Each CD comes in nice cardboard reproduction of the original album covers and the sound here is amazing, especially considering the source tapes and the low budget with which there were originally cut 15+ years ago. If you were fascinated by CVB’s “faithful” song by song cover of Fleetwood Mac’s "Tusk" album released earlier this year, or have had a chance to catch one of their occasional reunion concerts opening for Cracker, now is the time to explore this diverse and fascinating band a bit deeper. The rewards of doing so will be infinite!

Matador Records has re-released this CD to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pavement’s “album that started it all”: Slanted and Enchanted.” All-Music Guide RAVES about it so I’ll leave the description to them : “(Slanted and Enchanted Luxe & Reduxe) offers an embarrassment of riches, with each new song proving that the band really was not just the best of its kind, but the best of its time. A heady statement, to be sure, but few classic albums would have their status bolstered the way that Slanted & Enchanted does here, with 34 (!) bonus tracks, enhancing an already legendary album in ways that are giddily revelatory. Those that trawl file sharing services or trade CD Rs might find that they have already heard most of the material here, but even so, nobody can argue with the scope of this reissue, especially since the music is of astoundingly high quality. There are wonders to behold everywhere: the surging "Baptist Blacktick," discovering that the previous unreleased "Nothing Ever Happens" is quoted after "Trigger Cut" as "Wounded Kite at :17," two John Peel sessions consisting of songs that never made the LPs (and it all could, most notably "Kentucky Cocktail"), Watery, Domestic is revealed as a key transition from Slanted to Crooked Rain with its final song, "Shoot the Singer," standing as one of the band's unheralded classics, and the entirety of the December 14, 1992, concert at the Brixton Academy in London is phenomenal, capturing a notoriously erratic live band at the peak of their powers. There's so much material here, the album itself feels like the bonus! But this isn't rarities for rarities sake: it all has something to offer. No other reissue of a single album of any genre has covered its ground so completely and appealingly; there's simply nothing left in the vaults, or on singles, and everything that's been added is worthwhile. It's essential listening, not just for indie rockers, but any serious rock an.”

Gilbert Gottfried Joke at Hue Hefner Roast: This did not take place in 2002, but I saw it for the first time in 2002. Besides, this is one of the best jokes I’ve everheard:

This guy gets home from work and finds out his wife was in a terrible accident. He drives to the hospital and says, “Doctor, what happened?” The Doctor says, “Let me tell ya, it was a horrible accident. She’s paralyzed from the neck down. Your gonna have to feed her, change her diapers, clean every orifice of her body, your gonna have to wheel her around everywhere…” The man starts balling and the Doctor says, “I’m just fucking with you…she’s dead.”

It went something like that anyway…

Jazz is dying. Jazz has been dying ever since fusion ceased to be hip and just became gooey crap. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some artists trying to keep the genre alive and trying to move it forward by doing what jazz has always done – borrowing from other genres. With bop, it was show tunes. With fusion and acid jazz, it was rock effects like wah pedals and chorus pedals hooked up to horns. The newest trend is borrowing from electronic music and rap. Medeski Martin & Wood has been using turntables since their 1998 release Combustication.

Rubin Steiner (a band, not a person) follows MMW in this vein by delving into the revolutionary jazz style of borrowing from rock, hip-hop and electronica. They have rap-record esque interludes (“Battle of the Cave,” “Saoul Jazz”) and an introduction that is eerily similar with its robotic voice to Radiohead’s “Fitter/happier.”

And they do it all extraordinarily well. While some jazz critics may argue that some of their sounds are not “jazzy” enough, I would argue that Rubin Steiner’s primary technique is using layers of sound to create their music; not unlike what Miles Davis did on Bitches Brew and Live Evil; not unlike what John Coltrane did on A Love Supreme; not unlike what Herbie Hancock did on about a hundred records, as did Ornette Coleman.

Wunderbar3 is not the best jazz album of the year. The album is flawed in that it sometimes relies too much on its electronic and hip-hop influences, and it ends up not lending enough time to Rubin Steiner’s own musicians. This makes Rubin Steiner’s wunderbar3 the kind of album whose replay value isn’t great. In more musician (as opposed to computer)-oriented jazz, there are more subtleties that one can pick up on that will raise the record’s replay value.

Although Rubin Steiner’s Wunderbar3 is not the best jazz album of the year, it is certainly the most interesting, and probably the most mportant.

Following in the footsteps of Rubin Steiner, there is nobody in Jacob Fred’s Jazz Odyssey named Jacob Fred.

There is little one can say about this trio from Tulsa, Oklahoma without letting their beautifully improvised music speak for itself. The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is, quite simply, a hip psychedelic/acid jazz influenced trio who can improvise and create with the best. Brian Haas shows his versatility by improvising impressively both on the highly electronic Fender Rhodes keyboard and on acoustic piano. Jason Smart (drums) and Reed Mathis (bass) complete the trio and hold down the time as well as a swiss watch. What the trio does better than most jazz ensembles, however, is to diversify their instrumentation and sound. Most jazz groups do one of two things: seek out a sound and stick to it, or over-experiment with new sounds and/or effects. On All is One, the Jacob Fred Odyssey finds a brilliant medium.

I have never made a secret of my love of Medeski, Martin & Wood. They are my favorite contemporary jazz combo. So you might think that it is my love for them that is putting them atop this list, as the best jazz album of the year. That’s not the case. What is putting them in this spot is John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood: three men who have influenced contemporary jazz more in the past ten years than anybody. The simple fact of the matter is, 10 years after their self-released debut, Notes from the Underground came out, MMW is still getting it done, and still being more innovative than anybody in jazz. Their instrumentation is rich and diverse – John Medeski plays twelve different keyboards on this album; they bring a horn section to fill out the sound on the title track, “Uninvisible..” One of the record’s biggest risks is bringing on guest vocalist Col. Bruce Hampton on “Snake Anthony” who speaks – not sings – his lyrics, harkening back to the nearly-dead art of jazz poetry. They use turntables again, including guest spots by DJ Olive and DJ P. Love (who you’ll hear on Pappy Check).

The melodies are almost frighteningly catchy. The head of Pappy Check is one of the catchiest jazz melodies I have ever heard. John Medeski really lets his talent show on this track, showcasing his brilliant improvisation skills. The title track, Uninvisible will get stuck in your head like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth, as will Take Me Nowhere, Ten Dollar High, and the brilliantly distinctive Where have you been which not only showcases Chris Wood’s brilliant bass skills, but also features Brad Roberts on a small vocal track which could easily have been relegated to Chris Wood on bass.

Uninvisible is yet another great record from this Brooklyn trio, who have been revolutionizing jazz for a decade now. If their latest effort is any indication, there are no signs of stopping anytime soon.