MEDESKI, MARTIN & WOOD - Uninvisible (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Uninvisible is further than ever from conventional jazz organ. While blues and funk influences are evident throughout the album, they float on a sea of shadows. Sound sources are obscure or exotic; on "Pappy Check" innovative scratching by turntablist DJ Olive creates an impression of African percussion more than club atmospherics. Even where the instrumentation is less ambiguous, the trio steers toward a filmic noir sensibility, with Medeski leading the way in unorthodox techniques. His pitch-bend solo on "Take Me Nowhere" suggests the creak of a rusty hinge, with Wood's acoustic bass providing the anchor for his abstractions. Wood is in fact often mixed higher than Medeski, to the effect of reducing the keyboard parts to a sideline role and the album in turn to an exercise in mood more than virtuosity -- an impression enhanced by a similarly eccentric shrinkage of the power guitar part on "The Edge of Night" to a barely audible background element. The rhythm is steady and stealthy, a slow-motion oscillation between live and looped tracks, most often with a hip-hop sensibility. More important, every musician on each cut plays with a belief that overplaying only subverts the goals of collective improvisation. If any one album can be said to pick up on the surreal funk explorations of latter-day Miles Davis, Uninvisible is it. by Robert L. Doerschuk  

PORTICO QUARTET - Knee-Deep in the North Sea [2007] FLAC

The Portico Quartet is a contemporary modern jazz and ethnic fusion ensemble from South London, England. Formed in 2005, the band was initially inspired to play via founding member Duncan Bellamy's purchase of an exotic yet contemporary instrument, the Hang, at a music festival. The Hang, invented in 2000 in Switzerland, is a metallic lap drum with clamped shells, the melodious sound of which resembles both a steel drum and Balinese metallaphone. Where the quartet's influences clearly reference modern jazz and African music, the trance-like sonics of the Hang draw closer comparisons to minimalists Philip Glass and Steve Reich, or gamelan music. A weekly session at the South Bank and residency at the Brixton Ritzy earned them a cult following. It also inspired London's premier jazz club, the Vortex, to start a record label to release their music.

Knee-Deep in the North Sea Championed by archivist and historian/mixer Gilles Peterson, the Portico Quartet's debut release, Knee Deep in the North Sea, was acclaimed as jazz, folk, and world music Album of the Year for 2007 by Time Out magazine, and was a Mercury Music Prize honoree for 2008. With Jack Wylie on soprano saxophone, Milo Fitzpatrick on acoustic bass, and Nick Mulvey and Duncan Bellamy playing the Hang and percussion instruments, the group's modern contemporary sound was favorably compared to the diverse, ethnic-flavored work of Ben Allison, E.S.T., and the Cinematic Orchestra.
Isla Following their signing to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records, the Portico Quartet released its sophomore effort. Isla appeared in 2009 and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In 2011 Mulvey left the band to pursue a solo career -- to be replaced by Keir Vine -- and his departure signaled a musical shift for the group. Their self-titled third record favored electronic sounds over the predominantly acoustic style of their previous efforts. The band experienced its largest transformation to date in 2014 as Vine departed, and the slimmed-down trio signed to the Ninja Tune label. They re-christened themselves Portico and pursued experimental pop in lieu of the jazz influence of their earlier records. However, for their 2017 record Art in the Age of Automation, they reverted to their original label and moniker, and were reunited with Vine. by Michael G. Nastos

On its debut CD, KNEE DEEP IN THE NORTH SEA, Mercury Prize-nominated combo the Portico Quartet delivers an unusually meditative brand of world music-influenced jazz that matches a minimalist classical music vibe with a pop/jam band-informed compositional sense. Centered on repeated figures played on the hang (a type of steel drum) and soprano saxophonist Jack Wylie’s Wayne Shorter-esque improvisational explorations, Portico Quartet’s music should appeal to fans of Weather Report and the Dave Matthews Band alike. by Pemberton Roach
Track Listing
 1 News from Verona 4:21
Portico Quartet
 2 (Something's Going Down On) Zavodovski Island 4:25
Portico Quartet
 3 Knee-Deep in the North Sea 4:47
Portico Quartet
4 Too Many Cooks 5:33
Portico Quartet
 5 Steps in the Wrong Direction 6:13
Portico Quartet
 6 Monsoon: Top to Bottom 4:12
Portico Quartet
 7 The Kon-Tiki Expedition 4:30
Portico Quartet
 8 Cittàgazze 4:46
Portico Quartet
 9 Pompidou 3:13
Portico Quartet
 10 Prickly Pear 5:41
Portico Quartet
 11 All the Pieces Matter [BBC Maida Vale Session] 5:18
Portico Quartet
 12 Knee-Deep in the North Sea [Live in Copenhagen] 6:09
Portico Quartet
 13 Steps in the Wrong Direction [Live in Copenhagen] 8:06
Portico Quartet
 

PORTICO QUARTET - Knee-Deep in the North Sea

 [2007] Real World / flac / scans

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