Jazz Articles about Billy Martin

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Billy Martin: In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds

by Doug Collette
January 27, 2010

Billy Martin In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds Vongole Films 2009

In March 2008, drummer and percussionist Billy Martin was commissioned by The Houston Community College Department of Fine Arts in Texas to perform at the Heinen Theater. The school set the stage and documented what proved to be one of his best solo performances, in which the percussionist and founding member of Medeski Martin & Wood offered some of his Black Elk Speaks compositions ...

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Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians - The Evolutionary Set

by Doug Collette
January 3, 2010

Medeski Martin & WoodRadiolarians: The Evolutionary SetIndirecto Records2009 Medeski, Martin & Wood is always going a little further, whether it's in the course of a live performance, a studio recording or the aesthetics of its music. Accordingly, Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set is both metaphor for the group's restless ambition and a tangible product of it. This box set of five CDs, a double set of vinyl LPs and a ...

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Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians - The Evolutionary Set

by John Kelman
December 28, 2009

Released over the last year, Medeski, Martin & Wood's three-part Radiolarians series bucked the longstanding and conventional trend of writing > recording > touring. Touring material before documenting it on record isn't exactly new, but few if any artists have done so with such an extensive repertoire--three hours of new material, all taken on the road and honed before MMW ever set foot in a recording studio to lay the tracks down. That there's such a tremendous benefit ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...