New Medeski Martin & Wood album

I had a couple of their CD's and saw them live in Atlanta...But the problem I have is that after 5min they become boring,,,no tempo changes, and they dont want to break out and just rip it at any time...they plodded along at every song....3 neat ideas, and make it last at least 6 minutes...

Its a shame

Are you talking about the newer albums or the older ones? On "It's a Jungle in Here," and "Friday Afternoon the Universe," they really rip the songs apart. I'd never call those albums boring. In fact, Jungle has some of the most reckless dissection of songs that I've ever heard. Their version of Coltrane's "Sveeda's Song Flute" is insane.

Having said that, the newer albums ARE somewhat boring and plodding. I think End of World Party is better...although it's an exercise in subtlety. They seem to be trying to do stuff that's more delicate these days. That seems to be the cycle that all jazz musicians go through.

As for their live shows...I saw them in Pittsburgh and it was awesome. The loudest most pyschedelic jazz show I've ever seen. But, that was about 3-4 years ago, before they entered their downer phase...

lol,,yeah, i saw them last year on the downer phaze,..

they know had to make a killer groove...but I have always been dissapointed by the recording/production of their music...very bloated, muddy bass(intentional I suppose)...at any rate...I am sure they are killer live...

I hear them on the local gollege station and enjoy them then went out and bought their CD 'The Dropper' and got bored kind of like jsujo says. It is not bad and kind of fun sometimes but every song sounds the same. They are good enough that I will keep my ears open for a better CD, but so far a near miss...

Phasecorrect, which albums are you talking about? I'll agree about the recording quality on The Dropper, Uninvisible and End of World. They ARE really muddy. Uninvisible is probably the worst, in terms of recording AND music. It sounds like the band was inside a giant cardboard box and the mics were outside. However, I think the recording quality on the earlier albums is excellent, especially on Friday Afternoon and Shackman.

Anyway, their best CD's are:
It's a Jungle in Here
Friday Afternoon in the Universe
Shackman
Combustication

Actually, that's the order they came out in, too. Their first disc is Notes From the Underground. It's good too, but John plays acoustic piano exclusively. It's a bit more traditional as opposed to the "12 keyboards in a tornado" sound of those other albums.

If you haven't listened to any of the above albums (especially Friday and Jungle) give them a try. You'll finally see why MMW gets so much recognition in the jazz world. They're wild, disonnant and reckless, yet groovy and funky. Definitly not boring.

I don't know what's happened to them in recent years...I think all the hip-hop/DJ/turntable influence has hurt them. In their effort to gain new fans and mainstream sucess, they've alienated a lot of their old fans, like me.