Blog Archives
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!
MMW Halloween History
– KNOWN/CIRCULATING RECORDINGS FROM HALLOWEEN (2000-2008) –
Trouble playing/downloading tunes?
| ~ HALLOWEEN Shows ~ ~ FLAC & MP3 filesets ~ ~ Download and/or Stream ~ |
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| 2000-10-31.schoeps-m222-mk41.96277.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #1] Beacon Theater, New York, NY Tuesday, October 31, 2000 # with Whirligig Percussion Ensemble (Paula Potocki, Arno Buzack & Gregg Burrows with Billy Martin & Cyro Baptista) * with Robert Randolph on pedal steel with Marc Ribot + Cyro Baptista on entire second set + encore |
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| 2001-10-31.fob.schoeps-cmc64.6158.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #2] The Beacon Theatre, New York, NY Wednesday, October 31, 2001 w/ Marc Ribot w/ Kid Koala and DJ P-Love # w/ Whirligig Percussion ensemble |
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 MMW – Halloween 2000 |
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| 2002-10-31.fob.neumann-tlm170.13067.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #3] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Thursday, October 31, 2002 # “Stridulations” are a series of independent percussion compositions written by illy B (aka Billy Martin), of which two were performed on this date, one leading right into the other. The five performers were: MMW, Steven Bernstein, and percussionist Carl Nilsen. * w/ DJ Spooky + w/ Mauro Refosco ^ w/ Smokey Hormel % w/ Uninvisible Horns of NYC: Steven Bernstein – trumpet, slide trumpet, director Briggan Krauss – alto sax Howard Johnson – tuba Curtis Hasselbring – trombone |
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| 2002-10-31.mbho603.13050.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #4] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Thursday, October 31, 2002 # “Stridulations” are a series of independent percussion compositions written by illy B (aka Billy Martin), of which two were performed on this date, one leading right into the other. The five performers were: MMW, Steven Bernstein, and percussionist Carl Nilsen. * w/ DJ Spooky + w/ Mauro Refosco ^ w/ Smokey Hormel % w/ Uninvisible Horns of NYC: Steven Bernstein – trumpet, slide trumpet, director Briggan Krauss – alto sax Howard Johnson – tuba Curtis Hasselbring – trombone |
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| 2002-10-31.mg210.112715.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #5] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Thursday, October 31, 2002 # “Stridulations” are a series of independent percussion compositions written by illy B (aka Billy Martin), of which two were performed on this date, one leading right into the other. The five performers were: MMW, Steven Bernstein, and percussionist Carl Nilsen. * w/ DJ Spooky + w/ Mauro Refosco ^ w/ Smokey Hormel % w/ Uninvisible Horns of NYC: Steven Bernstein – trumpet, slide trumpet, director Briggan Krauss – alto sax Howard Johnson – tuba Curtis Hasselbring – trombone |
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| 2003-10-31.akg393.retracked.122619.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #6] Beacon Theater, New York, NY Friday, October 31, 2003 One Set Most of show w/ DJ Le Spam * w/ Marc Ribot + w/ Spam Allstars horn section: –Mercedes Abal on flute –AJ Hill on Alto Sax –John Speck on trombone –Steve Welsh on Baritone Sax |
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| 2003-10-31.mg200.112716.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #7] Beacon Theater, New York, NY Friday, October 31, 2003 One Set Most of show w/ DJ Le Spam * w/ Marc Ribot + w/ Spam Allstars horn section: –Mercedes Abal on flute –AJ Hill on Alto Sax –John Speck on trombone –Steve Welsh on Baritone Sax |
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 MMW w/ Ribot – Halloween 2001 |
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| 2004-10-31.cad-equitek-e200(d1+d2)+mg200(d3).27302.t-flac [TSP-Halloween #8] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Sunday, October 31, 2004 One Set # with Antibalas Horn Section * cover of a song by Ethiopian keyboardist/composer Mulatu Astatqe, from the album “Liberty” (1974) ^ with Cyro Baptista (exact performance tunes unconfirmed, but sounds like these are the tracks) |
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| 2004-10-31.mg200.112717.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #9] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Sunday, October 31, 2004 One Set # with Antibalas Horn Section * cover of a song by Ethiopian keyboardist/composer Mulatu Astatqe, from the album “Liberty” (1974) ^ with Cyro Baptista (exact performance tunes unconfirmed, but sounds like these are the tracks) |
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| 2005-10-31.audix-1290-hc.31643.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #10] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Monday, October 31, 2005 One Set Entire show w/ Cyro Baptista + w/ SLAM (50+ piece band fronted by Kenny Wolleson & Jonathon Haffner) |
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 MMW – Halloween 2004 |
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| 2006-10-31.akg393.80135.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #11] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Tuesday, October 31, 2006 One Set # with Flora Purim (vocals) * with Sharon Jones (vocals) with Dave Tronzo (guitar) & Airto Moreira (percussion) for the entire show |
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| 2006-10-31.audix1290.79797.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #12] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Tuesday, October 31, 2006 One Set # with Flora Purim (vocals) * with Sharon Jones (vocals) with Dave Tronzo (guitar) & Airto Moreira (percussion) for the entire show |
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| 2006-10-31.schoeps-mk41.79897.t-flac16 [TSP-Halloween #13] Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY Tuesday, October 31, 2006 One Set # with Flora Purim (vocals) * with Sharon Jones (vocals) with Dave Tronzo (guitar) & Airto Moreira (percussion) for the entire show |
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| 2008-10-31.senn-k6.95827.t-flac [TSP-Halloween #14] Yebisu The Garden Hall, Tokyo, Japan Friday, October 31, 2008 One Set # with Cyro Baptista * with Jamie Cullum + WISM? Super Session with Shacho/Motoharu/tabu zombie/Midorin of Soil & “Pimp” Sessions |
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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!
FAITU#32
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#32)
1996-10-21 – SHACK PARTY VI
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| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
1996-10-21 ticket stub
Source info:
1996-10-21.schoeps-cmc6+mk4.1457.t-flac16 [TSP1996#17]
– SET I (tracks 1-4) –
– SET II (tracks 5-10) –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#32)
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 …
1996-10-21 ticket stub
– SHACK PARTY VI THOUGHTS –
After a brief introduction from illyB, wasting no time, a beat kicks in and the trio along with Eddie Bobe and Vernon Reid launch into some HEADY improvisation, with DJ Logic eventually joining the fray. The next 35min is simply outstanding group communication riding through waves of intensity and loose open grooves — this is Shackin’ Out at its finest, folks. This show is loaded with guests, as Bobe and Reid leave the stage, Daniel Carter joins on sax and Leon Gruenbaum on his very own creation, the Samchillian Tip Tip Tip Cheeepeeeee – see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samchillian – with these players lending their input to the the next set of improvisations. Juliana Nash joins on vocals for a couple of tunes, Gramma’s Hands (played again a few years later with Bruce Hornsby) and accompanied by Jennifer Jackson’s vox on the oldie, Chain of Fools, with Carter remaining on stage, the ensemble is also joined by Logic and Oren Bloedow for this fun celebratory close to the set.
The 2nd set sees many of the same players return, but Ben Perowski on percussion starts the set with the trio, Steven Bernstein makes an appearance on the too-little-played “Going Home”, with David Fiuczynski and Dean Bowman jumping in at the end on a tune they played on a few times with MMW, the Hendrix classic, Crosstown Traffic, which closes the night on a HIGH note.
The space and sounds explored over this 6th Shack Party should do well to sooth you with groove on this Friday Afternoon In The Universe …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
FAITU#31
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE
(FAITU#31)
1996-10-14 – SHACK PARTY V
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| Trouble playing tunes? | ||||
1996-10-14 ticket stub
Source info:
1996-10-14.gefell-m300.4679.t-flac16 [TSP1996#16]
– SET I (tracks 1-7) –
– SET II (tracks 8-15) –
FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN THE UNIVERSE (FAITU#31)
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 …
1996-10-14 ticket stub
– SHACK PARTY V THOUGHTS –
The official release of Shack-man, this night finds the trio playing through much of the album, out of order and with some further explorations, to play out the first set of this gig — light on actual spontaneous composition improvisation, but full on manipulation of the tunes makes this a HOT set. I mean, the start of ITAHTLMJ has Medeski on *piano* and it sounds SOOOOO cool!
2nd set returns to the Shack Party format, launching off a groovy Good Golly Miss Molly with Dean Bowman wailing it (I dig this one!), the players head out from there, dabbling in some Hendrix references but really just pushing the music into full on improvisations, to wrap up with the Mingus classic, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat … I can’t help but feel I could do with less of Bowman’s vocals through the set, but having the FUZE on guitar along with Logic makes this a minor “complaint” … it’s a very fun playful set …
Head into your Friday Afternoon In The Universe with Medeski’s piano tinkering to start ITAHTMJ, and let the music flow over/through you …
enjoy the grooves,
dug
THE SHACK STREAM
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD ANOTHER SHOW!
The Shack Project 