Happy 25th Anniversary to Medeski Martin and Wood's - The Dropper

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Medeski Martin and Wood's album, The Dropper.

This record holds a special place with RtBE as we grabbed it right when it was released and really have dug it ever since.   

Having been a fan of the NYC group since we found out about them, it was great to have modern players in town that we could see live and truly dug. MMW this go around were really mixing in hip-hop, free jazz and splashes of Miles Davis, which RtBE already loved. Their live shows in Manhattan in the late 90's-early 2000's were great and we were lucky to catch them in their prime.  

The groups 8th studio album comes off the heals of their more traditional live acoustic trio offering Tonic. There is a major shift in tone from Medeski (keys), Martin (percussion) and Wood (bass) as they again with Scotty Hard, who they paired up with on Combustication in 1998. That record moved the band into more hip-hop influenced circles and that continues with The Dropper, except MMW and crew shift into much more ominous sounds and feelings on this effort; like the cover art, things can get a bit wobbly and freaky. 

 

The chaos hits from the front as "We Are Rolling" sets the tone as crazy drumming from Martin, odd sounds from Medeski and rumbling bass from Wood seems to move in three directions at once. The track is chaos coalescing into a groove with dark undertones, a pretty solid summation of The Dropper as a whole.  

The group moves from big beat to freak on "Big Time", Woods amazing bass work on "Fèlic" pushes things along as Eddie Bobe’s congas and Marshall Allen’s saxophone add to the sounds. The first half of the album is more diverse (and better) with the most straight ahead bright groove jazz of "Partido Alto", the RZA inspired hip-hop beats of "Illinization" and "Bone Dropper" and Marc Ribot's awesome guitar and Medeski's organ delivering elevated lounge music for late night hipsters with "Note Bleu". Ribot in particular was a really cool fit and while John Scofield paired well with MMW throughout their career, more work with Ribot would have been interesting. 

The second half of the record fails into grooving hip hop influenced excursions that wouldn't have been out of place on any of the later Beastie Boys records with efforts like the title track, "Philly Cheese Blunt" and "Tsukemono". The band wraps it up with more beats and ominous strings with "Norah 6" closing a pretty intriguing record that deals with beats, jazz and more.    

The album was certainly not a hit when it was released, it was considered out there yet still tied to hip hop. Friends and fans in the jamband scene, where the band mostly resided, were put off by the lack of an easy groove, like previous offerings (Friday Afternoon In The Universe), and jazz fans never truly warmed up to the band. However, some distance has improved its reputation. 

Personally, this record has a special place in my memory because (along with a record that celebrates it's 25th anniversary next week) RtBE staff spent a crazy weekend in upstate listening to it nonstop right around Halloween in 2000. That time was tripped out goodness and the weirdness of The Dropper will always bring back fun memories. 

So on the 25th anniversary of the album, play it loud. Here are some songs to get you started: