Medeski, Martin & Wood has cast such a long shadow over the whole acid jazz movement for so long that the MMW can no longer be considered merely a band, it’s a franchise. The group often splinters off into side projects and it’s now become easy to view a proper MMW album as just one facet of the collective talents of the three members. Just a week ago, we examined a mega-star fusion band featuring John Medeski on keyboards. On this same day that their record, Spectrum Road, goes on sale, so does a Billy Martin collaboration with San Francisco-area B-3 specialist Wil Blades release.
Shimmy, as it’s called, is an opportunity to hear Martin drum with another organist outside of Medeski. We’ve already experienced the two without a bassist, with the wild and wooley Mago collaboration from 2007, but Martin leaves his avant weirdness behind to make a more straight-up improvisation-rich, groove record with Blades.
Blades, whose first album (Sketchy, 2007) featured Idris Muhammad, has also worked with Stanton Moore and fellow Bay area resident Scott Amendola, so he’s no stranger to working with world-class fabricators of funky beats. Taking cues from former mentor Dr. Lonnie Smith, Blades is adept at working the spaces between the beats and letting the groove rule above all else. Not as prone to cut loose with huge walls of organ like, say Medeski, Blades strength lies in his more tactical method, making each phrase meaningful and a rare believer among organ players in the power of the silence between notes. That side of him is most apparent on cuts such as “Give” and Eddie Harris’ “Mean Greens.” Blade will burn when he gets the call, which he answers on “Brother Bru” and “Les And Eddie.”
Blades’ other calling card is his nasty-assed clavinet, and his ability to make it mimic a wide array of guitar sounds. It starts with the wah-wahing on “Deep In A Fried Pickle” (video of live performance above), continuing with the faux guitar picking of “Pick Pocket,” the fuzzy fonk of “Toe Thumb,” and the general filthiness of “Little Shimmy.” And if you weren’t sure before whether Martin has a firm grasp on second line beats, Shimmy leaves no doubt. There are Big Easy beats galore, spicing up cuts like “Mean Greens,” “Pick Pocket,” “Down By The Riverside” and “Toe Thumb,” and most everywhere else he’s adding nifty little wrinkles to what started as straightforward grooves. Blades gives him plenty of room to do his thing and together they’ve found a symbiosis that won’t threaten MMW, but provides Billy Martin a perfect diversion from that and Blades another premier funky timekeeper to jam with. Listeners get to benefit from the hip shaking, foot stomping noise they make.
Everybody wins.
Shimmy is out today, courtesy of The Royal Potato Family.
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