THE CD: Out Louder (Indirecto Records)
THE PERFORMER: Medeski, Scofield, Martin and Wood
WEBSITE: Click here. Or here for John Scofield.
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF…: hip gangsters and icy-cool cocktail parties define your life.
SUGGESTED TRACKS: “Tequila and Chocolate,” “Julia,” “In Case the World Changes its Mind”

The instrumental trio Medeski, Martin and Wood bring on a fourth partner in cool New York jazz-funk, for an album that shuffles across a global village of hipster fusion.

MM&W sports the trappings of a contemporary jazz group — an organ, a bass, a drummer and no lyrics save for the occasional brooding voice over. The addition of jazz guitarist and composer John Scofield on this latest album thickens the illusion. But on “Out Louder,” the quartet spikes the classic jazz sound without neglecting the signature formlessness.

The opener, “Little Walter Rides Again,” crashes into the room with a solid drum beat before Scofield whips out a playful staccato roll. Then, it smacks into a booming wall of John Medeski’s church-organ holiness. Bassist Chris Wood keeps the party interesting with a flourish. From there the four break into a messy, distorted rock riot on “Miles Behind,” followed by the droopy-eyed groove of “In Case the World Changes Its Mind.”

Bored on home soil, MSM&W dust off their passports for a few trips south with the breezy merengue “Tequila and Chocolate,” and “Cachaca,” a spicy quasi-tango that seems to have fallen out of the closing credits of an Argentine crime movie. They find time after these two tamales for a jaunt to the Orient in “Hanuman.” Once they return, the mad scientist lab coats come out for the sound-effect fusions of “Telegraph” and “What Now.”

The entire journey marries jazz with all colors of straight-up noise to birth a super mutant hyper-jazz. The result is a nonlinear mush of sounds, scales and places going everywhere and nowhere at once. For all the heavy hitters taking up the organ, bass and guitar, respect should be heaped upon drummer Billy Martin, who somehow keeps order and sanity in the game.

MM&W the band rejects order and always has — hence, every album since their 1991 debut shoots off in a new direction without backtracking. Scofield brings an extra means of disorder to “Out Louder” and it plays out beautifully bizarre as always. Four guys. No lyrics. Once crazy trip after another.

– by Morgan Kelly

THE CD: “Last Man Standing” (Art1st)
THE ARTIST: Jerry Lee Lewis
WEBSITE: Click here.
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF…: you sport vintage coats frayed on the right edges.
SUGGESTED TRACKS: “The Pilgrim Ch.33,” “Lost Highway,” “You Don’t Have to Go,” “Pink Cadillac”

Ever since Santana’s “Supernatural,” people flash the stink eye at aged rockers who team up with still burning flames. But the guests on Jerry Lee Lewis’ new duet collection, “Last Man Standing,” hang on tight as the Killer himself barrels toward the wild juke joints and weepy watering holes of Louisiana.

The 21-track album racks up a who’s-who from the last 50 years of rock, country and blues from Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard to Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson and Kid Rock. Everyone backs up the Killer in their own way and do it well with only a few glaring missteps: for instance, nobody needed to fetch Kid Rock and Toby Keith from the airport.

Otherwise, enjoy a sweet sampler of melodies. Lewis and Merle Haggard ring with free-wheeling bliss on the hobo ballad “Just a Bummin’ Around.” We can belly up to the tap for the tear-jerking “That Kind of Fool” featuring the ghostly wail of Keith Ritchards. Or take it to the rowdy streets with Lewis and Bruce Springsteen on “Pink Cadillac.” Even the insufferable Rod Stewart hands in a soulful croon or two on “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous.”

“Last Man” is Lewis’ first album in about a decade. Fittingly, the album opens with Lewis teaming up with Jimmy Page for Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll,” singing, “It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled…”

Granted, the songs on “Last Man” are all covers. And ’50s-style rock, though good, smells a bit musty even here. But the Killer, nearly 71, never slips. Sure, he slurs a tad during the studio chatter. But cut to the music and Lewis comes through clear and powerful. He pounds and slides across the piano like Eisenhower is still in office. He booms about love, loss and loose women with a vocal potion of youthful ego and elder wisdom. Consider Lewis’ hard-drinking, substance-soaked life (which probably aged him closer to 80) and this is pretty impressive.

Hearing such energy is a bit sad. Despite his thing with prepubescent relatives, Lewis brought his best as a musician. Yet his career — in the States at least — never fully recovered from the scorn and rejection heaped on him. We suffered the loss. The Killer kept on killing.

But the Killer can’t go on forever. “Last Man Standing” hammers that point home. The title alludes to the alumni of Sun Records in Memphis: Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Lewis. Everyone is dead save for Jerry Lee. The last man standing.

Rock and roll won’t die with Lewis (Chuck Berry, turning 80 next month, lives). But hearing an original sire of rock is like finding someone who speaks Latin as a first language — it’s not new, but strangely beautiful when authentic. Sadly, “Last Man Standing” could be a kiss goodbye from another of rock and roll’s native speakers.

– by Morgan Kelly

THE CD: Welcome to the Drama Club
THE ARTIST: Everclear
WEBSITE: here
SELECT TRACKS: Hater; Glorious; Your Arizona Room
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF: You were alive in the ’90s

Somewhere between the much-hyped September 12th new releases of Beyonce and John Mayer, the ’90s and early 2000’s hit maker known as Everclear somewhat quietly released their new album, “Welcome to the Drama Club,” on the same day.

I say somewhat quietly with good reason. While the album more or less slipped under the radar in terms of hyped releases, the video for the first single “Hater” has sparked something of a controversy with many. It even prompted Bill O’Reilly to invite Everclear front man Art Alexakis on his Fox News show to defend his position on the controversial video.

While I won’t go into all that, (just check out the video on You Tube here), I can say that “Welcome to the Drama Club” is a return to Everclear’s classic ’90’s sound made famous on 1995’s platinum release “Sparkle and Fade” and 1997’s multi-platinum “So Much for the Afterglow.”

What is more impressive about Everclear’s new/old sound is that Art Alexakis is the only remaining original member after a 2003 split. New members consist of bassist Sam Hudson, guitarist Dave French, drummer Brett Snyder and Keyboardist Josh Crawley.

Much of what I liked about Everclear in the past had to do with Art’s autobiographical style of songwriting, and “Welcome to the Drama Club” keeps that tradition alive by diving straight to the heart of Art’s personal life. Considering the recent divorce of Art and his wife and declaring bankruptcy after a 2004 split with Capitol Records, the title “Welcome to The Drama Club” may be an understatement.

The albums first single “Hater,” which I have to admit, did not get the best fanfare when reviewed as a single with digital distributors such as iTunes and Musicmatch, is actually much better than I had originally thought. Described by Alexakis as the ultimate break-up song, “Hater” is actually an upbeat declaration of everything Art doesn’t like about his partner — with cowbell included (don’t let that deter you from checking it out).

Other tracks on the album include the country sound of “Portland Rain,” the love story of “Your Arizona Room,” “A Taste of Hell,” “Drama King” and “Shameless Use of Charm,” which are all pretty tight tracks that won’t disappoint longtime Everclear fans.

By far the albums best song is “Glorious,” a tale of love lost which is probably the best thing they have done since 2000’s “Wonderful.” The lyrics are nothing out of the ordinary but the song really takes it up a notch with the chorus: ‘Everything fades away/The world changes everyday/When I think about you and what we had/It makes me want to say… Glorious.’

All in all, this album is much better than 2003’s “Slow Motion Daydream.” If a new Everclear album is not up your alley, but you still want to check out their old stuff just look for 2004’s “Ten Years Gone: The Best of Everclear.”

– Mark Totten

NOTE: Given the high-profile of Dylan’s new release, we had two reviewers angling for a shot at it. Here are both reviews then, of the latest from his Bob-ness. Gazz Editor

THE CD: “Modern Times” (Columbia)
PERFORMER: Bob Dylan
WEBSITE: Click here.
SELECTED TRACKS: “Ain’t Talkin’,” “Someday Baby,” “Workingman’s Blues #2″
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF…: you’ve traded your harmonica for a saddle and Boulets.

Bob Dylans’ latest album, “Modern Times,” wields a good bit of gravity in the grand musical universe for quality and Dylan’s legacy — he scores with yet another well-crafted album rich with Americana tradition and his unique brand of weighty narratives.

But any album stacked atop a career as long, revered and varied as Dylan’s — “Modern Times” is his 31st album — stands in judgment before its predecessors, in this case, for a little Bob on Bob comparison.

“Modern Times” continues down the Mississippi dirt road of ragtime, swing and blues Dylan touched upon in 1997’s “Time Out of Mind” and fully veered onto with 2001’s “Love and Theft.” The latter packed on the luster with instrument-heavy songs and a nearly overwhelming old-time energy. It felt like something wondrous just happened, which was odd given the album’s September 11 release.

On “Modern,” Dylan strips all that down to the rusted metal of abandoned cars and tin shacks along the Delta back roads. Big swing numbers and dreamy slow-dancers surrender to simple shuffles and brooding blues about ungrateful lovers (”Someday Baby”), a back-to-basics sound that smacks of 1969’s “Nashville Skyline” without the optimism.

Mood-wise, “Modern Times” is more in line with the moody beer-guzzler, “Time Out of Mind.” Although not quite so depressing, “Modern Times” touches upon uncertainty, loneliness and fear with “Workingman’s Blues #2″ and “Ain’t Talkin’.” He also spikes his sadness with humor as in “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” when he rasps: “I’m flat out spent, this woman she been driving me to tears/This woman’s so crazy I swear I ain’t gonna touch another one for years.”

But for all the Jazz Age hijinks, Dylan never has a message beyond tales of the hard times befalling the cowboy-bluesman persona he adopted before recording. He did this on “Love and Theft,” too, but the musical virtuosity offset it. Sure, he’s older, settled in, but the 2000 hit single “Things Have Changed” played the “tips from a disenchanted, grizzled old man” angle nicely. He couldn’t do that again?

No one’s expecting another “Times They Are A-Changing,” but this is Bob Dylan — expecting at least a few wise words is hardly unreasonable. Anything but just seems un-Bob.

–by Morgan Kelly

The CD: “Modern Times” (Columbia)
Performer: Bob Dylan

Late in an artist’s career, when most would be content to rest on their laurels and coast on nostalgia, it’s rare for a musician to still be cutting loose with fresh material that shows they can still turn out vital, important work. Of course, Bob Dylan is not just any artist. He’s BOB FREAKING DYLAN!–the mad rock prophet, the poet laureate of folk music, the tunesmith messiah, author of more than a handful of the greatest songs ever written. He’s the guy who introduced the Beatles to pot, for Christ’s sake! The man could retire on any one of those accomplishments, yet he chooses to keep plugging away. And now, well into his AARP years, he has unleashed a CD that shows he’s still near the top of his game.

“Modern Times” is a collection of some of the most intelligent honky-tonk songs and ballads ever recorded. From the opening track, “Thunder On The Mountain,” which name-checks Alicia Keys, to “Spirit On The Water,” a sweet ballad that avoids turning sappy due to clever wordplay, “Modern Times” finds Dylan in a playful mood–one that he’s been hinting at more heavily since his days with the Traveling Wilburys. Many of the songs are Dylan’s takes on earlier works. “Nettie Moore” borrows from a nineteenth-century ballad. “Rollin’ And Tumblin” is a reworking of an old Muddy Waters tune. Other songs have less-obvious links to other artists, but it’s clear that Dylan is not afraid, at this point in his career, to wear his influences on his sleeve.

“The Levee’s Gonna Break” obviously reflects the Katrina debacle, but rather than preach or jerk tears, Dylan just gives us a first-person character study set during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 with words of wisdom and a dash of apocalyptic prophesy. And it’s a bouncy little tune, too.

This album was recorded over the course of a month with Dylan’s touring band. The sound is polished and professional without being overly slick. There’s just the right amount of raggedness for the material. Dylan is in fine voice. He even drags out his “Lay Lady Lay” croon for “Spirit On The Water.” The tempo varies from driving blues shuffles, to near waltzes, to slow ponderous ballads, but never bogs down. There’s a lot of old-time Western music creeping into Dylan’s music these days. That cross-pollination works a lot better here than it does when Nashville strip mines classic rock for their hit factories.

With age, Dylan seems to be having real fun making music. “Modern Times” is a sweet, engaging work, with Dylan’s sense of humor subtly present but still very much in evidence. There are more than a few lines that will make you laugh out loud, but not until you hear them a second time.

– By Rudy Panucci