MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD — Notes From the Underground (review)

MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD — Notes From the Underground album cover Album · 1992 · Eclectic Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
SaltyJon
Medeski, Martin & Wood are a great band, and this, their debut album, is a great testament of that. Before listening to this album, I really only knew them for their funky organ-driven jazz and their adventurous spirit when it came to their playing. This album keeps the adventurous spirit, but it's all acoustic jazz. Medeski sticks to piano and Wood sticks to double bass, giving it a really nice organic sound.

Right from the beginning you can tell these guys are a talented bunch, all displaying an excellent proficiency on their instruments and a good feel for what to play and when to play it. They have some free jazz sensibilities sometimes, and their love for a nice funky feeling is apparent even here on their debut album. Though the album's long (72 minutes, plus my version has a bonus track, "Can't Get What You Want") it never seems to drag, thanks to consistently solid playing from all the members of the group. Plus, every member gets a chance to show off his chops with various solos.

It's definitely a worthy inclusion to any jazz collection...really, any music collection. If you enjoy acoustic jazz trios who can keep things moving and interesting, then this album is definitely for you. I would point out "best tracks" but I feel like it's all of a uniformly high quality. Four stars from me.

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Poetry of Place (from the exhibit by painter Karen Allen) Jazz Related Improv/Composition
CHRIS DINGMAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hiwar World Fusion
ALEPH QUINTET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Stefan Keune, Steve Noble, Dominic Lash : Black Box Jazz Related Improv/Composition
STEFAN KEUNE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio : Dream A Dream Avant-Garde Jazz
SATOKO FUJII
Buy this album from MMA partners
Jazz Suite Outcome Of Choice Avant-Garde Jazz
PAUL DUNMALL
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Wojciech Jachna Squad - Ad Astra (Promo Teaser)
WOJCIECH JACHNA
snobb· 2 days ago
Nitty Gritty
RUSS SPIEGEL
js· 2 days ago
Never in a 100.000.000 Dreams
SUPERSISTER
js· 3 days ago
Love is a Fire that Burns Unseen
PETER MADSEN
js· 3 days ago
Nostalgi
RIGMOR GUSTAFSSON
js· 3 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed