When avant-garde jazz guitar troubadour John Scofield first teamed up with three-headed jazz/jam monster Medeski Martin & Wood in 1998, the by-product was an instant classic. A Go Go found both parties lending their respective -- and not totally dissimilar -- sounds to an unadulterated, funky jazz cauldron that had fans wondering what the hell took them so long to collaborate.
Eight years later, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood is back with Out Louder, the long-awaited follow-up to the debut (what the hell took them so long to do it again?). And while the sound is still unmistakably MSMW, this batch of tunes finds the quartet digging a little deeper and reaching a little further.
For the most part, this is a good thing. But while the beefed-up experimentalism here does showcase some outstanding musicianship, it may also be the one thing setting this set apart from A Go Go, which might be as close to perfect as this supergroup gets.
The original compositions on Out Louder are fun and organic, and the covers -- New Orleans traditional "Tootie Ma is a big fine thing", The Beatles' "Julia" and Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" -- truly bring out the "band" in this collaboration.
Scofield and Medeski are, well, Scofield and Medeski. Dissonant and brilliant. So much so, in fact, that their chemistry on Out Louder at times seems almost combative. Sco's noodling twang versus Medeski's undulating organ sustains. "Telegraph" and the swingy rocker "What Now" serve as examples.
True, that's what we expect from these two inherent bandleaders. But their dueling comes occasionally at the expense of the tightly-packaged riff-jazz groove they found and milked on A Go Go.
That said, the groove is still very much there, courtesy of the air-tight pocket that is drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood. Martin's sticks are busy but focused, as usual, and at times conjure the rocked-out Shack-Man sound. His album-opening beat on "Little Walter Rides Again" is reason enough to own the record.
Wood is exceptional throughout, shining particularly on the New Orleans traditional "Tootie Ma" and the jammed-out "Down The Tube," on which he sets down his signature upright for an electric bass.
Again, to compare this to A Go Go is simply not fair. Out Louder grooves and rocks and perplexes and awes just as much, if not more than any MMW or John Scofield record. And while there are sprinklings of both outfits' most recent work ("Cachaca" would fit right in on MMW's recent End Of The World Party) the whole of this record is certainly more raw than these guys, on their own, have been in a while.
Here's the opener, "Little Walter Rides Again"
Recent Comments