Customer Reviews

Combustication

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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."

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.

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 new release "Combustication" by New York jazz trio Medeski, Martin, and Wood is a delicious treat. The album shows off the musical tastes each member has been dabbling with since their 1996 release, "Shack Man." From funk grooves, to ethereal trance, to spaced-out jam music, MMW is again experimenting, and if anything; they prove that jazz can be creative as well as popular. One of the best aspects of "Combustication" is the addition of DJ Logic on some of the 12 tracks. Logic fills the tiny space left in the songs with wierd scratches, and those neat video game sounds. MMW purists will dig "Sugarcraft" and "Start-Stop," while those interested in the group's newer sound will love "Church of Logic," and "Hypnotized." "Whatever happened to Gus" has an avante-garde feel, with spoken word by NY artist Steve Cannon. MMW is a contemporary group that is always experimenting, and always improvising. If you see them play live, you'll understand. "Combustication" deserves five stars.

The album that started it all for me.

Before I bought this CD, I was all for the classic jazz. The Davis, the Coltrane, Brubeck and Monk. Then, drawn in by little more than the packaging, I purchased this album. Incredible. This is the face of modern jazz. You've got keyboards, drums, and bass, and with these three tools MMW makes sonic magic. Any album by them is definitely worth looking into, but this is the perfect MMW starter album. It's a further solidification of their sound. Rhythm takes on a larger role on this album than previous outings by the trio, such as Friday Afternoon in The Universe - which was much more free-form.

The music on this album will change your viewpoint of jazz. (unless you already know MMW - but then, why wouldn't you just buy it automatically, am I right?). Samples and breakbeats, (although not as heavy here as in some more 'electronic' bands), are a huge contributor to the trio's sound. This is groovy, funky acid jazz, jammed out by the genre's most progressive and increasingly more influential touring trio. One of Medeski Martin and Woods' finer albums.

If you really enjoy this one, don't hesitate to purchase Uninvisble as well.

this is it! this is what i have been looking for in jazz. the groove/hip-hop style drumming of Billy Martin, combined with the jam band style explorations of John Medeski on the keys and Chris Wood on bass! This album is a must for any jazzoid or psychedelic rock fan...run, dont walk, to buy this cd!

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. This keyboard-bass-drum trio combines their special blend of free-formed acid jazz with guest dj logic's turntables. This album shows why MMW are one of the most exciting and innovative bands of their time.

The combination of DJ Logic and MMW on this CD is unbeatable. It is one of my favorite MMW cds, because it goes from electronic to funk to straight up jazz and back. word.

This album is listed as an essential recording - I must say, I couldn't agree more... - in my opinion, Medeski, Martin and Wood here deliver their finest effort so far - even "A Go Go" with John Scofield/MMW, which was a great album (and my introduction to MMW) doesn't reach the heights of Combustication... - and the presence of DJ Logic just adds to the mind-blowing experience - before buying Combustication, I purchased their latest album, The Dropper, which is a great album too, but in comparison with Combustication it fades... - Combustication contains a never-ending groove combined with the weird sounds by DJ Logic and MMW all produce top-class performances whether doing solos or not - an album, I would rate among my top 5 albums ever - and I've been listening to all kinds of great artists for 35+ years... so buy it today, you can't live without it!

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; sometimes sounding like underpowered pop, minus vocals and a guitar solo; this is mostly a collection of funk rythyms. A fat keyboard driven sound, with all the organy gusto of TV's music intro to "Sanford and Son" is the hallmark of Combustication. But a healthy dose of sampled sounds emanate from the keys too. All bass is acoustic. and a smattering of drum hip-hopping or soloing in the old style rounds out the sound.

The album starts relatively strong with "Sugarcraft", but dwindles on the next two tracks and falls dead on "Dracula." Really, whatever prompted MMW to include this track, Ill never know. At this point the album begs to be rated one star. Fortunately, things are dramatically revived with the intro to "Whatever Happened to Gus", a very impressive track with an eery, jazzy, film-noir quality. The bass and back beat borrow strongly from the 50's bop jazz era, while keyboards create a moody mix of sounds familiar to ambient style. The vocals are narrated, not sung, in the dialect of a jazz deadbeat, detective who is trying to find Gus Johnson, a drummer. The album takes off from there with thundering drums and avant-garde piano on "Latin Shuffle." The remainder of the album flat out kicks in one way or another.

I own seven MMW albums and rate this at the top, with Tonic a close second, probably because of my preference for more acoustic than sampled elements, which are prevalent in the later albums, such as The Dropper, End of the World Party, and Uninvisible. However, I thought Combustication a little too pop sounding when I first listened. It was more complex than Shack Man, which I still have little interest in. With my introduction to MMW coming from a hard jazz and alternative rock perspective, MMW didn't grab me right away. I have to confess that I love this album now.