|
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
On their Blue Note Records debut, MMW move away from the diffuse, free form jams that characterized their 1996 release, Shack-Man, but the organ trio's trademark free-jazz-daring meets groove-happy-funk approach isn't diminished by move. The return to the more tightly focused approach that characterized Friday Afternoon in the Universe, may be motivated by commercial concerns (how many more Phishheads can they possibly convert?) but it's also a musical triumph; Combustication is the trio's finest of their six recordings. DJ Logic's warbling scratches enliven "Start-Stop" and "Church of Logic." Poet Steve Cannon recites some appropriately fried verses on "What Ever Happened to Gus," and the band takes Sly Stone's "Everyday People" away from Madison Avenue and into the Southern Baptist church. But is it jazz? Well, as Lester Bowie once said to a similar inquiry, "It depends on what you know." --Martin Johnson
Product Description
MEDESKI JOHN COMBUSTICATION
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Poelker
Format:Audio CD
Funky Stylists MMW are at it again. This time with the help of DJ Logic. Great beats and musical wonderment for your listening enjoyment. If you love MMW and don't have this CD go for it. The addition of a DJ only adds to the variation that this trio brings with every album.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Few records can be called epochal, even fewer may be called genius, but this one manages the near impossible by living up to each designation masterfully. MM&W have acheived with jazz, blues, dub, gospel, and eastern musical forms what Miles Davis did with fusion forty years ago. Sure, some would say their current recordings are over-produced - perhaps even overblown - but this record was their Rubber Soul; that is, a recording that looked back as much as it did forward in MMW's recording career.
The music is stated through a patient weaving of thematic statement, but paradoxically there is also great attention given to silence as rarely seen in music today. One might toss out a reference to Jamal or Monk but the unique imprint of MMW's identity may be found on every track on Combustication, and each is forged through respect and a unique empathy between the players involved.
I was first given a cassette copy of this cd in Japan in the Summer of 2002. The Japanese version of this cd has an excellent 'hidden' 13th track, a psychedelic piece spanning over 14 minutes which is tacked on to the end of the cd. It wasn't until much later, however, that I realized this piece wasn't part of the original album; so much does it resemble the style of the other songs you'd think it was written for Combustication (and most likely was). Moreover, I came to discover its inclusion in a most serrendipitous fashion.
The cassette I received had no labels and the sides were actually reversed. Fortunately, however, I found the reversal to be an excellent mix as the brilliant end piece was now placed near the center of the album. If you have the Japanese import, you might enjoy the mix I was presented with. Burn the sequence as follows: tracks 9-13, then 1-8. Of course, the sacriledge of resequencing this cd is a bit like trying to reprogram Sgt. Pepper, but the result is quite enjoyable.
It was a hot, humid summer in Kyoto when I "discovered" this album, but it was one of the best summers of my life, and this CD served as the soundtrack. Without exaggeration, I must have listened to this tape every day for four months and NEVER got tired of it.
Still don't.
The music is stated through a patient weaving of thematic statement, but paradoxically there is also great attention given to silence as rarely seen in music today. One might toss out a reference to Jamal or Monk but the unique imprint of MMW's identity may be found on every track on Combustication, and each is forged through respect and a unique empathy between the players involved.
I was first given a cassette copy of this cd in Japan in the Summer of 2002. The Japanese version of this cd has an excellent 'hidden' 13th track, a psychedelic piece spanning over 14 minutes which is tacked on to the end of the cd. It wasn't until much later, however, that I realized this piece wasn't part of the original album; so much does it resemble the style of the other songs you'd think it was written for Combustication (and most likely was). Moreover, I came to discover its inclusion in a most serrendipitous fashion.
The cassette I received had no labels and the sides were actually reversed. Fortunately, however, I found the reversal to be an excellent mix as the brilliant end piece was now placed near the center of the album. If you have the Japanese import, you might enjoy the mix I was presented with. Burn the sequence as follows: tracks 9-13, then 1-8. Of course, the sacriledge of resequencing this cd is a bit like trying to reprogram Sgt. Pepper, but the result is quite enjoyable.
It was a hot, humid summer in Kyoto when I "discovered" this album, but it was one of the best summers of my life, and this CD served as the soundtrack. Without exaggeration, I must have listened to this tape every day for four months and NEVER got tired of it.
Still don't.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a truly incredible Medeski Martin & Wood album. I love most all MMW that I've heard, but sometimes their explorations on albums such as Friday Afternoon and The Dropper, for example, have a tendency to move into extreamly loose ambience. While I love that type of thing, and really dig those albums, on this one, Combustication, they take things to a whole new level. The group is unbelievably focused - They were definatly in some kind of pocket when they made this one. Every song is tight and the group is listening to each other even better than usual. Medeski's organ is really on fire all the way through, the colors of his instrument really shining. And, not only are the songs great, the album, as all great albums do, flows perfectly, logically, and fantastically. There's a great spoken word piece, "Whatever Happened to Gus", that displayes the groups love of jazz, and there's even a nod to a classic Miles Davis track from On the Corner, "Black Satin" in "Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho" with perfect replica of that slightly off clapping. Wonderful. If you buy this, you'll dig it. "That's Right."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mid-level MMW
Medeski, Martin & Wood's "Combustication" is an evolution from the trio sounds of "Shack-Man" with some DJ and spoken word songs. Read more
Published on May 2, 2010 by Anthony Cooper
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent and a half
Medeski Martin and Wood would truly have to screw up to make a bad album. Their mix of funky and avant, old and new has the perfect balance. Read more
Published on March 10, 2010 by Bill Your 'Free Form FM Print DJ
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't see what the fuss is all about
Trying to stretch my musical tastes, and liking jazz on the whole, I tried this group and this CD, as Amazon selected this an essential recording.... Read more
Published on October 10, 2007 by T. Frantz
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unique
MMW has always defined their own style and paved their own musical way.......this is another classic example of how NOT to cater to big labels. Read more
Published on January 3, 2007 by B. Priest
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of the Best of MMW
With each new album that MMW puts out they continually push the limit of what is considered jazz. Combustication is definately one of those albums. Read more
Published on January 24, 2005 by D. Harvey
5.0 out of 5 stars
MMW at their best
This is truly one of the better MMW albums. This album has songs which are upbeat (like Sugarcraft and Latin Shuffle), but in general are more laid back than other MMW albums. Read more
Published on September 8, 2004 by A. Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhere in the middle...
MMW has changed over the years, from a more straight-up funky avant-garde jazz band to a group of studio experimentalists exploring sonic textures as much as the intricacies of the... Read more
Published on February 9, 2004 by "howlinw"
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Like This..
This album is great and if you like it it there is a remix album that adds a little more hip hop flavor.
Published on January 14, 2004 by K
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cosmic, funky, acoustic, hawaiian, : defies categorization
This CD stays in the player for days at a time. It's filed under jazz just because it doesn't fit anywhere else. Read more
Published on October 18, 2003 by C. D Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars
Innovative
From this instrumental music trio elements of jazz, funk, and rock genres come together. Sometimes leaning close to the atmosperic sound one might hear on an ambient album;... Read more
Published on February 12, 2003 by Under the Influence
Listmania!
|
|
So You'd Like to...
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
|
