Jazz Articles about Billy Martin

In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds

by Graham L. Flanagan
March 7, 2009

Billy Martin In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds Amulet 2009

Due to his tenure with mega-successful avant-garde jamband powerhouse Medeski, Martin & Wood, Billy Martin currently inhabits the most elite pantheon of contemporary percussionists.This popularity has made each member of that trio a star in his own right, and their solo work attracts similarly large and enthusiastic crowds wherever they perform. The new DVD In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds makes available ...

Billy Martin / John Medeski: Mago

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
November 11, 2007

In their nearly twenty year history, drummer Billy Martin and organist John Medeski have developed an acute affinity built on a shared rhythmic feel and devotion to improvisation. On Mago, they return to the duo format, the seed that blossomed into the successful trio Medeski, Martin & Wood (MMW). The eleven tracks crackle with vitality, as the musicians mine their seemingly infinite variety of grooves. The aggressive burner “Introducing Mago opens the CD, one of the bookend ...

Billy Martin / John Medeski: Mago

by Troy Collins
May 8, 2007

In 1989 organist John Medeski joined percussionist Billy Martin in his Brooklyn loft for a jam session that became the genesis for the groove institution known as MMW. Together with bassist Chris Wood, Medeski, Martin & Wood has become one of the most successful cross-over stories in all of modern jazz.

Medeski and Martin vowed to record as a duo one day, and Mago is the result. Stripped down to core essentials, Martin eschews additional percussion in favor ...

Billy Martin: Solo Live Tonic 2002; Billy Martin and Grant Calvin Weston Live at Houston Hall; Billy Martin and Socket January 14 & 15 2005

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
July 15, 2006

Billy Martin Solo Live Tonic 2002 Amulet Records 2005 Billy Martin and Grant Calvin Weston Live at Houston Hall Amulet Records 2005 Billy Martin and Socket January 14 & 15 2005 Amulet Records 2005

There is a sense within jazz and creative music that drums ...

Billy Martin: illyB Eats 2

by AAJ Staff
May 15, 2004

Be warned: this collection of beats and grooves is not suitable for regular listening... so if you're looking for straight-up satisfaction, look elsewhere. DJs, however, may find a nugget or two to be gleaned. The whole point of the exercise is to provide fodder for mixes and remixes. In today's studio music culture, brand new records like these are just as capable of fueling a groove as '70s soul jazz classics.

Billy Martin, of course, is one third ...

John Scofield: A Go Go

by Christopher Hoard
June 1, 1998

For those of us who found ourselves swept away by the funk and soulful precision of early seventies releases like the Crusaders' Chain Reaction, John Scofield's latest offering will find a grateful audience too long spoon fed and spiritually starved on lush over-productions. A Go-Go gets down to business with no-nonsense production values and grooves. Scofield's strings sing through melodies laden with R&B hooks and southern fried blues, wailing, jibing, taunting, and preaching to us the gospel of urban funk. ...

John Scofield: A Go Go

by Ed Kopp
May 1, 1998

Speaking of funk, here's a match made in heaven: Medeski, Martin and Wood, one of the hottest young electric-jazz combos on the planet (both in popularity and skill), teamed with John Scofield, one of the baddest jazz guitarists ever. As you might expect, A Go Go is vamp-laden and very smart.Medeski, Martin and Wood are cool with the kids, so this one should make Sco a pile of dough. I caught MWW last year at a jazz fest, ...