’ Improv is up next with Ribot once again adding that Ribot-esque touch — LOVE IT! Seems like a basic bluesy jam, but super fun to hear these 4 cats get down. Cool interplay over the jam and some nice patience over the last couple minutes as it winds down.
Marc Ribot c.2001
– Then the band invites up Steve Cannon for a wicked fun full version of Whatever Happened To Gus — love the spoken word! Cannon is clearly having a ball, as are the guys themselves.
– The trio then invites up Doug Yates on bass clarinet and start off into some Open Improv, giving Doug some room to explore before they hit into the Seven Deadlies (Bridge), and Doug’s deep sounds add a very cool vibe.
Doug Yates
– Another run through the new-at-the-time Note Bleu finds the trio jiving with the tune’s groove more and more, followed by another fun Oren Bloedow tune with Have Mercy NJ, and then one of the run’s popular tunes, Brigas Nunca Mais, finishes out the set with Logic joining for the groove.
– The gig’s 2nd set, the final of the run, may well be the best — who can say for sure?! I’ve said that about much of this run because it is ALL SO GOOD! This last set isn’t the most fluid, as there are plenty of pauses as the guests switch up throughout, but when the ensembles are playing they are creating OUTSTANDING sounds. The opening Percussion/Violin Improv with Eyvind Kang on violin, and Logic on stage as well, is a percussive journey moving nicely into the more full Improv to follow, Kang still on stage, but this is still very loose and gets even looser as it moves into even more Open space.
Bowery Ballroom
– The trio takes a moment to treat our ears to the sounds of Sand, so beautiful, then just the three of them groove out to Scrontch Meister one more time on this run, allowing Billy a Drum Solo mid-tune, which is a really fun tune that only stays in the repertoire briefly, unfortunately.
Jay Rodriguez
– The rest of this set is tops! Jay Rodriguez, back again with his sax on this night, and John Dirac on guitar hit the stage and BLOW UP Toy Dancing! Seriously, check out these cats! Dirac has a sweet tone and is nice to hear … but he and Rodriguez leave the stage, and Eric Hipp enters on tenor sax for a take on the wild Sun Ra composition, Love In Outer Space — check out Sun Ra’s version for some fun comparison — so many players, so thick and layered:
– Hipp remains on stage for the first portion of this show/run closing sequence of Angel Race (I’ll Wait for You) > Open Improv > Hey Joe, joined by Marc Ribot, but Hipp leaves for the final number leaving just Ribot with Logic and MMW. Wow. Both Hipp and Ribot are on fire in Angel Race, another crazy and incredible Sun Ra tune — first known performance, I believe. I had the pleasure of catching an Angel Race in May of ’99 and loved it, before it gets mashed up in the medley with Nostalgia For Times Square, which is cool too … but hearing MMW bust this open with the guests on stage is really nice, and of course leads to some more Open Improv, carrying us over to the final gospelized closing of Hey Joe, with Ribot laying it out in fine fashion intermixing so well as he does with MMW …
A legendary historic run by some of the greatest improvisers to hit the live stage. MMW were helping Blue Note celebrate its anniversary, but now we can use these recordings — THANK YOU TAPERS!!! — to celebrate MMW any time with 5 outstanding shows, 10 sets of music, splattered with musical guests who all seem to be of like mind … yeah, a good way to start your Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#26
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#26)
2002-07-04
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| 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
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