Medeski, Martin and Wood: Uninvisible : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood reconvene after solo projects for their most enjoyable collection yet. The trio's wont for deconstruction still demands careful listening, but the gospel and blues elements driving Uninvisible never disappear into the trio's improvisational flights and help keep it down-to-earth and accessible. All of the elements that pulled Medeski Martin and Wood in different directions during the last year or so -- hip-hop, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, rock, jazz -- brings them together here. The late-night ambiance of "Take Me Nowhere" cools the gospel contemplation; on "Your Name is Snake Anthony," a bolder music treatise, Col. Bruce Hampton tells his story in a talking blues that sounds all the more eerie over a nuanced improvisation enhanced by guitarist Danny Blume and New York's DJ Olive. There's room for hip-hop scratching, electronica textures and a postbop bass solo on the organ-driven groove "Where Have You Been." Indeed, there's very little left out of this new musical soup. But as with the most adventurous DJs of clubland, MMW choose their ingredients carefully, having honed their search-and-deconstruct techniques to razor sharpness. The resultant Uninvisible flavors -- complicated, spicy, sweet and sour -- offer much to savor.

MARIE ELSIE ST. LÉGER
(April 9, 2002)