Commenting on the phenomenal success of their groove-driven organ trio, Medeski Martin & Wood keyboardist John Medeski told one interviewer, "We're all improvising musicians at heart... [so] if we get in any kind of rut, we really get cranky. It's important for us to keep growing and evolving and to feel like we're expanding." So, it should come as no surprise that on Combustication, the band's debut Blue Note recording and sixth album overall, MMW ups the ante and brings an incendiary collection of new road-tested and studio-fired tunes to the table.

For its last outing, Shack-man, the band recorded live in their tropical studio secreted away in a remote area of Hawaii. This time, Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood opted to settle into the Magic Shop in New York City to explore a different kind of vibe. "It was a contrast of jungles, with New York having fewer coconuts and a lot more coffee," jokes Medeski. "Recording in New York gave us more time and space to experiment with fine tuning the details instead of relying exclusively on capturing what we do live. For Combustication, we were able to develop the music in the studio, to gather material and work it like a lump of clay." Switching metaphors, Medeski adds, "Essentially we had the luxury of time for sharpening the blade before the cut."

"We wouldn't change what we came up with on Shack-man for anything," Martin says. "But for Combustication, we wanted to work on making a better sounding record. We wanted to try to be more creative in the studio. We kept that live performance feel, then experimented with shaping the tunes. We worked at crafting songs in a way we never have before."

In addition to enjoying the extra studio time, Wood notes that having lots of great restaurants in the vicinity of Magic Shop was also a big plus. "I guarantee you that most of the music that's on this album was performed after we had a good meal and some wine or sake. We'd come back from dinner, record one take and boom! We had it. That's what also happens when we're on the road. Feed us a great meal and you get a great show."

Crowned the ultimate groove band by dozens of critics, MMW has cultivated a huge following of fans thanks to its series of top-notch CDs and its celebrated live shows which climax in the whole house dancing. Not since the big bands of the swing era has a jazz ensemble been so adept at inspiriting a crowd to move. Medeski says, "When we get hundreds of people moving, well, that's awesome." Wood concurs: "We like to think of ourselves as an American band. We've become who we are because we've toured so much in this country. In America, people like to dance. That's inspired us to play grooves."

After getting its start in the early '90s as a piano-led ensemble on the Knitting Factory-Downtown music scene of New York City, MMW developed into an organ-based trio with a mushrooming fan base. Drawing on inspiration from such jazz artists as Duke Ellington, Albert Ayler and Sun Ra and world musicians from Brazil and Cuba, MMW forged a distinctive style of music infused with funk, hip hop, blues, rock and avant-garde sensibilities. MMW followed its first release, 1992's Notes from the Underground released on the Accurate label, with three superb Gramavision CDs, It's a Jungle in There (1993), Friday Afternoon in the Universe (1994) and Shack-man (1996). In 1997 Gramavision also issued Bubblehouse, an EP of dance remixes. Last year MMW recorded Farmer's Reserve, an independent release the band has been selling exclusively on its active Internet web site (www.mmw.net). In addition to its own recordings, the trio was chosen by guitarist John Scofield to back him on his latest album, A Go Go, issued by Verve. MMW signed with Blue Note on November 7, 1997.

While Combustication is dominated by cooking groove numbers -- new concoctions that grew out of studio jams as well as tunes developed on the road, then given a new spin in the studio -- there are eerie-sounding reflective pieces, a Latin shuffle, turbulent instrumental forays and even a moving cover the traditional Hawaiian tune "No Ke Ano Ahiahi" that was inspired by slack key guitar master Gabby Pahinui's version. The other non-original is a churchy, loose rendition of Sly Stone's "Everyday People," which, Wood is quick to point out, the band was playing live long before Toyota started using the song in its television ad campaign. The trio is joined by turntable maestro DJ Logic on three tracks and East Village writer/arts dealer Steve Cannon, who contributes a Kerouacian spoken-word performance on "Whatever Happened to Gus."

Medeski, who plays a full arsenal of keyboards (Hammond B-3 and Wurlitzer electric piano, toy synthesizer, Arp, Clavinet, Mellotron, Solo Vox and piano), says that several tunes were studio creations, including the groove-fueled numbers "Sugarcraft," which has mellotron overdubs, "Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho," which features Martin kicking in extra beats, and "Hypnotized," with the organ getting fed through a distortion box to produce a liquidy sound. Wood points out that "Latin Shuffle," where Medeski plays a McCoy Tyner-meets-Cecil Taylor pummel-and-prance piano solo, is a tune the band had been playing live but never had an opportunity to fully develop. Martin says "Coconut Boogaloo" is another road number perfected in the studio. "It's a new arrangement that's much more boogaloo oriented. I started listening to a lot of James Brown and Ray Charles, which opened up some new rhythmic ideas for me on the drums."

DJ Logic appears on "Sugarcraft," "Start-Stop" and "Church of Logic," scratching killer rhythms and headphone-pleasing ambient textures. DJ Logic, a.k.a. Jason Kibler, was introduced to MMW by Vernon Reid and was subsequently invited to join the band as a regular collaborator at the series of Monday night Shack parties that took place at the Knitting Factory last year. "The parties were jams with no set lists," explains Wood. "Friends would come by and just sit in. DJ Logic improvised with us. We discovered what a great musician he is." Martin adds, "He's so musical and so intuitive. He has his own distinctive voice on the turntables."

On "Sugarcraft" DJ Logic mixes in a range of sounds from freaky vocals to cats fighting, and on "Church of Logic" (he shares songwriting credit on this tune) he creates a rich soundscape developed live while jamming with the band. He also adds a drone-like effect to the gem of the bunch "Start-Stop," which is actually two tunes that overlap each other.

The spoken-word piece with Steve Cannon is another overlap track. A blind art dealer/gallery owner/writer who grew up in New Orleans and is a legendary cultural figure in the East Village, Cannon was recorded by MMW at his home. On the tape he recounted his dream story about Kansas City jazz drummer Gus Johnson. Back in the studio, the band laid the track over a studio improv already recorded and, in Wood's words, "Bam! we had it. It was a magical thing."

As for the title of the CD, don't expect to find the word combustication in Webster's. "That's right, it's a made-up word," says Wood. "But we didn't make it up. To understand, you'd have to have seen this public television personality Dr. Julius Sumner Miller."

Martin says that the key to MMW's success is band chemistry. "We admire each other. It's like a family. We're here to play music, but we're also friends. All of our compositions are collaborations that we spontaneously develop on the road or in the studio. Everyone contributes and everyone balances each other out. But what's really important is that we feel comfortable trying new things together." Medeski adds, "That's right. We could settle for just being a grooving organ trio. But that would be too easy. We not only like the challenge, but we're also seeking new ways to express ourselves."