A PROJECT IN INNOVATION

DJ Logic’s work on the wheels of steel has him playing live with musicians of all types throughout the country. In recent years, DJ Logic has played on Medeski, Martin & Wood’s album Combustication and joined MMW on stage for entire shows during a number of tours. While working with MMW, Logic began collaborating with a number of talented musicians and playing live under the moniker Project Logic. Despite the rotating Project Logic lineups, one thing is for certain, DJ Logic makes sure that jazz, funk, hip hop and electronic music represent in every show. With a few years under Project Logic’s belt, Live at the Wetlands is a wonderful sonic snapshot of the Project at its best – live and in the groove.

The album organically begins with the ambient space of Michael Weitman’s keyboards, as DJ Logic tells this July '00 audience at the Project’s pseudo-residence, The Wetlands Preserve in New York, that the audience (and listeners) are all "part of the project" and then questions them, "Are you ready?"

The real question is, are we ready for the sound that emerges on this album? The Project's amalgamation of musical genres is evidenced by it rendition of Intro Miles - an ode to Miles Davis’ electric period with the added spin of a turntable. Guest guitarist, Vernon Reid, accentuates this cut with rocking guitar as the band explodes into a bass and keyboard driven haze of funk. With Mike Weitman’s clavinet and Fender Rhodes driving the sound on this track, DJ Logic is freed up to drop the needle on his ridiculous assortment of vintage vinyl. Some might say that this is the trippingest live hip-hop around. Intro Miles is that opening show launchpad to which funkified big grooves are based upon. As it winds down into a sea of Casey Benjamin’s unique Ewi and saxophone playing, the space perfectly segues into the dark and dirty groove of Black Buddah.

Scott Palmer’s in-the-pocket bass playing drives this cut as Black Buddah is accentuated by Logic’s syncopated scratching and Benjamin’s loungy saxaphone phrasing. As the audience applauds and celebrates the party contained in this track, it is not long before drummer Stephen Roberson counts out the drum beat to Beanie Man, a song more prominently featuring the Project’s funk hip hop gumbo.

At the outset of Beanie Man, Vernon Reid lays down some scratchy guitar chords that, coupled with Weitman’s heavy clavinet work, provides a funkified rhythmic backdrop. Together with Logic’s cuts and scratches, an escalating groove is created with hints of the tension/release that improvisational music lovers all dig. The underlying rhythm borrows from jungle break beats and finally escalates into a tough hip-hop groove with Weitman providing keyboard soloing bridging back into the opening Beanie Man groove. This track demonstrates that Project Logic plays compositionally while incorporating space within its grooves to allow the musicians to experiment and improvise. At this point in the album, the Project has made a statement for Live at the Wetlands to be an essential party album.

Gig 1/Dub Joint is the necessary break in the action where the crowd and the listeners have to catch their breath. Benjamin’s loungy saxophone is complimented with an unknown guest’s soaring trumpet sound. This slow lounge groove allows the brass players to provide a nice exchange of quickly phrased bursts of sound. Logic drops spacey dub samples and loops while the horns prominently allow the listener to relax. As this cut melts into a reggae dub sound, Logic incorporates some dub samples of an irie (or irate?) rastaman. The beat increases and the horns rise to a peak inviting the next track, the gem of this album, JJ Bailey/Bubblehouse into the mix for a deep, deep party groove that the Project has been brewing up until this point of its performance.

JJ Bailey catches fire early on with Weitman playing Medeski-esque styled riffs on the clav before Benjamin rages in on his Ewi. One familiar with the grooves of Medeski, Martin and Wood, can almost hear Bubblehouse underlying the Bailey groove. But before the Project launches into one of the tightest and sickest covers of Bubblehouse, Vernon Reid emerges and absolutely rips a sizzling solo. Upon the close of the Reid solo, the ringing clav leads the band on the fly into the opening keyboard line of Bubblehouse and the Project provides a tight four minute rendition of the MMW classic that escalates to a frantic pace with Palmer’s bass playing and Logic’s barrage of swipes and scratches driving the jam until the band peaks and explodes back into the original Bubblehouse groove. This is a classic track.

A cover of Miles Davis Jean-Pierre brings back a bit more of the introspective spacey/ambient side of the Project one last time before the band drops into Drone for another burst of funkified energy that closes out this crispy fifty five minute album. If you like well recorded live improvisational music that cross-cuts musical genres and you like to dance hard, then Live at the Wetlands is for you.

Franklin Malemud