FOUR GREATS ONE BAND
Medeski Martin & Wood becomes quartet with addition of Scofield
T he first time the New York trio Medeski Martin & Wood made it to Western Canada back in December 1994 is now “legendary” for keyboard player John Medeski.
“Edmonton was minus 28 degrees,” he recalls. “We were driving and sleeping in a camper and it froze the heating system. I had to borrow a hair dryer to warm up the tubes on the organ after we brought it inside because it sounded like crap when we started it up.”
Nearly 20 years later MMW is jetting through a series of Canadian jazz festival dates reflecting their reputation as one of the most popular trios on the jazz scene. And this time around they’re a quartet, part of a decade-plus association with guitar great John Scofield that has spawned several albums and numerous tours.
“We’re different in a lot of ways but we’re still coming from a simi- lar sort of place,” Medeski said. “John has played a lot more jazz but we’re both coming from a love of jazz, of groove music, of R&B, New Orleans and blues and the need to find a jazz sensibility or spirit in improvising. At the same time, we’re using more contemporary rhythms and trying to be true to who we are.”
The collaboration began when they agreed to be the backing band on Scofield’s 1998 Verve album A Go Go, but other commitments made it hard to tour right away. Once they did hit the road as a collective, MSMW worked so well they recorded another album, Out Louder (2006), and the two-CD live set In Case the World Changes Its Mind (2011). An excellent new studio date with all four called Juice is due out in September (all on the MMW label Indirecto Records).
Medeski says they will be drawing from all of their shared repertoire and unrecorded tunes on this visit, but he emphasizes it’s more about the process than the composition.
“We just want to get to a certain vibe, to take the audience on a journey. In a way, it’s irrelevant what songs you play, but what can be relevant is how the songs inspire you to get there.”
Medeski isn’t sure if MMW is even a jazz band because of the way they have touched on the fringes of so many styles, and he says working with Scofield opens things up.
“It changes our options, but fortunately working with somebody like Scofield — he’s a master, an unbelievable musician and a great guy — it’s really easy. That opens up a universe of possibilities and this most recent record is kind of a combo of everything.”
He explains they started out listening to boogaloos and bossa nova and other American music with African influences before that became “our launching pad.”
Medeski grew up taking classical piano lessons from age five. Hearing Oscar Peterson turned him in a jazz direction. His adventurous musical spirit really took off at the New England Conservatory of Music near Boston, where he met Colorado-raised Chris Wood and first tried out the Hammond B3 organ.
MMW came to be after they had both moved to New York and met up with New York native Billy Martin in 1991. Associations with Manhattan’s downtown scene, John Lurie, John Zorn and others added to the trio’s cult, cutting-edge status. They have played over 20 albums, loud and electric and recorded all acoustic, too.
Medeski feels MMW’s longevity comes from the fact they have all chosen to work in other projects. Martin runs his own label; Wood has The Wood Brothers; and Medeski made his recent solo piano CD, A Different Time, last year on Sony/ Okeh in addition to his work as a sideman and producer. Their alternate discographies make a long and varied list, and they don’t worry too much about what to call it.
“I think homeless music works as well as anything,” laughs Medeski.