Medeski Martin & Wood: End of the world party

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * )

MM&W are the most innova-tive and consistently interesting hip young jazz group around these days and have had guests such as guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), cellist Jane Scarpantoni (Springsteen) and DJ Logic. You'd be unwise to anticipate the direction of any new album because they've done straight bebop, clubland trance and dance floor jazz-rock.

This one is subtitled just in case, as if they want to mop up a plethora of styles and references in pop culture if we all go down sometime soon. So here among the nuggety, evocative soundtrack material (such as the wired electro-pop of Anonymous Skulls) are organ-driven funk (the title track), Santana and a nod to the riff from that irritating theme to Sex and the City in the same piece (Reflector) and Middle Eastern harmonics (Bloody Oil). And that's just the first four tracks. Elsewhere, guest Ribot pulls out his wah-wah for some soulful 70s funk (New Planet).

There's a bit too much funk noodling (Curtis, and Sasa which hints at Miles Davis and Santana again; his spirit infects a few tracks here) and in a few places the ideas seem undercooked. But if that musical melange might sound like a mess of ingredients, then so are New York and a gumbo. And we all know how we feel about them. Another unpredictable grower.

Label: Blue Note