by Wade Kergan
Touted as a jazz group, but openly acknowledged as a solo project of left-coast rap producer Madlib, Yesterdays New Quintet boldly experimented with the fusion of hip-hop and jazz. Playing instruments live in his studio and then sampling and arranging the results, the first Yesterdays New Quintet long-player, Angles Without Edges, dropped in 2001. Madlib, who is no stranger to pseudonyms, went so far as to name each of the fictitious players in his group (Monk Hughes, Ahmad Miller, Joe McDurfey, and Malik Flowers, if you're curious). The debut was well received and the following year an album of Stevie Wonder covers, Stevie, Vol. 1, was released, while Stevie came out in 2004.