Medeski, Martin, and Wood, August 2005 Review
It was another musical day in the life as I spent the afternoon in Columbus, Ohio playing about 15 different silver-plated alto saxophones in the Junk Dude’s basement (www.junkdude.com). I was looking for my next major musical purchase; my most recent was a Hammond organ that I picked up the day of the last Cleveland MMW show back in July. However, this one would have to wait, as the Conn “Naked Lady” had met with an unfortunate accident, rendering her in a state requiring repair. Later that evening, I ended up with my friends walking down Prospect Avenue in downtown Cleveland as a large group of skateboarders made their presence known through the din of skateboard wheels against the asphalt. I was on my way to another Medeski, Martin, and Wood show.
We arrived at the Cleveland House of Blues and walked through the usual metal detectors as we were told that re-entry would be feasible (a rarity in the big production shows). The previous week, we’d seen Galactic at the Odeon. It was a total production that included no re-entry. Tonight’s production (though evident) was toyed with by the bands (or perhaps roadies) as someone had pulled the curtain over the “s” in the commercial-looking logo that is permanently at the back of the stage for all to see at every HOB show. It was now “House of Blue.”
We grabbed some premium balcony seats as the mob filled the place. Up first was Tarantula. It was only the second time I’d seen someone open for MMW. Traditionally, they play two sets. The first set is often riddled with acid jazz space jams that tiptoe on the brink of randomness, followed by some of the tastiest grooves ever witnessed in the second set. Tonight, it was going to be a bit different.
Tarantula came out and the drummer did some very brief banter, shouting “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!” I guess that was all he could muster for the majestic city in which I currently live called Cleveland, Ohio. They played what we could best sum up as “East Coast Phantomas,” though on this night they never achieved the honor of that comparison. They definitely had some interesting rhythmic patterns. However, my friend summed it up briefly as “boring.” I dug the broken hairs that hung from the Cellist’s bow. When he rubbed the strings that hard, I could see how that might happen.
In between sets, I spent a little time passing out flyers promoting my band’s show next Thursday. The month of music that started with Galactic last week and continued through MMW will go on through our show next Thursday (www.fergband.com) followed by another show that I’d like to see the next day if possible, the Dead Kenny G’s, headed by Skerik’s saxophonics. We noticed some fliers for that show strewn about as well.
Anyway, I got into a discussion with my buddy that plays drums with me about the Galactic show we’d seen the previous week. The concept of Galactic and MMW is similar. Both bands rely largely on their ability to improvise on various grooves. However, from these two shows, Galactic’s paled in comparison. One of the most important factors in such a show is to keep things fresh through the night. Galactic achieves it to some extent by bringing out guest musicians (like they used to bring out the Houseman). MMW achieves it through virtuosity and a multitude of different instruments.
As this was to be a one set night, the band came out smoking with Billy Martin drumming up simple yet sublime backbeats along with Chris Wood laying it on thick with the upright bass. However, the star was Dr. Medeski, making the most out of his Hammond A-100 (with the tiny lightbulb inside shining out of the back). Medeski takes the Hammond organ way beyond simply using it as a keyboard instrument, only setting the drawbars to a “stock setting” and tweaking it in small ways.
Instead, Medeski utilizes the full range of the keyboard while constantly pulling and pushing the drawbars, creating the exact harmonics he wishes depending on his uneven temper as a madman organist. He’d then turn into two people, playing the Wurlitzer piano with his left hand and the wood-carved clavinet with his right. I take his inspiration when I attempt similar acts like playing the same melody on two hands (though I’m experimenting with using my left hand on the tenor sax instead of the Wurli).
Tonight, the band was in a mirror-image configuration from when I’d seen them in the past. Chris Wood was still playing the basses in the middle, but Medeski was to Wood’s left this time, putting Billy Martin’s drum set on my left. Billy’s drum set was the usual 1960’s model. However, this time it had the biggest cow bell I’d ever seen sticking out of it. Perhaps it was always there, nestled in the back of the stage, but now that their orientation had changed, the thing was out in the open to be seen in all its glory. Any cow with that around its neck wasn’t going far.
As the groove juice flowed, the band would spice in licks from their new album. However, it would be a stretch to actually put together a setlist. It was truly a jam session. It becomes clear that these guys have been playing lots of music together for the last 15 years or so. It comes as natural to them as dreaming, when you are in the tangential mindset of a dream, completely immersed in the experience, weaving complicated patterns that couldn’t be conceived without the aid of the unconscious mind. The technique was unbelievably solid. Each one of them would just find their own little nook to throw in a note here or there, never stepping on anyone’s toes, never over-doing it, and never losing the groove.
From Medeski’s reaching into the mellotron to slow the tape to Chris Wood’s chicken picking on the electric bass to Billy Martin’s wood blocks, these guys kept the sound novel and interesting through the whole set, migrating from straight jazz to straight blues finally ending up at a straight montuno as the final encore. In between were a few tracks from their latest album as they faded songs from one to another like a d.j. perfectly transitioning one record to the next.
As the set that ran about 2 hours including encore went on, I made my way from the balcony seating to the front of the stage. I needed to feel the groove. I read a recent book by John Gray (the Men are From Mars Women Are From Venus dude) that talks about the “bounce and shake” method. Groove band shows like MMW are the place to apply it. You not only get the benefits of bodily cleansing through lymph system stimulation that the bounce and shake method of dancing gives you, you also get to do it with the beat, adding to the enjoyment of the groove and sharpening your own rhythmic aptitude. It is interesting to see people a bit uncomfortable at first, but you can see it become natural when a tune of their liking is played by the band. I noticed that the hippies weren’t too much into the fat blues put out, but as soon as that migrated into a straight up mmw jizzam, the sea of people started moving in unison. It was almost like the Gospel Brunch I’d gone to the previous Sunday with my wife.
After the show came to an end with the encore that started with Chris Wood playing upright bass with a bow (the first track on the latest album) and ended with the Afro-Caribbean montuno, we headed out. It was the best one-set mmw show I’d seen. It never got too far out of hand with the acid jazz jams that meander into nothingness for 5 minutes. However, whether the abridged version of mmw with an opening band is better than a full out two set assault remains to be seen.
While Galactic seems to be in a forward-progress lull right now, one thing is for certain, Medeski, Martin, and Wood is still progressing to the fore. While one sign of age is the deterioration of the musicians’ instruments (Chris Wood’s bass now has the lacquer wearing off from where he hits the body like a percussion instrument, and Ben Ellman of Galactic recently replaced his Naked Lady tenor with a Selmer), the true sign of this age is progress. Galactic has evolved their production skills, bringing in elaborate cameras and movies. MMW has evolved their musical skills, keeping it free and expanding their already super technical abilities, but most importantly, keeping it fresh and true.
We arrived at the Cleveland House of Blues and walked through the usual metal detectors as we were told that re-entry would be feasible (a rarity in the big production shows). The previous week, we’d seen Galactic at the Odeon. It was a total production that included no re-entry. Tonight’s production (though evident) was toyed with by the bands (or perhaps roadies) as someone had pulled the curtain over the “s” in the commercial-looking logo that is permanently at the back of the stage for all to see at every HOB show. It was now “House of Blue.”
We grabbed some premium balcony seats as the mob filled the place. Up first was Tarantula. It was only the second time I’d seen someone open for MMW. Traditionally, they play two sets. The first set is often riddled with acid jazz space jams that tiptoe on the brink of randomness, followed by some of the tastiest grooves ever witnessed in the second set. Tonight, it was going to be a bit different.
Tarantula came out and the drummer did some very brief banter, shouting “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!” I guess that was all he could muster for the majestic city in which I currently live called Cleveland, Ohio. They played what we could best sum up as “East Coast Phantomas,” though on this night they never achieved the honor of that comparison. They definitely had some interesting rhythmic patterns. However, my friend summed it up briefly as “boring.” I dug the broken hairs that hung from the Cellist’s bow. When he rubbed the strings that hard, I could see how that might happen.
In between sets, I spent a little time passing out flyers promoting my band’s show next Thursday. The month of music that started with Galactic last week and continued through MMW will go on through our show next Thursday (www.fergband.com) followed by another show that I’d like to see the next day if possible, the Dead Kenny G’s, headed by Skerik’s saxophonics. We noticed some fliers for that show strewn about as well.
Anyway, I got into a discussion with my buddy that plays drums with me about the Galactic show we’d seen the previous week. The concept of Galactic and MMW is similar. Both bands rely largely on their ability to improvise on various grooves. However, from these two shows, Galactic’s paled in comparison. One of the most important factors in such a show is to keep things fresh through the night. Galactic achieves it to some extent by bringing out guest musicians (like they used to bring out the Houseman). MMW achieves it through virtuosity and a multitude of different instruments.
As this was to be a one set night, the band came out smoking with Billy Martin drumming up simple yet sublime backbeats along with Chris Wood laying it on thick with the upright bass. However, the star was Dr. Medeski, making the most out of his Hammond A-100 (with the tiny lightbulb inside shining out of the back). Medeski takes the Hammond organ way beyond simply using it as a keyboard instrument, only setting the drawbars to a “stock setting” and tweaking it in small ways.
Instead, Medeski utilizes the full range of the keyboard while constantly pulling and pushing the drawbars, creating the exact harmonics he wishes depending on his uneven temper as a madman organist. He’d then turn into two people, playing the Wurlitzer piano with his left hand and the wood-carved clavinet with his right. I take his inspiration when I attempt similar acts like playing the same melody on two hands (though I’m experimenting with using my left hand on the tenor sax instead of the Wurli).
Tonight, the band was in a mirror-image configuration from when I’d seen them in the past. Chris Wood was still playing the basses in the middle, but Medeski was to Wood’s left this time, putting Billy Martin’s drum set on my left. Billy’s drum set was the usual 1960’s model. However, this time it had the biggest cow bell I’d ever seen sticking out of it. Perhaps it was always there, nestled in the back of the stage, but now that their orientation had changed, the thing was out in the open to be seen in all its glory. Any cow with that around its neck wasn’t going far.
As the groove juice flowed, the band would spice in licks from their new album. However, it would be a stretch to actually put together a setlist. It was truly a jam session. It becomes clear that these guys have been playing lots of music together for the last 15 years or so. It comes as natural to them as dreaming, when you are in the tangential mindset of a dream, completely immersed in the experience, weaving complicated patterns that couldn’t be conceived without the aid of the unconscious mind. The technique was unbelievably solid. Each one of them would just find their own little nook to throw in a note here or there, never stepping on anyone’s toes, never over-doing it, and never losing the groove.
From Medeski’s reaching into the mellotron to slow the tape to Chris Wood’s chicken picking on the electric bass to Billy Martin’s wood blocks, these guys kept the sound novel and interesting through the whole set, migrating from straight jazz to straight blues finally ending up at a straight montuno as the final encore. In between were a few tracks from their latest album as they faded songs from one to another like a d.j. perfectly transitioning one record to the next.
As the set that ran about 2 hours including encore went on, I made my way from the balcony seating to the front of the stage. I needed to feel the groove. I read a recent book by John Gray (the Men are From Mars Women Are From Venus dude) that talks about the “bounce and shake” method. Groove band shows like MMW are the place to apply it. You not only get the benefits of bodily cleansing through lymph system stimulation that the bounce and shake method of dancing gives you, you also get to do it with the beat, adding to the enjoyment of the groove and sharpening your own rhythmic aptitude. It is interesting to see people a bit uncomfortable at first, but you can see it become natural when a tune of their liking is played by the band. I noticed that the hippies weren’t too much into the fat blues put out, but as soon as that migrated into a straight up mmw jizzam, the sea of people started moving in unison. It was almost like the Gospel Brunch I’d gone to the previous Sunday with my wife.
After the show came to an end with the encore that started with Chris Wood playing upright bass with a bow (the first track on the latest album) and ended with the Afro-Caribbean montuno, we headed out. It was the best one-set mmw show I’d seen. It never got too far out of hand with the acid jazz jams that meander into nothingness for 5 minutes. However, whether the abridged version of mmw with an opening band is better than a full out two set assault remains to be seen.
While Galactic seems to be in a forward-progress lull right now, one thing is for certain, Medeski, Martin, and Wood is still progressing to the fore. While one sign of age is the deterioration of the musicians’ instruments (Chris Wood’s bass now has the lacquer wearing off from where he hits the body like a percussion instrument, and Ben Ellman of Galactic recently replaced his Naked Lady tenor with a Selmer), the true sign of this age is progress. Galactic has evolved their production skills, bringing in elaborate cameras and movies. MMW has evolved their musical skills, keeping it free and expanding their already super technical abilities, but most importantly, keeping it fresh and true.
Copyright © 2013 Russell E D
