Since the summer of 2001, Billy Martin, of Medeski, Martin &Wood, has been organizing Turntable Sessions at various downtown New York City clubs. An experiment in improvised electro-jazz, the Turntable Sessions has paired friends of Martin’s in the worlds of jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music, allowing them to perform for various intimate and appreciative crowds around the city. The Turntable Sessions: Volume 1 is an 11-song collection of highlights throughout the first three years of Martin’s project; a small window into a bizarre world of turntables, laptops, instruments, and microphones.
Like the title suggests, the sole constant on this collection is the persistent use of turntables, played by DJ Olive and Scotty Hard. Both do an adequate job of creating mood and atmosphere using their turntables, but neither one dominates a track, instead granting the various musicians that opportunity. All three members of MMW contribute throughout, although not all at once, and the closest the album gets is on “Sleeptalking,” featuring John Medeski, DJ Olive, and Martin.
But to judge this album against the work of MMW is not entirely fair, as this is more of an experiment in improvised art, rather than the jazz-fusion the trio is best know for. As principle curator for the sessions, Martin does appear in over half the albums tracks, although some of the best clips don’t even feature him. Two of the more memorable ones are “Giliad,” featuring the thunderous vocals of Dean Bowman, backed by Hard on turntables, and “Red Road,” an electro-funk duet between Chris Wood and DJ Olive. However, some of the other tracks border on the obscure and experimental, and can become difficult to listen to. But even when digressing in a difficult theme, songs only last three to six minutes, making the album as a whole easy, albeit interesting listening.
