Since there aren't any reviews for this yet, I feel compelled to speak on its behalf. This is easily one of the very best in the Medicine Show series to date, and while I also thoroughly enjoy #'s 3, 4 , 5, 7, & 10, this is the one I've played the most, by far. It's a coherent, fully-integrated product and Madlib's passion for jazz shines throughout. The highlights are the spoken word snippets sprinkled over the music; it forms a raucous cosmic slop of a mix that's pure genius.
Mixes of great music serve a lot of functions: they can educate a genre novice quickly, or unearth the overlooked for the savvy listener. They can put known music into new context.
Madlib mixes serve more than these purposes: he melts down hundreds of samples, overlapping, cross-fading, using dialogue, stand-up comedy, all into a 21st century of race care ride through decades old music.
The titles on Advanced jazz deal with the heavy hitters of the idiom. Miles, Colman, Hancok, and dozens more--all at a pace made for ears raised in hip hop and MTV.
This is fascinating on several levels: Madlib completely recontextualizes old music into new experience. At points here, you feel like your listening in the night club settings--complete with stand up opening act--this music was born in. Other sections feel like a 1960's jazz teach in.
Even if you have all of these recordings--doubtful, 20 years collecting and i don't have most of them--you won't regret it. Your jazz records are jazz studied on a turn table. Madlib gives you jazz in a sound Ferrari.
And a ride no curious listener to any music should miss.
