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Medeski Martin & Wood
Tonic
Blue Note
I can imagine that there was a lot of Alka-Seltzer passed around at the Blue Note boardroom during the delivery of these tapes, MMW’s first-ever live album. After all, who cool among us doesn’t already possess a couple of concert boots from these grooveboppers, known for their ‘60s souljazz, organ trio sonics and stoner/jamhead journeys. Make that a double of the bubble, Doc. The performances would have to be nova hot to compete with the circulation of home tapers. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. But in keeping stride with the trio’s eclectic nature, MMW found the intimacy of NYC’s Tonic club as a motivational tool to return to their origins as a jazzy piano threesome. Just John Medeski at the Steinway, with Chris Wood unpacking his upright, and Billy Martin behind a set of simple traps. But the change is not as radical as you may think. Sure, there are moments on this album where Medeski’s majestic B-3 or kitschy clavinet might have offered another texture or two. But the immediacy of the small room (150 folks, sardine style) sets up a wonderful acoustic environment for the band to explore some softer nuances of sound. Just be glad they had room to fit in the DAT. Like most of MMW’s electric sets, this pulled-plug session features the trio wandering from purely atmospheric sounds (like the randomly plucked and bowed strings on the opening “Invocation”), to their candid interpretations of well-heeled standards (like the stripped-down take of Lee Morgan’s “Afrique”), all rolled together into one long extended statement. In this hour plus session, they hit on some spiritual and cerebral highs (zoning in on John Coltrane’s “Your Lady”), as well as some funky, lowdown lows (like the groove of Bud Powell’s “Buster Rides Again”), with plenty of solo extrapolations (like Chris Woods’ dense bass work during the original “Rise Up”) in between. Obviously, the close quarters of the club dictated a hushed volume, such as the whisper-touch given to their version of “Hey Joe”- which is so slight, that you don’t even realize its existence for several bars. Yet, if you take the time to listen intently, you may be awestruck at all of the other subtleties and hints that Medeski slips into the Steinway. Not to panic. They’ll be back at the shack soon enough. But until then, enjoy these cool, sublime, blissful tunes. –Virginia Reed
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