Blog Archives
FAITU#39
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#39)
2013-04-19
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MMW @Kirkland Performance Center, Kirkland, WA 2013-04-17
Source info:
2013-04-19.neumann-km140.124443.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-6) –
– SET II (tracks 7-13) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#39)
The ACOUSTIC goodness of MMW … oh yeah. Perhaps more accurately referred to as “Chamber Music” — that’s what Billy called the music at the shows I hit at this time … has a nice ring to it … reverent …
MMW 2013 Acoustic Tour
– SET I –
Show begins carving through the open space, everyone filling the sound, and then c.3min Medeski plays this lilting line on the piano (familiar?) and the vibe changes to something soothing, which slides right into Hip Chops on the next track, a killer romp, courtesy of Roland Kirk, that is always fun to hear the guys play. The tune takes a turn near the end back into some Open Improvisation, which almost feels like it’s picking up where the pre-Hip Chops open exploration left off — cool! This set’s open playing so far has been rather comforting, but around 3min into track #3 the sounds take a turn towards the eerie and anxiety-inducing — tension! So it gets more tense for a bit before breaking apart into some random note playing (or so it sounds), which all pulls together into a groove of sorts when we roll into track #4.
MMW @Roseland Theater, Portland, OR 2013-04-18
The Improv takes a little shift @3:06 that sounds like the beginning of what is more developed by @6:03 of track #4 — I’m not sure if this is just really beautiful improvisation, or if we’ve hit a tune … kind of reminds me of something from Medeski’s solo album that came out around this time, A DIFFERENT TIME … but I’ve never been able to place it. A lovely listen …
A big swig of Olde Wyne wraps up the set leaving you feeling all warm inside …
– SET II –
A quick bassline from Chris and a sprinkling of melodica from John, while illyB interjects some snare accents, gets us going into what I’ve (stupidly?) temp-named “Melodiccordion Shuffle”. The tune debuted on the previous fall’s East coast acoustic tour and had John on the Claviola upon the debut of the tune’s melody on Oct 3/2012 in Fall River, MA — and it’s been unclear to me if itwas a song at that point, or just an improvised melody that night because it wasn’t until the next night that we hear a more “full” version of a song, and it continued to morph over that fall tour, the Blue Note run, and in these spring ’13 gigs. Anyway, the Claviola was new to me when I witnessed that first melody performance in Oct ’12, and I dubbed the instrument a “Melodiccordion” — it’s like a hybrid of the melodica and an accordion, hence the odd temp-name for this track since I often try to be descriptive with temp-names for new tunes. Not too long after I discovered the name of the instrument as the Claviola. Pretty sure this performance is on the melodica though.
Wood @Roseland Theater, Portland, OR 2013-04-18
The next piece is hauntingly beautiful in all the right ways: Ballade In C Minor, ‘Vergessene Seelen’. This also has a VERY interesting history in MMW’s live repertoire. First (known) appearance of what I’d term the ‘Vergessene Seelen’ melody dates way back to May 29/1994 where the band jams off this in an electric setting — VERY cool discovery I made earlier while preparing FAITU#16. The ‘Vergessene’ melody surfaces yet again 6 years later, now in an acoustic setting, when the band began their run of acoustic gigs in early 2000; Apr 14/2000 began with yet another embryonic version of the “tune” — again, more like it’s a melody in John’s head that he toys with from time to time … I wonder how many other times it’s been used? I haven’t found others yet, but I’m listening! Finally on the 2007 acoustic spring tour the band debuts the tune they developed around that lingering melody, and Ballade In C Minor, ‘Vergessene Seelen’ is played each night, then disappears, eventually making its way onto the release of Free Magic in 2012. leading the band to playing it again — and REALLY working it! — over the fall 2012 tour, and again on this spring 2013 tour. This night’s version, like any of them, is well worth hearing. It’s a weird tune, but I REALLY dig it. This 4/19/2013 performance moves through the “Ballad” section smoothly and the ‘Vergeessene Seelen’ section seems especially hopping — the fall versions seemed to all move towards breaking down earlier or more slowly, but this one just quits the energy right to a short Drum Solo to finish out.
MMW @Roseland Theater, Portland, OR 2013-04-18
“Wild Instrument Jam” was great when I caught versions on the fall tour, and this one doesn’t disappoint either — well, except for the one idiot who keeps calling for the band to “fill it in”. Sometimes it’s best to just be quiet and listen, you might be rewarded in your soul for such attention. Maybe that’s just me? So, this is another “wild” and wacky improvisation with John on the Fujara (a Slovakian shepherd horn) — John gravitated to this choice of instrument over the fall acoustic shows, but the first few times this moment happened in the fall gigs it seemed he might introduce a new/unique instrument each time or at least shuffle between the newly played Claviola, Bamboo Sax, or Fujara. This jam works weirdly into Bob Marley’s Legalize It — a tune they’ve covered electrically as a trio since 2003, but then became part of their MSMW repertoire and was recorded on the OUT LOUDER album with Scofield.
Suspicious Minds closes the set and the show — as unlikely a cover as any MMW have tackled. I LOVE It. Got to hear it a couple of time on the fall ’12 East Coast leg of the tour.
Medeski & Martin @Roseland Theater, Portland, OR 2013-04-18
So no encore, which is how the band rolls sometimes … in this case, no worries, as each set sits as a nice whole in and of itself … I think these acoustic chamber sets will treat you well on this (Good) Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#36
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#36)
2007-03-03
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illyB c.2007
Source info:
2007-03-03.fob.akg481.83457.t-flac16
– SET I (tracks 1-5) –
– SET II (tracks 6-11) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#36)
MARCH 2007
These March shows that start off 2007 are HOT HOT HOT!!! I love them all and have listened to them often — especially the loose and improvisation heavy first sets from these gigs. I do have to say that I’m just not a huge fan of Oliver sitting in … it’s fine, but I don’t find he *lifts* the band up in their performance, if you know what I mean (and these days I would *MUCH* rather find Chris hanging more with his brothers from other mothers than his bio-bro, but I digress) … nonetheless, some cool moments from him in that 2nd set and great playing from the band … still have the MSMW tunes floating around since at this point they’d recently played the Nov > Dec tour with Sco …
Wood c.2007
And you know what would be REALLY cool? If the 3/8 gig in Atlanta surfaced:
http://mmwhistory.com/mmw.cgi?2007-mmw#3/8/2007
We had an incomplete copy of Nashville (3/4) pop up a couple of years ago, so there’s always hope … but for now …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#35
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#35)
2017-01-17
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mmw @(le) poisson rouge, NYC, NY 2017-01-18
Source info:
2017-01-17.akg-ck93.137864.t-flac16 [TSP2017#2]
– SET I (tracks 1-11) –
– SET II (tracks 12-23) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#35)
Instead of reading this time, check out my notes quickly via this 2min YouTube vid:
Martin & Wood @(le) poisson rouge, NYC, NY
2017-01-18
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#34
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#34)
2003-06-26
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MMW @Deco Music Fest, Miami, FL 2003-01-19
Source info:
2003-06-26.dpa4023.128682.t-flac16
– ONE SET (tracks 1-22) –
– SHACK THOUGHTS –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#34)
The Shack Project celebrates MMW @25 years!
Oh, hot summer Montreal … it’s a sticky town when it heats up, and we were staying in one of the McGill dorms which just seemed extra hot, with no air flow. But, the price was right at the time our little family made the trek west to the province of Québec into the fun city that is Montreal.
MMW 2004-05-28 @Harmony Park Music Garden, Geneva, MN
This was our 2nd time to the Montreal Jazz Fest, but first time since the late ‘90s and finally corresponding with MMW playing – I was excited, to say the least. My wife and I took our (at the time 8-year-old) daughter to the festival for her first time, and the experience of Montreal. If you’ve never been to the Montreal Jazz Fest, do yourself a favour and check it out. Lots and lots of fantastic music from around the world, and a wide palette to sample, and good for all tastes and ages. But it can make for a long day when you’re only 8 years old. The Kid was a super trooper, and wanted to enjoy the show – she drifted off briefly, and thankfully we had a stool for her to sit on and a counter for leaning. The Metropolis is a fantastic concert hall, with a general admission floor and then a balcony with curved rows of long tables/counters and accompanying stools. We were down near the front and had a perfect view. Didn’t see any microphones at the time, so I was doubtful of getting a recording of the gig – happy to have tracked this down shortly after the show! Because it was an incredible evening of music, and merger of sounds, so it’s freakin’ fabulous it’s been captured for us to hear today. BIG THANKS to the taper! Onto the show …
We got in some time after 9pm, I think, with the opening act starting around 10pm and playing an hour or so. I remember one of the bouncers telling our daughter to make sure we, my wife and I, behaved ourselves – he was counting on her to keep us line, he said. She found it funny, and so did we because she always kept us in line – we’ve always been the kids in this relationship, it seems …
Finally, it was MMW show time …
– ONE SET –
The band entered banging woodblocks – something I saw them do to start the 2nd set of my 2nd MMW show back in ’98 – so it’s a percussive start to the evening, with DJ P Love casting out some atmospheric filler during this opening Open Improvisation. Eventually P Love leaves the stage and Down On Me begins to burble up from the sounds into this full-on acoustic romp – love it! This was my first time hearing the song at a show, and it was new only that spring of ’03. We had a number of shows circulate speedily from the spring tour through this “new thang” called bittorrent (yep, blew my mind at the time! – still does to some extent), so the song sounded familiar to me but I didn’t really know it, and we never got a title for it until later in ’03, I think, maybe even later. Anyway, this tune is a wonderful excuse for John to tickle the ivories into submission, so I welcome it any time. (The Down On Me melody, as I’ve noted in other show notes, had been kicking around MMW’s musical consciousness for some time, but finally solidified into a full song in the spring of ’03.)
DJ P Love
As Down On Me fizzles out, Henduck rears its head out of the ether and was very welcome to my Shack-man era ears. Still just the trio on stage and they really milked this tune in all the right ways: a nice slow move into it out of Down On Me; then a slow build over Billy’s shaking with John’s organ vamp and Chris’ slow pulse; and then shit opens up and it gets real. Damn. By this point these cats can make Henduck dance in all the ways they want, with Medeski employing one of his ’03 key sounds (what is that? sounds almost warbly-woodwind-like? Is that the Wurlitzer?), and that sound tweaks Henduck ever so nicely.
Next up Nocturnal Transmission was nice to hear – I had to skip over seeing the band during the Uninvisible era (life, school, etc.), so I was real happy to be catching this tune. P Love comes back out and so does Russell Gunn on trumpet (also playing at the festival). Splashes of sounds throughout the opening of the tune with everyone contributing to create this bed of sound, and when the 2nd section of the song kicks in, where the tempo picks up like double-time (often tracked as a separate song on live shows) everyone is laying it all out. Gunn is utilizing some effects on his horn to muffle the sound considerably – I was indifferent to this at the gig, but it in retrospect it fits the vibe of the tune; I was merely hoping to hear the guy play in a clean trumpet sound and it never happened, not even during the set of his that we caught … seemed odd to me to always use some kind of effect. Anyway, it works here perfectly really, and Medeski is back to that ’03 warbly sound again, and eventually this entire monster groove wraps with a brief groovy solo from John.
Billy introduces the guests then delivers a brief percussion improvisation before slamming the kit, everyone joining at that moment, and some wild sounds begin to emerge, wiggling and familiar, but always just crawling around the eventual melody that will give way. P Love plays a sample where a woman says “let’s get to know the instruments one by one”, and then anything but your usual display of solo prowess ensues – the wild sounds just get wilder. It’s playful and open, but eventually Worms gives way and the ensemble on stage is relentless in its Worms exploration.
Russell Gunn
A Drum Solo wiggles out of Worms and Billy kicks it for a while by himself, but near the end of the solo track Foday Musa Suso comes out on a junkuran (hand drum) to join illyB, which develops into the introduction to Toy Dancing and Suso is finding pockets to fill in that intro, and then again during the tune proper – this guy is REALLY listening, and this tune is just the tip of the iceberg. Again, glad to hear this tune as I would be happy with a Toy Dancing at any and every show – I really dig that groove, the sound of the drum at the start, the dysfunctional way all the parts join together to create the overall sound. Damn. I hadn’t heard it since the first run of MMW shows my wife and I hit back in ’98, when it was so new that those performances were more like improvisations around the song’s theme than they were the song itself, which took shape just a night after our 2nd and last show of that spring ’98 tour. Gunn, who returned for this tune, is also laying a line over and weaving with Medeski that works really well here, again, the effects on his trumpet melding nicely into MMW’s vibe.
A brief pause as Billy introduces us to Foday Musa Suso, Gunn leaves the stage, Suso picks up his kora, Medeski swirls an organ intro, and I Wanna Ride You takes us on quite a ride. It takes a little over a minute before you can start to really pick Suso out in the mix, but then listen to the holes he fills and they give him a cool breakdown moment – the kora sounds amazing in here! Wonderful interaction with him and the band, a true quartet at work.
Another pause as Suso grabs his “violin” – this isn’t your standard western violin, but something in that family of sound but I believe comes from Suso’s culture. The “violin” has a creepy thin sound, dissonant, that weaves and cuts through the Smoke groove, once again finding gaps in the music for his input and infusing the band with new blood.
Next up, the set closes with the HEAVY bass-driven Uninvisible, which I was again happy to hear since I didn’t catch any of that album’s touring, along with the other tracks from that album we caught on this night, and having the guests contribute to a number of those songs made them a little more special to hear on this night. Suso is back on the kora for the Uninvisible closer, again finding pockets, but P Love and Gunn are back on stage helping lay the bed of sound – everyone is playing together so well here, truly an ensemble unit. This version is THICK.
Foday Musa Suso (w/ kora)
Only P Love returns to the stage with MMW for the encore of one last Pappy Check, which sends us into the late night Montreal air just buzzing with groove …
We nudged our daughter awake by this point – she was in/out over the end of the show, which started at like 10pm with an opening act (not worth discussing – seriously, except to say what a waste of time! Sorry guys, that’s harsh, but opening for MMW was not the place for this group of players), so it was close to 1am when we got out of there (which was 2am by our internal clocks), but the Kid was jazzed up now after some rest so we wandered into the free late night sets to give her the full festival experience … and you can get a taste of that listening through on this fine Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#33
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#33)
1996-10-28 – SHACK PARTY VII
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Medeski 1996-11-26 @Waterloo Records, Austin, TX
Source info:
1996-10-28.schoeps-cmc621.11868.t-flac16 [TSP1996#18]
– SET I (tracks 1-7) –
– SET II (tracks 8-15) –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#33)
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 …
Medeski 1996-11-26 @Waterloo Records, Austin, TX
– SHACK PARTY VII THOUGHTS –
What can I say? Been blabbing for weeks about these shows, and this last Shack Party is no exception. The gig is lousy with incredible improvisation, guest input that fits so well (Tablas?!; Dirac and Blume on guitar?; Hipp sax?), and a straight-up bluesy encore by the trio alone … a tune some of you might know as Slow Blues For Fuzy’s Mama, but is originally titled Can’t Get What You Want … hope you got what you needed on this last Shack Party pick for Friday Afternoon In The Universe … onto some other gigs for next week’s FAITU pick!
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
The Shack Project 