Medeski, Martin, and Wood
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At first glance there’s nothing particularly unusual about the trio of John Medeski, Billy Martin, and Chris Wood, but few bands do a better job of confounding the categorizers, or seem to have as much fun doing it. Medeski’s frequent use of the Hammond organ–and his obvious affinity for it–has led to comparisons with the traditional jazz organ trio, but ultimately such comparisons fall short. His fearless plunges into noise tend to terrify, or at least alienate, the typical fan of jazz organists like Jimmy Smith and Richard “Groove” Holmes–but they’re indicative of the breadth of the group’s universe, where there’s room for Smith, Holmes, and Sun Ra. Much of the trio’s original music is built on funky bass vamps and the crackling backbeat of Martin’s drums, rather than the swinging four-four time that is the meat and potatoes of the standard jazz repertoire. While this may be off-putting to the crustier elements of the jazz world, it has attracted many fans raised on rock, soul, and funk, who apparently have an itch for improvised music that’s equally suitable for dancing or listening. (In a recent Downbeat interview, Medeski summed it up this way: “People in this country are dying for groove music that has an expansive quality, that gets into harmonies that you can’t necessarily sing when you’re doing the dishes.”) It’s probably Medeski, Martin, and Wood’s penchant for tunes based on simple though ingenious grooves that has sparked the occasional attempts, in the press and elsewhere, to fit them into the acid-jazz bag, though the spontaneity and energy of their typical set makes most acid jazz seem positively mechanical in comparison. The primary virtue of this trio is their ability to improvise in a variety of musical settings with sharp instincts, broad musical vocabulary, and virtuosity.
There was plenty of virtuosity on display Friday night in the sweaty, smoky, impossibly overcrowded confines of the Elbo Room. The group has put out a couple of great records in the past couple of years (It’s a Jungle in Here and Friday Afternoon in the Universe, both on Gramavision), but the recordings only hint at what the trio offer live.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Alan Martin.
