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John Medeski was the keyboard leader of the band that was a modern Jimmy McGriff /Jimmy Smith but they didn’t ever capture their superb live performances on their studio recordings. It was only the Sa-Ra remix of 2005 that finally got them some ‘hip’ street cred and that didn’t even make their last Blue Note release, the compilation Best Of.. 1998 — 2005.

The first incarnation of Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood was on Scofield’s A Go Go (Verve, 1998) album but Out Louder is the first real Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood four-way collaborative recording and the first release for MMW’s own Indirecto Records label.

The album starts with Scofield’s blues, ‘Little Walter Rides Again’ which is as standard as this album gets. The other tracks are mostly their own material written as band jams. The standout track is bassist Chris Wood’s ‘Cachaça’ which is fine in the studio but guess what? This CD comes with a bonus CD of live recordings and ‘Cachaça’ comes in at nearly twice as long live and gets a healthy fusion workout — the closest we’ll get to a 70s fusion super group, (today I’d go, Billy Cobham, McLaughlin, Emerson, Jaco).

Enough of my fantasising as Scofield has said of MSMW, “I wanted to see what would happen if we did something that was a true collaboration, where everyone could play completely free.” Well not completely ‘free’ but the next track, ‘Miles Behind’ is electric Miles (sans Trumpet) that gives the album its feel as a mix of jazz-rock fusion and the blues, particularly ‘What Now’.

‘Telegraph’ comes in at the electronic experimentation end and the cover of Lennon and McCartney’s ‘Julia’ may find its way onto a future Hectic Norwegian Woodbeatle mix. I found the distinctly non-reggae version of Peter Tosh’s ‘Legalize It’ disappointing (instead try Charlie Hunter’s album Natty Dread for reggae-jazz) but there’s an interesting use of melodica on ‘In Case The World Changes Its Mind’.

‘Tequila And Chocolate’ is as odd a cocktail of Latin fusion dance as the title implies but they let it hang out even further on ‘Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing’ and ‘Hanuman’ but never getting to the freedom of the live CD; the funk-fusion of ‘Down The Tube’ is the closest they get.

I’d recommend listening to the live CD first as it’s brilliant. The cover of ‘Amazing Grace’ is painful at the start but stick with it as the whole gig is a blast, definitely worth seeing live on this account on their forthcoming European visit in July.

The addition of the experienced Scofield (you name ‘em, he’s played with ‘em) to the MMW front line has taken much of the pressure off Medeski who was the lone striker for far too long. Out Louder is a revelation. A great start for their new label and well worth getting.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Down The Tube’, Chachaça’, ‘Hanuman’, ‘Miles Behind’, ‘Chachaça/The Tube/ Deadzy/What Now (Live)’

Reviewed: Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood — Out Louder (Indirecto Records) Cat. No. 172 0439 Release date: 16th April 2007
Tracklisting
1 Little Walter Rides Again (3:55)
2 Miles Behind (2:53)
3 In Case the World Changes Its Mind (3:41)
4 Tequila and Chocolate (6:25)
5 Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing (4:42)
6 Chachaça (4:14)
7 Hanuman (6:24)
8 Telegraph (3:55)
9 What Now (4:54)
10 Julia (5:18)
11 Down the Tube (11:40)
12 Legalize It (3:55)

CD 2 — Recorded LIve November 2006 at The Bowery Ballroom in New York City
Tracklisting
1. A Go Go (5:17)
2. Chachaça (7:29)
3. Down The Tube (4:19)
4. Amazing Grace (6:05)
5. Deadzy (6:50)
6. What Now (4:19)

Links:
www.medeskimartinwood.com
www.johnscofield.com
www.indirectorecords.com
www.mmw.net
www.emarcy.com
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