Though the trio of John Medeski, Billy Martin, and Chris Wood had already expanded the jazz genre with their first three records, it was this 1996 album that really crossed over and won the ensemble a whole new legion of listeners in the "jam band" camp. Recorded in a remote, solar-powered plywood shack in Hawaii (hence the title), Shack-Man brought the '70s soul-jazz beloved by the band firmly into the '90s, propelled by Medeski's simultaneously nostalgic yet forward-thinking excursions on the Hammond B-3. A masterpiece of groove!
