Let’s talk about space. I could talk about the sticky funk (not stinky — funk’s already a mite impolite), the stickwork (Billy Martin so light on the skins I do believe he’s learned from writing chamber music in his spare time), the tone-warmth (lots of tube-tech, I imagine), but those gaps between notes, figures, beats, accents, cymbal tinks, agglutinate to a bigger animal. The quartet (legendary as a trio, here plugging in occasional guest guitarist John Scofield) sculpt these gaps, summoning their own elephant in the room, a through-line through each number and even the whole, going without saying.
Let’s talk about salsa. You’ll dance your way through this sitting in your seat. You’ll dance your way through this if you’re dead and legless. At a strategic point I’ll let you find, they give the slip to their prestigious chops and bust into the “Louie Louie” riff, peeling that back to its ancestry as a demented cha-cha-cha. “Light My Fire” grows chordal vamps from Medeski and a ripe lead to the melody from Scofield. “Sunshine of Your Love” grows reggae rhythms and reverb, wandering through an organ/bass vamp with occasional piano, until the original melody disappears around a bend and you’re left on a new plateau, an earthbound moonscape, warm wind chilling down as the stars decide to come out.
Let’s talk about selflessness. The quartet joins eight hands together to activate super powers but thankfully never stop listening to each other. No blather, no blare, but no banality. Hot space.
Album: Juice
Artist: Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood
Label: Indirecto Records
Songs: (1) Sham Time (2) North London (3) Louis the Shoplifter (4) Juicy Lucy (5) I Know You (6) Helium (7) Light My Fire (8) Sunshine of Your Love (9) Stovetop (10) The Times They Are A-Changin’
Let’s talk about space. I could talk about the sticky funk (not stinky — funk’s already a mite impolite), the stickwork (Billy Martin so light on the skins I do believe he’s learned from writing chamber music in his spare time), the tone-warmth (lots of tube-tech, I imagine), but those gaps between notes, figures, beats, accents, cymbal tinks, agglutinate to a bigger animal. The quartet (legendary as a trio, here plugging in occasional guest guitarist John Scofield) sculpt these gaps, summoning their own elephant in the room, a through-line through each number and even the whole, going without saying.
Let’s talk about salsa. You’ll dance your way through this sitting in your seat. You’ll dance your way through this if you’re dead and legless. At a strategic point I’ll let you find, they give the slip to their prestigious chops and bust into the “Louie Louie” riff, peeling that back to its ancestry as a demented cha-cha-cha. “Light My Fire” grows chordal vamps from Medeski and a ripe lead to the melody from Scofield. “Sunshine of Your Love” grows reggae rhythms and reverb, wandering through an organ/bass vamp with occasional piano, until the original melody disappears around a bend and you’re left on a new plateau, an earthbound moonscape, warm wind chilling down as the stars decide to come out.
Let’s talk about selflessness. The quartet joins eight hands together to activate super powers but thankfully never stop listening to each other. No blather, no blare, but no banality. Hot space.
Album: Juice
Artist: Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood
Label: Indirecto Records
Songs: (1) Sham Time (2) North London (3) Louis the Shoplifter (4) Juicy Lucy (5) I Know You (6) Helium (7) Light My Fire (8) Sunshine of Your Love (9) Stovetop (10) The Times They Are A-Changin’