Review: Radiolarians III

Medeski Martin & Wood
Radiolarians III

I've already explain the background information on the Radiolarians series in my reviews of the first two installments, so I'll get straight to the music.

Each entry in the series has had a different identity than the others. The first contained a hodgepodge of styles separated into individual tracks, while I called the second more of a jamband album. Radiolarians III veers into jamband territory as well, but it feels more like classic Medeski Martin & Wood material. Longtime fans of the group would probably like the third installment the best, as tunes like Walk Back and Chantes Des Femmes sound like quintessential MMW.

Like the first two albums in the series, John Medeski plays a lot more acoustic piano than we are used to hearing him play, and again I am impressed with his style. He plays the piano like a drum, playing rhythmic foil to drummer Billy Martin and Chris Wood. Conceptually, this band is reminiscent of an African drum ensemble, playing intense polyrhythms against each other to create dense clusters of beats. The results are often riveting, as on the Latin tinged Jean's Scene.

Radiolarians III is probably my least favorite of the series, but regardless it has entered the heavy rotation list on my iPod. Even when they are not at the very top of their game, Medeski Martin & Wood fail to disappoint. In the process, they so often fulfill the promise of jazz as outlined by Ralph Ellison, that the music can put themselves directly in the present moment, where they can reflect on the past while also looking forward.


Track Listing: Chantes Des Femmes; Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down; Kota; Undone; Wonton; Walk Back; Jean's Scene; Broken Mirror; Gwyra Mi
Personnel: John Medeski, piano, keyboards; Chris Wood, bass; Billy Martin, drums, percussion

Review: Radiolarians II

Medeski Martin & Wood
Radiolarians II

Medeski Martin & Wood have released the second album of their Radiolarians series, in which they develop and flesh out new tunes on the road before taking them into the studio. Whereas Radiolarians I resulted in an assemblage of various styles in one album, Radiolarians 2 seems more stylistically unified. Medeski Martin & Wood are in jamband mode on this album - which some may interpret as a bad thing. But I don't. One of the trio's strengths is the way it bridges highbrow and lowbrow. In the same song, you can hear Medeski play the kind of sophisticated, angular lines which make jazz buffs drool over a simple but effective funk groove laid down by Wood and Martin.

Such is the case on Radiolarians 2. The album opens with a heavy bass riff reminiscent of Les Claypool before giving way to the frenetic opening melody of "Flat Tires," which then leads into a simple vamp over which Medeski lays some pianistics with hints of Cecil Taylor and Ellington. Within the first three minutes of the album, the trio assembles its usual pastiche of American musical forms into its own inimitable sound. It is a brilliant opening, and one whose promise is fulfilled throughout the remainder.

More indicative of the laid-back feel of the album is the sixth track, Amber Girls, which is reminiscent to me of a Phish jam, slowly meandering its way through its variations. The tune also features some satisfying dissonance between Medeski's piano and Wood's electric bass. The tune also reflects the only major shortcoming of the album, though. By the time the group has arrived at the end of the tune, they simply let it end without giving it a conclusion worthy of the tune's exposition. This is forgivable, though, as the first four minutes of the tune more than made up for its abrupt ending ("It's not the destination, but the journey," as the saying goes).

Though you rarely read about it in the jazz press, who mostly focus on the trio's own version of inter-genre fusion, Medeski Martin & Wood are more than capable practitioners of the kind of free jazz you would expect to hear on an Ornette Coleman album. This facet of the group is on full display on "Dollar Pants," which is built upon a single two-beat vamp. Medeski and Wood each take turns playing around the vamp, each giving subdued takes on the theme free from harmonic restraints.

I've made no secret of my admiration for Medeski Martin & Wood, and I would add Radiolarians 2 to the top of my list of evidence of their particular brand of genius. They may not be playing jazz as defined by some, but their music is nonetheless a captivating outgrowth of The Jazz Tradition, one which continues to bear breathtaking fruit.


Bonus Content: Medeski Martin & Wood play Junkyard earlier this year at Le Poisson Rouge (mislabeled as Cajun Boogie):

Track Listing: Flat Tires; Junkyard; Padirecto; ijiji; Riffin' Ed; Amber Girls; Chasen vs. Suribachi; Dollar Pants; Amish Pinxtos; Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
Personnel: John Medeski, keyboards; Chris Wood, bass; Billy Martin, drums, percussion

Review: Radiolarians I

Medeski Martin & Wood
Radiolarians 1

Medeski Martin & Wood have been together for a long time - almost twenty years - so you can forgive them from shaking up their routine to keep things fresh and keep themselves interested. Whether that means bringing John Scofield into the fold for an album and tour, or releasing various side projects, these forays outside of the standard (if you could use that word to describe anything they do) MMW ouvre allow the trio to both pursue outside outlets of creativity and expand the repertoire that each member brings to the group.

This is the same process out of which sprang Radiolarians 1, the latest offering from the group. Foregoing their standard recording technique (relentless studio jamming edited into a group of tracks), the trio spent the first part of this year composing rough sketches of some new tunes, then let the compositions grow organically on tour before returning to the studio to record the newly-fleshed out tunes. Radiolarians 1 is intended as the first in a three-part series (you can imagine what the next two albums will be called). They named the album after a marine organism of the same name. According to the band's website, radiolaria "grow their intricately beautiful patterned skeleton around their soft core in defiance of normal biological process, similarly to Medeski Martin and Woods latest creative cycle."

The results of this process are quite satisfying. Like many other works from the trio, the tracks on Radiolarians 1 represent not only individual parts of a coherent whole but also captivating standalone pieces of music. The trio covers wide territory in each of the tracks, from the spacy New Orleans funk of "Free Go Lily" to the Jack Johnson-era Miles Davis back beat of "Cloud Wars." The process of slowly developing the individual songs in this album plays up some under-appreciated traits of the group. Medeski reminds us on "Free Go Lily" of how percussive his acoustic piano-playing is, lending extra rhythmic force on the tune – his percussiveness is easy to forget since he sticks to electric instruments so often. Wood is paradoxically light on his electric bass on the decidedly-heavy tune, "Reliquary." Martin displays his impish wit on "Sweet Pea Dreams."

This new recording process has served Medeski Martin & Wood well, allowing the three much time to dig in, explore, and develop their parts before putting them to record. The result is an exhilarating, fresh effort for the veteran trio, proving that theire well still produces after so many years together.

Track Listing: First Light; Cloud Wars; Muchas Gracias; Professor Nohair; Reliquary; Free Go Lily; Rolling Son; Sweet Pea Dreams; God Fire; Hidden Moon
Personnel: John Medeski, keyboards; Chris Wood, bass; Billy Martin, drums