Madlib Medicine Show No. 7 - High Jazz

by Madlib

With this entry in the on-going Madlib Medicine Show, the Loop Digga gives us fifteen tracks of high-minded and beautiful jazz.  As with most of his jazz projects, the work here is attributed to no less than eleven different bands or groups of artists, although I'm quite certain that most of these people are fictional, and that Madlib has done the whole thing himself.

It does become easy to question that assumption though, as the liner notes are full of pictures of the different records that these tracks were taken off of, and there is much to suggest that all these people exist.

Not that it matters though, because we're here for the music.  This cd is full of lovely, effervescent jazz.  It's easily my favourite of Madlib's jazz albums (competing with Sujinho, the Jackson Conti collabo), as it doesn't have much that is 'challenging' or hard to listen to.  That is not to say that it's an "easy-listening" jazz album, it just doesn't ever hurt.

Of note on here is 'Funky Butt, Part 1', which is a collaboration with James Poyser and Karriem Riggins, two artists who are always working the underside of hip-hop, and never receive much recognition.  This is probably the most consistent of the Medicine Show projects released so far.