Musician Ricky Lee Jones drops by Ann Arbor for a quaint show.
Get set for folksy tunes and fun times from this lady who's ben
rocking in the business since the mid-'70s. The Ark, 8 p.m.
utaje icjiai d
I.T
Tomorrow in Daily Arts:
Check out a review of Monday's Ricky Martin concert at
the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Tuesday
November 2, 1999
5
k
Medeski
trio plays
Michigan
r r
'theater,
By John Uhl
Daily Arts Writer
Curious jazz musicians are rarely con-
tent to explore certain idioms or musical
environments for too long. Thus, as
record labels and large festivals favor the
ptoity of rare joint-headlining artist
bills, the life expectancy of emerging jazz
bands is dwindling. Which is why it is
perhaps surprising that the members of
Medeski Martin & Wood (John Medeski
on keyboards, Billy Martin on drums and
percussion and Chris Wood on basses),
inspired by a variety of playing back-
grounds and musical associations, have
Zany, outrageous 'Ally McBeal'
opens fall season funny and wet
By Kelly Watchkowsk
For the Daily
While last season, "Ally McBeal"
may have ended on a somber note with +
our favorite single and lawyer, one thing
became clear with this season's pre-
miere. Producer David E. Kelley has+
brought Ally and her entourage back in +
full effect. If the first show of the season
is any indication of the action to follow,a
the audience will be shocked and satis-+
fied to find Ally McBeal (Calista 1
Flockhart) back to her old self. Now that
she has risen out of her slump, she has aI
new vigor towards her journey to find 1
Mr. Right, and is making sure to enjoy
all of the car washes along the way.
Courtesy of Blue Note
Ann Arbor favorites Medeski, Martin and Wood return for their annual concert.
Medeski, Martin
and Wood
Michigan Theater
Tonight at 8
recorded seven
albums in their
eight year stint
without luring
themselves away
from each other.
This relative
longevity may, in
part, be due to the
band's willingness
and ability to keep
its music fresh.
"We're always
going in a new
direction, we're
always searching,
success and creative sustenance might lie
in the way the bandmembers do and do
not resolve the differences between their
individual music style biases. "John and
I, I think, are more studied in jazz,' said
Wood, "but Billy was more involved with
dance music, including Brazilian music
and hip-hop. He was also checking out
African rhythms. So he wasn't really
from ajazz background when we hooked
up with him. And that's what made it
interesting for us."
The band can sound melodic and dis-
sonant, funky and off-kilter within the
same song, arduously exploring a groove.
only to abandon it to tinker with cowbell
and Wurlitzer tones. This quirky cocktail
of brainy abstract sound probes and
steady funk beats has caught on to a ded-
icated, somewhat bohemian, crowd that
draws comparisons to Phish and
Widespread Panic followers. Classified
by record stores as a jazz bandM M W
finds itself in an uncommon situation fr
such ensembles when, during concerts,
hundreds or thousands of fans dance in
auditorium aisles.
"Billy was listening to Run DMC and
stuff like that back in the day,"said Wood.
"His grooves are danceable. So it just
kind of works out that way, lucky for us."
DJ Logic has brought another aspect
of the hip-hop medium into MMW's
music, scratching on three tracks on
"Combustication." For much of the last
year he has been performing onstage as
part of the band and for this tour his
group, Project Logic, is the opening act.
Unusual alliances don't always work
out for the best. Logic's scratches and
samples often simply fade into the
foliage of MMW's sound jungles, but
occasionally his contributions surface
and seem tacked on or even irrelevant.
Sometimes, however, a unique oppor-
tunity does provide for a happy accident.
The song "Whatever Happened to Gus"
on "Combustication" features the spoken
word of East Village figure Steven
Cannon, who relates a dream about old
Kansas City jazz musicians over the trio's
subtly shifting bossa. "We had a piece
that we just had improvised," Wood said,
"... it wasn't complete, it needed some-
thing. So we just took the DAT recording
of his voice and flew it over the piece that
we'd improvised. It just, somehow,
worked perfectly"
Although voice and band were each
recorded on a separate occasion without
bearing the other in mind, the track works
perfectly. Cannon's voice is rhythmically
in time with the music, and the band
manages to hush and swell appropriately
with his verbal pauses. Wood's ambling,
yet grounded bass is reminiscent of
Butch Warren's frugal playing on Kenny
Dorham recordings of the 1960's and
Medeski's eclectic keyboard splashes
provide a suitable style contrast for a
story about a surreal meeting of Wynton
Marsalis and Charlie Parker.
Medeski Martin & Wood bring their
experiments to The Michigan Theater
tonight. Recent performances with an
emphasis on an acoustic piano trio for-
mat and adventures though new album
material give a vague idea of what to
expect from MMW But with DJ Logic
on hand alongside customary cravings
for the unexpected, audience members
should keep their minds open.
sexual revolution. Imagine Ally, walking
soaking wet down a street and into the
law firm. Surprising to her friend and
coworker John "the Biscuit" Cage (Peter
MacNicol) is there to question her damp
state. This leads to Ally's carefully
detailed story of how she had taken her
car to the carwash, made eye contact
with a gorgeous stud who walked
through the carwash, crawled into her
car and began kissing her. Then, he pulls
her out of the car and the two engage in
what Ally refers to as steamy "You know,
that vulgar verb we use to describe what
two people..." during in the rinse cycle
of the wash.
While Ally is lost in her graphic mem-
ories (yes, it was reality and not one of
her psychotic episodes), her friends have
issues of their own. Renee decides to
break away from the DA's office and
start her own firm. When Judge Whipper
decides to join her, the two women begin
an interviewing process, or cattle call of
sorts, that involves a procession of hot
men and an interview requirement of
shirt removal. After all, "the business of
law is all about getting clients"
Meanwhile, a case is brought to the
firm by the daughter of one of its most
important clients. Richard Fish (Greg
Germann), the firm's sarcastic and
z;
Ally
McBeal
Fox
Mondays at 9 p.m.
Last season's
finale left Ally,
depressed over her
recent breakup
with a doctor she
decided she loved
a little too late.
While her friends
and coworkers are
usually capable of
reviving her spir-
its, even they were
more pessimistic
than usual, so
absorbed in their
"waddle loving" partner pulls Ally into
the case with him. A young bride has
been caught, by her priest, having sex the
night before her wedding. Only problem
is that the man was not her fiance. Of
course, after some silly yet convincing
antics by the firm, the priest decides he
will marry the two and their wedding
ensues with Ally as a new bridesmaid.
In the grand tradition of Ally McBeal,
the comedy doesn't stop there. Ally finds
herself standing on the altar face-to-face
with her fantasy man from the carwash.
Of course, being Ally McBeal, she can-
not let this go, so she interrupts the entire
wedding. After the third intermission,
and some booing and thrown objects
from the irate audience of 300, the wed-
ding is called off with accusations
thrown at carwash man of trying to steal
his fiance's money.
Thus, the antics of this crew continue
rolling into their third season. As "the
biscuit" attempts to stay tuned in with
Barry White, Ling remains "finger lick-
ing good," Elaine maintains her over-
sexed hormone act and the others try to
deal with life and love, we never know
what to expect. For this cast and its cre-
ators, tapping into the craziness of every-
day life is exactly what the psychologist
ordered.
own lives and
problems they barely realized Ally had
taken her hopes and fantasies hostage,
locking herself in her room.
Luckily, the Emmy winning comedy
has once again taken a turn for the hys-
terical. Not only have the characters
rediscovered their zaniness, these thirty-
something lawyers have begun their own
IEEE UR U EUMUM E UM E *MEM EM M
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QUA LITY 16
Jackson Rd. @ Wagner (1/2 mile west of Weber' sInn)
West bound 1-94 or M-14 exit @ Zeeb Rd. & go East one mile on Jackson
we're always influenced by new music,"
Wood said in a recent interview.
Although the bandmembers explore
their diverse tastes through individual
projects, the band also has performed
collaboratively as a unit. Most recently,
they appear on three tracks of Iggy Pop's
latest recording "Avenue B." In 1997, the
bar recorded an entire album, "A Go
G 4ofguitarist John Scofield's material.
"A Go Go" not only boasts the band as
sympathetic accompanists, but the
album's precision reminds listeners of the
meticulousness that must be devoted to
their usual vaunts.
The explanation for both the band's
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Ya yY
r A. FALL MATINEES
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October 23rd & 24th November 13th &14th
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Digital Stereo
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High back rocking chair seats with
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STADIUM SEATING gives
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