John Scofield is an organic mood these days. On Saudades, the recent release by Trio Beyond, the guitarist hooked up with Hammond B-3 man Larry Goldings (and drummer Jack DeJohnette) to pay tribute to Tony Williams' fusion-pioneering Lifetime. Here, in the role of guest artist, he revives his partnership with organist John Medeski--and bassist Billy Martin and drummer Chris Wood, all of whom backed him on his smartly grooving 1998 effort, A Go Go. As the crunching "Miles Beyond" demonstrates, MSMW has got fusion on its mind, too. But on what may be the futuristic Medeski crew's most aggressively varied effort, they also partake of spaced-out blues jams, Beatles balladry ("Julia"), full-throttle soul, rhythmically recast reggae (Peter Tosh's "Legalize It"), New Orleans tradition ("Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing") and a Brazilian-inflected tune on which Scofield makes like Wes Montgomery. The first album to be issued on MMW's own Indirecto label, Out Louder is a consistently enjoyable world tour that has just the edge and sense of surprise that has been missing on some of Scofield's and MMW's recent albums. --Lloyd Sachs
