Posts Tagged ‘ Medeski Martin & Wood ’

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood: December 11, 2014 Terminal 5 – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

December 28, 2014
By


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It had been a whopping fifteen years since I last saw Medeski, Martin & Wood (at the Ritz in Raleigh, NC, during the Combustication days, if anyone’s counting), so I was grateful to get another bite at that apple on one of my final shows of the year. The addition of the guitarist John Scofield, the band’s longtime collaborator, made this show at Terminal 5 a special treat.

MMW always straddled the line between being a serious jazz unit and serving up the more funky, R&B and blues-driven music that endeared them to the jam band scene, which has always orbited around the band even though they’re not really a perfect fit for it. With Scofield in the lineup, the band becomes a bit more of a “rock” band, and that made Scofield an especially worthy addition in this cavernous room.

To that end, the first set of the performance worked better for me, kicking off with a few minutes of improv before delving into “Sham Time”, the leadoff track from the foursome’s 2014 album Juice, followed by perhaps the moment of the show, “Juicy Lucy”, featuring Martin’s mother Jean and Jerry Paris dancing together onstage. From there we got an older MSMW tune, “Chank”, followed by two more from Juice. 

The second set fell into the trap that I think befalls too many otherwise-talented bands followed by the “jam band” faithful — the curse of the Rock Canon. I find it unfortunate when a musician of any stripe can’t bring themselves to churn out something more inventive than covers of the best-loved songs of the sixties and seventies, but it’s especially unfortunate coming from what is ostensibly a jazz outfit. Each of “The Times They Are A-Changin'”, “Sunshine of Your Love” and The Doors’ heinous “Light My Fire” can be found on Juice, and none did much credit to these musicians on that album or in the room on this night. While the quartet found some new solo-worthy material to mine in each song, the fact remains that these three well-worn hits are better suited to a jukebox, rather than half of a live set by a band that’s still making quality new material.

That quibble aside, I’m excited to have seen MSMW for the first time, and to have (finally) caught MMW again after so long of a break.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones right at the soundboard, into the Aerco custom preamp for extra warmth and realism. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood
2014-12-11
Terminal 5
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acid jack

Schoeps MK41 (at SBD, DFC, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>Aerco MP-2>Sony PCM-D50>24bit/48kHz WAV>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, exciter, imaging)>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (light dynamics)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Thanks to aaronji for the setlist/tracking assistance

Tracks
Set One [Time 52:06]
01 [improv]
02 Sham Time
03 Juicy Lucy
04 Chank
05 North London
06 Helium
07 [banter]

Set Two [Time: 1:02:14]
08 Louis the Shoplifter
09 Little Walter Rides Again
10 Sunshine of Your Love
11 I Know You
12 Light My Fire
13 [banter2/encore break]
14 The Times They Are A-Changin’

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT MMW, visit their website, and buy Juice from the band.

The Wood Brothers: March 1, 2013 Bowery Ballroom – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

March 5, 2013
By

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[Photos by acidjack]

The surge in interest of late in traditional American roots music has generated new heat for a number of acts, some more worthy and authentic than others.  The Wood Brothers fall solidly into the former camp, being the project of brothers Oliver and Chris  Wood, who pursued separate music interests (Chris with the legendary NYC jazz unit Medeski, Martin & Wood, Oliver as a guitarist for bluesman Tinsley Ellis and later with the band King Johnson) before coming together to perform the music they grew up with.  After playing to an audience of 900 the night before in Boston, the Brothers hit the cozier Bowery Ballroom here in New York on a Friday night for a very, very sold out show so packed that folks were three- or four-deep on the balcony.  This nearly two-hour show, played as a single set, showed what makes The Wood Brothers so special – stylistic range, a flair for entertainment, skill at their instruments, and a sound that respects its source material.  Indeed, the Brothers’ vision for this band hasn’t been to slavishly clone one genre, but to create a sound that shows their deep knowledge across American music of the last two centuries.  Thus, songs like “Atlas” have a gospel-country feel, while songs like “Spirit” and “Twisted” marry that country twang with electric blues.  Then there are the rockers – especially popular on a Friday night – like “Honey Spoon”.  The Brothers also paused mid-set for a quiet pair of songs performed in the old bluegrass tradition, with the performers surrounding a single onstage microphone.  Even with the amount of money Bowery was making at the bar that night, the crowd paused the revelry long enough to respect a lovely rendition of “Muse” and another new song I did not know.

Fittingly, the band was touring to support their 2012 live record, available now as a two-volume LP package entitled Vol. 1: Sky High and Vol. 2: Nail and Tooth.  We saw many of those songs played here, along with several numbers that should be on their way for the band’s next LP (if you can identify some of the titles I didn’t know, please assist).  This set arguably peaked with three songs that are on the live record, when they followed their classic “Luckiest Man” with an extended jam on “One More Day”, and went into “Glad”.  After that, just before the encore, we got a duo of “sweet” songs in “Chocolate On My Tongue” and “Shoo Fly Pie”.  The set easily could have ended there, but the Brothers went ahead and treated us to a double encore anyway, in the form of a cover of the country classic “Fox On the Run” and the defiant closer, a cover of Allen Touissant’s “Get Out of My Life Woman”.  The band left the stage and headed down to the Bowery Ballroom bar to chat with fans and sign newly-bought copies of their records. The Wood Brothers are that type of band.

Download the complete show on the Live Music Archive: [MP3] | [FLAC]

The Wood Brothers
2013-03-01
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Schoeps MK41 (DINa, balcony, ROC)>KCY>Z-PFA>Roland R-26>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (pan R channel slightly)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, additional EQ, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time: 1:49:56]
01 [intro]
02 Sing
03 Keep Me Around
04 Atlas
05 [banter1]
06 Mary Anna
07 Smoke Ring Halo
08 [banter2]
09 Spirit
10 Twisted
11 [banter3]
12 Postcards From Hell
13 [unknown1]
14 Honey Spoon
15 [banter4]
16 Muse
17 [banter5]
18 [unknown2]
19 Little Liza Jane
20 [banter6]
21 Luckiest Man
22 One More Day>jam>One More Day
23 Glad
24 [banter7]
25 Chocolate On My Tongue
26 Shoo Fly Pie
27 [encore break 1]
28 Fox On the Run [Allen Touissant]
29 [encore break 2]
30 Get Out of My Life Woman

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Wood Brothers, visit their website, and buy their records and merchandise from their official store [HERE]

The Word: June 2, 2012 Mountain Jam – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

June 30, 2012
By


[Photo from the Mountain Jam Facebook Page]

With its all-star lineup of sacred steel/modern jazz/blues musicians, you can’t help but call The Word a supergroup.  Featuring Robert Randolph (pedal steel guitar), John Medeski (keyboards), and all three members of North Mississippi Allstars – Luther Dickinson (electric guitar), Cody Dickinson (drumswashboard), and Chris Chew (bass guitar), The Word don’t generally get to tour together often (although they’ve done some festival dates this summer), but when these players share a stage, it’s an event. This year’s Mountain Jam was one such moment, as the players gave us 75 minutes of classic religiously-themed pedal steel compositions, including many from their sole album, 2001’sThe Word.  The combination of the lovingly rendered compositions served up by these hypertalented musicians against the backdrop of the Catskills could fairly be called a religious experience of its own.

I recorded this set with AKG 414 large diaphragm mics set to wide cardiod mode.  The excellent house mix for this set, coupled with some post-processing, makes this my favorite of my Mountain Jam recordings (you can also download Ben Folds Five, Gov’t Mule and Givers).

Stream “Blood On That Rock”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W0062Word0212/10%20Blood%20On%20That%20Rock.mp3]

Stream “I’ll Fly Away”
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/W0062Word0212/12%20I%27ll%20Fly%20Away.mp3]

Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Download the FLAC files [HERE]
If the FLAC link is not working, Email nyctaper for the FLAC files

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

The Word
2012-06-02
Mountain Jam
Hunter, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

AKG C 414 B-XLS (wide cardiod, 11ft, A-B)>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 1:18:12]
01 [intro]
02 You Haven’t Done Nothin’ [Stevie Wonder]
03 Without God
04 At The Cross
05 [unknown 1]
06 I Shall Not Be Moved
07 New Word Order
08 [unknown 2]
09 Joyful Sounds>
10 Blood On That Rock
11. Waiting On My Wings>electric washboard jam*
12 I’ll Fly Away

* = w/Cody Dickinson on Electric Washboard and Luther & Robert both on Drums

Robert Randolph – pedal steel guitar
John Medeski – keys
Luther Dickinson – guitar
Cody Dickinson – keys
Pierre Wells – bass

If you enjoyed this recording, please support these musicians by supporting and visiting the websites of Robert Randolph, The North Mississippi Allstars, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

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