This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Shack-man is the fourth album by experimental jazz fusion trio Medeski Martin & Wood, released in 1996. It was widely considered their commercial breakthrough, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. The album was recorded in an isolated shack in Hawaii, with power supplied by solar energy and generators. AllMusic called the album "the best example to date of the trio's cerebral fusion of soul-jazz, hip-hop, and post-punk worldbeat." New York wrote that "the changes are episodic, as in funk, rather than conversational, as in jazz." Relix called it a "dark, funky dorm room breakthrough." The Cleveland Scene wrote that the group "made it cool to groove again with 1996s Shack-man, a Hammond-hammered Phish-lot mainstay that opened the door for instrumental improv groups like Soulive and Particle."
I guess this is an OK album. Jazz fusion is often an annoying collection of too long solos in too long songs without structure. This album is not. Too bad the songs are just not that outstanding in quality and performance. When choosing essential jazz fusion lots of other albums should come to mind.
Quirky as all get out - I think I love this!
Very cool! 4 stars.
The more I listen to it the better it gets. Really enjoyed this one. Thanks to the submitter!
I said in reference to a recent Coltrane offering that I'm no Jazz sophisticate, and I'm even less so when it comes to modern stuff. I liked this OK though some of it seemed kind of gimmicky. Never really blew me away.
An interesting alternative jazz album. I wouldn’t call it completely avant garde but it has its uniqueness while also still sound like decent structured jazz. I’m sure with a genre as old and historical as jazz there needs to be some experimentation to separate and feel modern without straying too far into the abnormal. I’d say that this album did that and it was a decent listen. 6.3/10
Generic tbh
Jazz-funk, soul jazz, acid jazz. Ni fu ni fa.
Pretty nice
It's a jam album, nothing more and nothing less. Not sure why this is notable in any way, maybe I'm missing some historical context but it's meh all around.