SEXMOB MEETS MEDESKI: Live in Willisau 2006
Thirsty Ear, 2009

POSTMODERN JAZZ – Live concert by the genre-destroying avant-groove quartet, in Willisau, Switzerland, September 2006, with extra support from John Medeski on organ (a collaborator from the band’s early days). Their usual giddy mix of original strangeness, Prince covers, James Bond music and swing classics, all pulped into a hot gooey mess. Watch out for abrupt starts and endings… you really need to string these tracks together, either in the listed “suites” or as below.

Steven Bernstein - slide trumpet
Briggan Krauss - alto sax
Tony Scherr - bass
Kenny Wollesen - drums
John Medeski - organ

* * * | Fo’s Picks: 1-3 , 4-6 , 10-12

1. 2:09 – slow atmosphere, pained sax tones, intro to…
2. 3:11 – slow & raunchy, trumpet sounds like harmonica, turns brash & rowdy
3. 6:38 – Ellington tune, warped with bits of stripper music & psychotic rock
4. 3:34 – perky bounce, jam on a traditional hoedown, revival meeting
5. 4:53 – tune from #3 slides into a Prince freakout, gets quiet, stomps back
6. 3:55 – low tones into vaudeville fanfare, back to wild revival meeting stomp
7. 4:12 – spoken intro, low murmurings into moody Bond incidental music
8. 4:08 – quiet trumpet squeaks, fluttering sax, builds & loses small groove
9. 3:18 – back to the Bond music, drunken horn stings, gets quiet again
10. 5:36 – slow, sloppy standard, quiet bass solo, builds up to a grandiose end
11. 4:25 – crazed organ & sax, settles into quiet abstraction, leading up to…
12. 4:35 – Prince tune starts calm, explodes into a Technicolor freakout
13. 3:33 – spoken intro; warped Bond music with tympanis; quiet in the middle
14. 4:19 – very quiet start into Bond movie theme song, a sort of mad ballad
15. 2:19 – calm, everyone settling down before…
16. 2:41 – …rising into a wacky groove with wild organ going every which way

[ Fo ] 06/14/09