Search - Medeski Martin & Wood :: Uninvisible

Get off your high horse, It's dope.

dave | USA | 04/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In April of 2002, Uninvisible was released. Most reviews of this album are negative as the critics were expecting something along the lines of The Dropper. Instead, Medeski, Martin, & Wood give us a fat helping of explosive groove. Those who have negative things to say about this album are advocators of music evolution and are bitter at the group for not continuing their progressive sound that is so prevalent on their last album. If anything should be learned from Medeski, Martin, & Wood's elaborate catalog, it is that we should never be expecting any one style in particular. Also, each album seems to be a testimony to different approaches to jazz music. If the last album was a demonstration of dealing with jazz on an experimental level, one should not expect the next to be as well.
The testimony in Uninvisible is a simple one: big, fat, jazz music that grooves in every direction. The album bursts open with Chris Wood's electrifying descending bassline that is quickly met by wild organ work, a lively hip-hop beat, and triumphant arrangements for a full horn section. This starting track is the richest sound the trio has achieved yet. The album continues with the optimistic vibe as it goes into an organ piece that hints at gospel music. The next track has a voice over of a jazz hound reminiscing the good old days of 1992. This track acts as a reprise or sequel to a tune from Combustication, in which a similar voice recalls the days of Charlie Parker and Lester Young. Perhaps this flashback is there to remind us that MMW have now reached, in the underground jazz scene, the notoriety of the jazz greats of be-bop era. The third song is a funky number that echoes the prevailing influence of Jimi Hendrix. Some impressive record-scratching dances all over this tune. The next track is the first of a few eerier tunes. While it does have a fairly consistent mushroom-jazz beat, you never really know where this tune is headed. The next track is a spacey tune with subtle reoccurring keyboard melodies hidden by ambient sounds that fade in and out over it. The strengths of this song are in the drumming. It sounds as if a D.J. is sampling different beats, but that is all Billy Martin. This is followed by a song that starts with the chirping of the upright bass and ends with delayed percussions. Then we have a slow, but lively track that sounds like something that was left out of The Dropper recording sessions. A half-minute-long piece follows with John Medeski toying around with a Moog synthesizer resulting in a Nintendo-sounding creation. After the awkward interlude, the listener finds himself bobbing his head to the bassline that carries us into another hip-hop beat with spooky keys and a barrage of atonal horn blowing. This is followed by a rhythm and blues flavored jam, where John Medeski finally shows off a bit. Track 12 has bassline that sounds again like something off Combustication. The next track is another piece where the rhythmic side of it is extreme enough to hold its own, but it is decorated with yet more atonality. The last tune features a drum track recorded backwards. This oddly brings closure to this album that seems to be all over the place.
As it spells out jazz music with a complete horn section, organ, bass, drums, record scratching, delay effects, synthesizers, and the occasional blatant disregard for tonal music, Uninvisible is anything but typical. Even for MMW, this album offers brand new sound at times. While this album isn't as hard on the ears as their last one, it is equally as experimental."

More fun groovin' from MMW

treestamp | 06/08/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jazz can be a lot of things, but one thing it should never be is a "serious discipline." In jazz history, a certain degree of playfulness and humor has always been a trademrk element, from Dixie to swing to bop to fusion. Yet in the pedantry of contemporary jazz, from its being marketed as "adult" music to its sneering brigade of "traditionalists," that element seems to get swept under the rug. Somehow, too many people think that if jazz is "fun," it's also base and lacking in artistic merit, regardless to all the lip-service given to the jazz greats like Armstrong, Gillispie and Monk. The humorous aspect of jazz has often been subtle, since it mostly was a black thing in a white world -- note Armstrong's classic "(What Did I Do To Get So) Black and Blue" -- and rather than make jazz vulgar, it added to its aura of sophistication. It is this colorful element that jazz of the present is dangerously close to forgetting completely, and despite the ongoing controversy of the "whitening" of jazz, if it takes a bunch of white boys to stop it, then so be it. Granted, I don't want to make messiahs out of MMW, but I think they're doing us a huge favor for which they should get credit. This trio has been grooving and jamming for over 10 years now, carving out for themselves a fun little niche which (God bless 'em) they show no intentions of abandoning anytime soon...although they'll gladly have company over. Since I'm neither a purist nor a fascist, I too welcome a bit of company getting into the mix, which is why I find Uninvisible a thoroughly enjoyable album. It's another solid and groovin' album that follows MMW's proven "the whole is greater than the sum of its part" approach, with no signs that MMW is running low on either their creativity or their sense of humor. The openness of their free-jam style allows plenty of room for guest musicians throw in their two cents without it ever getting conjested. As a bonus, this album manages to better refine the "jazztronica" thing MMW began with the somewhat less consistent Dropper. All in all, Uninvisible is a very good jazz album that is testimony to a long-time jazz truth: a good groove and sense of humor will get you far."