Home Read Classic Album Review: Medeski, Martin and Wood | Uninvisible

Classic Album Review: Medeski, Martin and Wood | Uninvisible

The groove merchants move between the jazz club, the art space & the chillout room.

This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


Now 10 years into their career, groove merchants Medeski, Martin and Wood have pretty much explored every nook and cranny of the organ-based acid-jazz sound they cut their teeth on.

So, with their ninth full-length Uninvisible, they continue to strike out for unexplored terrain by introducing new elements and textures into the mix. On these 14 cuts, MMW tinker with turntables (DJ Olive scratches up Pappy Check), let a few guest vocalists have their say (including Crash Test DummiesBrad Roberts, who adds some throaty sighs to Where Have You Been?) and venture into woozy noir on Take Me Nowhere. Meanwhile, hip-hop producer Scotty Hard (who also helmed their last CD The Dropper) douses everything with prickly shards of noise and shadowy pools of reverb and echo that deliver these tracks to a place between the jazz club, the art space and the chillout room. With seasoned travellers like MMW, though, things never get lost. After all, they know the neighbourhood like the backs of their hands.

 

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