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Medeski Martin & Wood – 20 Download
Medeski Martin & Wood have been around for 20 years. And to celebrate, they’re digitally releasing two new, never-released tracks each month (starting March 29th), for a total of 20 tracks by the end of the year.
You can pre-order the entire package now for only $9.90… right HERE. If you wait until after March 29th, the price per download is $0.99. So, act now, and get the new tracks for essentially half price.
With the pre-order, you will be alerted by email when the monthly 2 tracks become downloadable! The first two tracks will become available for download March 29th, 2011. See below for the release schedule for the remaining tracks:
4/26/11 – Tracks 3 & 4
5/31/11 – Tracks 5 & 6
6/28/11 – Tracks 7 & 8
7/26/11 – Tracks 9 & 10
8/30/11 – Tracks 11 & 12
9/27/11 – Tracks 13 & 14
10/25/11 – Tracks 15 & 16
11/29/11 – Tracks 17 & 18
12/20/11 – Tracks 19 & 20
If you happen to be in Oregon, specifically Portland, check John Medeski, Billy Martin & Chris Wood out TONIGHT at the Roseland Theater!
~Dan – np: Colin Stetson w/ My Brightest Diamond – New History Warfare – Judges, Vol. 2 
REVIEW: Medeski Martin & Wood @ McDonald (Eugene, OR – 2/25/10)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
This was my fourth time seeing the great trio of Medeski Martin & Wood… and the second time as an “evening with,” which tends to work out nicely for a weekday concert. No painful opener to sit through, and less likely a late show time.
We got to the venue only a few minutes before they went on. They came out around 8:20 and started off with one or two from Zaebos, their album from John Zorn‘s Masada Book Two: Book of Angels series. From there, they hopped right into a Medeski-keys-oriented tune and a more exotica piece. Overall, their show last night was definitely more of the MMW groove show, versus a improvisational MMW “messin’ around” kind of show. 
Sure, at one point illyB pulled out the ducks calls while Chris and John noodled around, but then they ripped right back into the more lyrical pieces.
McDonald had the floor set up with chairs for the evening, which was a shock for me. The crowd started out in chairs, but by the third song, they were moving up the aisles and dancing. 
When MMW came back out for the second set, it was pretty much a dance party… well, a dance party with a bunch of pesky chairs in the way.
I’ll post the setlist when/if I find it… again, I recognized a couple Zaebos tunes, 
plus I’m pretty sure they played “Amber Gris,” “Padrecito,” “Amish Pinxtos,” “Reliquary,” “Free Go Lily,” and a few more Radiolarians tracks. Don’t quote me on all of those songs, but it was definitely a Radiolarians-heavy show.
Setlist: (thanks, nastyshadows!)
- Set 1: Agmatia
- Pappy Check
- Broken Mirror >
- Disrobe >
- Open Improv >
- Padrecito
- Amber Gris
- Set 2: Free Go Lily
- Jean’s Scene
- Reliquary
- New Planet
- Cloud Wars
- Encore: Bass Solo >
- Chubb Sub
Two hour-long sets plus encore (which started out with a nice Chris Wood bass solo). Excellent show. Medeski Martin & Wood do not disappoint.
more photos below
The Appropriate Linkage:
- MMW’s Site
- MMW on MySpace
- Nov 2008 McDonald Theatre – Concert Review w/ Photos
- McDonald Theatre
Check out more tour dates below.
~Dan – np: Dave Holland Quintet – Critical Mass
MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2010 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
Higher Resolution (9 pics)
Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (21 pics)
February 2010 Tour Dates
- 17 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
- 18 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
- 19 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
- 20 – Santa Cruz, CA – Rio Theatre
- 21 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
- 23 – Petaluma, CA – The Mystic Theatre
- 24 – Crystal Bay, NV – Crystal Bay Club Crown Room
- 25 – Eugene, OR – McDonald Theatre
- 26 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
- 27 – Seattle, WA – Showbox at The Market
MMW’s Radiolarians boxset
So, I was skeptical of the Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set for the three great jam/jazz albums that I already had, until I saw what Medeski Martin & Wood were offering in the boxset… all three CDs, a remix CD, a live album, a double vinyl with choice cuts, and a DVD…
(click for larger)
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Plus… pre-order by 11/10/09 and get 20% Off retail price and be entered to win 2 Free Tickets to an MMW concert on their Nov/Dec tour! Pre-order by 11/30/09 and get a Free T-shirt from their “Free Tee Department.”
Find out more at MMW.com’s store HERE.
Let’s just say, “I listed my current Radiolarians on Amazon for sale used”…
~Dan – np: Piano Magic – Ovations
Medeski Martin & Wood’s “Amber Gris”
click for Vimeo video linkThis is the music video for “Amber Gris“, the first single off of Medeski Martin & Wood‘s newest release, Radiolarians II. Radiolarians II is available now.
Video Credits: Filmed, directed and edited by Billy Martin. Digital Effects Artist: David Gottlieb. Additional camera operators: Leigh-Ann Beverly, David Kent, Alan Martin, Dakota Martin, Matthew Mcclain, John Medeski, Kenny Raduazzo and Chris Wood. Special thanks to David Gottlieb, Aaron Bessel, Bill Gilman, James Marshello, Matthew Mcclain , Grey Gersten and Leigh-Ann Beverly
~Dan – np: Guy Klucevsek – Dancing on the Volcano
REVIEW: Medeski Martin & Wood @ McDonald Theatre (Eugene, OR – – 11/15/08)
FYI… my PHOTOS of the SHOW are at the BOTTOM
Keys player John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin, and bassist Chris Wood make up one of my favorite groove and experimental jazz trios on the scene today. I’ve seen them twice prior (once only casually, once as a hardcore fan), and this third time was again in the clearly hardcore fan category.
This tour from Seattle to Reno is the last of three short jaunts in 2008 that are all part of their Radiolarian experiment. This special series – named after a type of single-celled organisms with remarkable exoskeletons – sees the trio getting together for five days to hammer out new material. Then they go on a brief tour to practice the pieces live, after which they cut a record of the new material. Instead of the standard industry practice of write -> record -> tour, MMW will write -> tour -> record.
The opener was no one. This was an “Evening With MMW” type of thing. Which, IMO, just rocked. It’s not to say that an opener might not have been enjoyable, but sometimes you just want to dig into to the real deal.
Medeski Martin & Wood were on top of their game. The hit the stage around 8:20pm and played a 1st set that was about 60/40 on the experimental vs. groove jazz. Their experimentation seemed a little bit more cohesive than, say, their Live at Tonic from a few years back. I dug it a lot, but some of the crowd was definitely itching for their more danceable, groove-oriented jazz. They ended this first set around 9:30pm and took a break…
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I toyed with the idea of leaving… I mean, I just saw 70 minutes of fantastic MMW. I’m glad I stayed, though. They hit the stage again around 10:00pm and played another solid hour plus of 120% groove. Great vibe, great fun… at one point all three were playing percussion of some sort. They also had a more rock tune in the bunch. Near the end of their 2nd set, I went to the “lounge” area to see what it was all about. I grabbed a beer and partially watched the encore via the TVs in the lounge (a weird but convenient trend in concert going these days). Near the end of the encore, I had to see it from the floor. Fantastic show all around!!
MMW’s setlist for tonight? Ha! I could only tell you that it was a smokin’ 2++ hour show… but song names and jazz music are usually hard to recollect. If I get wind of a set list via the MMWSetlist site, I’ll post it here. It may very well have been all Radiolarians Part 3 outside of the encore (which had been “Crosstown Traffic” at recent shows).
Their newest album, Radiolarians 1, is out now and is fantastic. As is their John Zorn / Masada Book Two album, Zaebos… Radiolarians 2 & 3 are expected out early 2009, I imagine. I’m glad to be part of the Radiolarians 3 performance this swing through Eugene. They’re going in to record Radiolarians 3 over Thanksgiving (or so said the merch lady).
The Appropriate Linkage:
Next show… tomorrow (Monday the 17th) is Jason Schimmel’s Orange Tulip Conspiracy at Samurai Duck in Eugene. OTC is a great eclectic instrumental band (similar to Jason’s other band Estradasphere but without the “metal” aspect). I wish it weren’t late on a Monday at a dive bar, but it promises to be a VERY good show nonetheless.
~Dan – np: John Zorn – Film Works XXI: Belle de Nature / The New Rijksmuseum
MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD CONCERT PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2008 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
GOS Tour -and- MMW+Z
Japanese world-metal band God of Shamisen are making a run through the West Coast. I’ll be at the Eugene gig, fo’sheezy.
Sun Sept 7 – Seattle WA – Kevin Kmetz solo traditional performance @ ENMA 2008 Aki Matsuri
Mon Sept 8 – Seattle WA @ the Funhouse (with Diminished Men)
Tues Sept 9 – Portland OR @ Dunes (with SHAT)
Wed Sept 10 – Medford OR @ Johnny B’s
Thurs Sept 11 – Eugene OR @ Samurai Duck *yay*
Sat Sept 13 – Oakland CA @ the Fishtank
Sun Sept 14 – Glendale CA @ The Scene (with Foxycock)
Tues Sept 16 – Fresno CA @ Audie’s Olympic (with Foxycock & Brian Kenney Fresno)
Wed Sept 17 – Santa Cruz CA @ Blue Lagoon
Thurs Sept 18 – Mountain View CA Free in-store performance @ Rasputins Records
Fri Sept 19 – San Francisco CA @ Bottom of the Hill
http://godofshamisen.com/
http://www.myspace.com/gos
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Three-degrees of separation (GOS’s Kevin Kmetz > Estradasphere > Secret Chiefs 3 > John Zorn), the Medeski Martin & Wood album of John Zorn’s Masada Book Two songs is now out on Tzadik Records. It’s called Zaebos (album cover & tracklist below). I haven’t had a chance to hear it yet (and probably won’t order it yet, as I’m moving in two weeks). But, I tell you what, once I’m moved, DMG‘s gettin’ a big order from me…
1. Zagzagel
2. Sefrial
3. Agmatia
4. Rifion
5. Chafriel
6. Ahaij
7. Asaliah
8. Vianuel
9. Jeduthun
10. Malach ha-Sopher
11. Tutrusa’i
Billy Martin: Drums
John Medeski: Keyboards
Chris Wood: Bass
all songs written by John Zorn
arranged by MMW
~Dan – np: Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane – Live in Holland
Medeski Martin Wood & Zorn
OYG!
According to Downtown Music Gallery‘s catalog search and this MTV entry, the next treatment for John Zorn‘s Masada Book Two: Book of Angels series is… MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD. Wow.
It’ll be #11 in the series on Tzadik Records, and it’s named after the angel/demon Zaebos.
My recent review of #10 in the series (Secret Chiefs 3’s Xaphan) is HERE. I’m equally stoked about this forthcoming MMW treatment… and quite frankly it totally caught me completely off guard (I think I knew about the SC3 one, like, 18 months ahead of time).
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
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