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John Medeski’s Mad Skillet Channels Ghosts In Historic Cohoes [Review]


On Wednesday night in Cohoes, New York, John Medeski’s newest touring side-project, Mad Skillet, spilled into the scene of “The Spindle City.” The brief tour finds the quartet making three Empire State stops, but there is no place eerier, more historic or off-the-beaten-path than the Cohoes Music Hall.

“The hang before you play is just as important as the session,” Medeski mentioned in a recent interview. “You have to really be open to get to that place, to get to that vibration where it’s all coming together.” The upstate New York hallowed ground is the fourth oldest concert hall currently operating in the United States and dates back to the 19th century. If the band was seeking a haunted venue, they found the right place in Cohoes as legend has it that Eva Tanguay, Vaudeville icon who died in 1947, can be felt on and off stage. Her signature presence has been known to produce the smell of flowery perfume in an otherwise musty building and a freezing cold breeze in spaces where performers normally complain about the heat.

The intimate room greeted John Medeski’s Mad Skillet with a ferocious applause as they entered the stage for the haunting hump-day performance. Delving into MMW territory, a spooky introduction found Will Bernard showing off his jazzy chops as the crowd marveled at the connectedness of a band on their first tour. Medeski put the Mellotron and melodica to work to masterfully conjure up the spirits of his bandmates and within the first 15 minutes of the show, the room got a glimpse of improvised magic from this all-star cast. Sousaphonist Kirk Joseph got up from his stool and circled the stage to get a closer look at his Dirty Dozen Brass Band mate, Terence Higgins, as he found himself tag-teaming the jam with Bernard on a hollow body Gibson guitar.

Medeski, being a mindful composer, sat back with his arms crossed and patiently watched his bandmates go about their business before launching the group into “Man About Town.” The soulful opening track from their self-titled debut album, John Medeski’s Mad Skillet, saw extended treatment with swirling B-3 organ work, bluesy guitar play, thick slabs of sousaphone bass and well-executed drumming which eventually came to a soft finish.
Another Mad Skillet original, “Invincible Bubble,” made it to the first with incredible power as Higgins laid down a rambunctious drum line which made it seem like there was more than one drummer on stage. Joseph delivered echoing pedal effects to the powerful sousaphone to create a horror movie vibe with Medeski twisting knobs on the Mellotron.

An audience member yelled out, “More tuba!” to which Medeski playfully replied, “That is not a tuba. Don’t piss him [Joseph] off!” The sousaphone is a closely related cousin of the tuba, but was created to be lighter and more portable during marching band performances in places like New Orleans, Joseph’s native city. The design of the sousaphone allows it to wrap around the performer like a brassy coiled snake, but on a man the size of Joseph, it has seemingly fused to his body–turning him into some sort of bionic jazz-funk robot. The muffled buzzing that creates such a deep bassline is exemplified in “Adele”, another Mad Skillet tune that got some love in Cohoes and saw Medeski piping away at the melodica.

After a brief set break, the band came out looser and funkier than ever. In a relentless attempt to freak people out, an extended improvisation gave the band time to mess with various effects during “Psychedelic Rhino”. Serving as the longest studio session on their recent release, this patiently trippy conglomeration of full-band sound climbs various peaks and valleys thanks to Bernard’s chameleon-like guitar riffs and Medeski’s ability to shift directions at the push of a button. An extremely versatile set was filled with angelic gospel sections, happy-go-lucky sidewalk rhythms, funky Latin flavor and organ-drenched southern soul. The Meters-esque, “Little Miss Piggy” was introduced by Medeski and found him playing like an eight-limbed octopus to give the sound an extra wave of funk. Bernard crushed a solo that sprung off the paint chipped walls and Joseph nailed down the familiar brassy sound that stops people on the streets of Jazz Fest during impromptu street performances.

While “Medeski” is found in the name of the band, the quartet makes it clear that they are all willing and able to lead the pack. Higgins was found pointing to Bernard for a one-on-one the same way Joseph signaled to Medeski for the spotlight. The drum-keys combo developed into a reggae-dub sound with Bernard’s Gibson before Joseph shoved back in to launch an acid-jazzy funk. “Piri Piri” was spotted later in the second set and took the spacey vibe to a hot and heavy Crescent City swamp. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band twosome showed New Yorkers how they do it down south and cracked up the thermostat to levels even the coldest of ghosts couldn’t suppress. The mad scientist in Medeski gave the crowd another chance to dance–hopping from board to board before introducing his bandmates one last time.

Just before the clock struck 11 pm, Mad Skillet was coerced to return to the stage for “The Golden Lady.” Sun Ra’s “The Lady with the Golden Stockings” can be found on the 1966 album The Nubians of Plutonia, which featured songs recorded from late 50’s Chicago sessions. Nearly 60 years later, Mad Skillet tightened up Sunny’s loose jazzy sound with their own unique modifications in studio and on stage. The thrilling, Sean Connery approved track would serve as the perfect theme song for an early James Bond flick. Medeski made his moves with the Mellotron, Bernard vibrated on a wave of surf rhythm guitar, and Joseph provided an elusive bassline before the curtain closed for the final time in Cohoes.

There are only a handful of chances left to see this powerhouse roster perform live this year. You’re in for a tasty meal with John Medeski’s Mad Skillet.

Mad Skillet Upcoming 2018 Tour Dates:

November 16 Ardmore, PA—Ardmore Music Hall
November 17 Washington, DC—The Hamilton
November 18 Asbury Park, NJ—Asbury Lanes