Medeski Scofield Martin Wood – Juice (2014)
A prominent acid-jazz trio and an elite guitarist discover each other all over again.
A prominent acid-jazz trio and an elite guitarist discover each other all over again.
Live in front of an audience is how this music demands to be played, if the musicians are good enough. Ben Tyree and BT3 are way more than ‘good enough.’
Yes, ‘Apocryphal’ is ethereal, an adjective that might be overused a tad, but it’s all about the way Vinnie Sperrazza and his three accomplices give the music that quality. It puts Sperrazza’s formal debut in a far corner of jazz that’s rarely occupied with so much moxie.
‘The Where’ is a solid step up from a level that was already high. No one should think jazz is stuck on neutral after listening to this trio, and one senses that they are just getting started.
‘Over The Honeymoon’ glows as much as it grooves.
Reconciling the icy precision of electronic music with the immediacy of fusion.
Every song finds a different way to soothe, groove and satisfy the soul. Blades and his badassed organ trio never seem to run out of ideas.
The rougher edges of the guttural ‘Arise’ revisits the period when jazz and rock collisions created explosive music and rekindles the old magic with new vigor.
This Miles-meets-Mosada alchemy offers Interesting new twists.
Two Bay Area pacesetters of improvised and avant-garde music will soon join forces.