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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
The Gospel of Contemporary Funk
Today, when I think of funk , I think groove, vibe, vamp and i think MMW : Medeski, Martin and Wood, one of the hottest young electric-jazz-funk combos in the world. And when they team-up with the prodigious John Scofield, one of the most tasteful jazz guitarists to ever grace this nasty planet, A Go Go is born. A heavily vamp-laden and groove heavy , trance-inducing, highly improvised blues session.
It is very evident that Scofield had a blast in conceptualizing and recording these pieces, that seem to be almost resting on R & B heavy, hip-hop shuffles that tend to dance to the really laidback pump from Billy Martin's all acoustic caboodle.
From the mucho infectious title tune 'A Go Go ' to the classic James Brown style vamp on 'Chank', from the, soulful & airy, acoustic-strummed fusion of ' Jeep On 35 ' , to the low down dirty southern-fried blues on ' Hottentot' , this album is right on ! That doesn't mean one cannot hear Scofield's favorite chromatic flights into the " way-out corners " of his usually athletic & angular progressions. Sco shows the world that music can be immensely relaxed and acutely serious at the same time. His perennial, angular-blues lines are very much here, and they're more ephemeral than usual — Sco has long known that long solos rarely improve the groove, and groove is all this rhythm section does.
When the groove escalates, this deliberately funky ministry progressively overheats into a almost bawdy & inebriating funk, with Sco narrowing down on some outrageously chunky rhythmic chords and tasteful phrases throughout , on his very own 'richer-than-molassess' toned hollow-body, while Medeski, Martin and Wood charge along like a funked-up monster on steroids.
All in all Sco & MMW have delivered , what we funkers call the gospel of contemporary funk. A Go Go.
It is very evident that Scofield had a blast in conceptualizing and recording these pieces, that seem to be almost resting on R & B heavy, hip-hop shuffles that tend to dance to the really laidback pump from Billy Martin's all acoustic caboodle.
From the mucho infectious title tune 'A Go Go ' to the classic James Brown style vamp on 'Chank', from the, soulful & airy, acoustic-strummed fusion of ' Jeep On 35 ' , to the low down dirty southern-fried blues on ' Hottentot' , this album is right on ! That doesn't mean one cannot hear Scofield's favorite chromatic flights into the " way-out corners " of his usually athletic & angular progressions. Sco shows the world that music can be immensely relaxed and acutely serious at the same time. His perennial, angular-blues lines are very much here, and they're more ephemeral than usual — Sco has long known that long solos rarely improve the groove, and groove is all this rhythm section does.
When the groove escalates, this deliberately funky ministry progressively overheats into a almost bawdy & inebriating funk, with Sco narrowing down on some outrageously chunky rhythmic chords and tasteful phrases throughout , on his very own 'richer-than-molassess' toned hollow-body, while Medeski, Martin and Wood charge along like a funked-up monster on steroids.
All in all Sco & MMW have delivered , what we funkers call the gospel of contemporary funk. A Go Go.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
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