By Mike Brannon No, they're not a law firm, and though they're not yet a household word either, MMW is a trio of formidable sonic integrity and groove. 'Fronted' by Hammond B-3 organist John Medeski, the trio has been described as everything from "acoustic funk" and "acid jazz" to "Sanford and Sun Ra" (my favorite). The reality is that this equal collaboration between Medeski, acoustic/electric bassist, Chris Wood, and drummer Billy Martin is an evolving organism. One that began as a group of friends having serious fun improvising has now become a jazz poll-winning, polytonal zeitgeist.
MMW now have six recordings out and are individually on dozens more. The latest collaboration with jazz guitarist John Scofield is a bluesy, R&B laden funkfest, digging deep into minimalist vamps and grooves. It's laid back at times, but always simmering, too. Scofield holds back a bit on the burn you know he can do, and you know it's right. MMW backs him with a reactive fervor, and you realize that this inspired match was meant to be. Makes you think--why hasn't someone of this caliber used these guys this way before? But they will--now.
Relying on vintage analog keyboards--Hammonds and Wurlitzers--Medeski defies sounding dated or being typecast because of the way he uses the sounds of these instruments. He'd sooner be lumped with experimental proponents Larry Young or Sun Ra, though elements of more mainstream organ trios such as Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, and Don Patterson remain. What these guys do is set up long, evolving grooves with a "this can go anywhere" vibe--grooves that conjure the essence of B-3 bluesicians but don't quit until they hit classic 60's and 70's funk - read: James Brown and Sly Stone.
It's amazing to see how these guys ride the thin line between putting college kids into a dance trance and laying down some seriously dense harmonic action at the same time. The energy and immediacy gets so intense, at times it's hard to believe you're only hearing three performers stretching the tunes to the breaking point. Another aspect is the tunes they choose and those they quote within a given piece--an expressive improvisational device. While in the midst of the first cut on "Friday Afternoon in the Universe," you'll hear Medeski languidly superimpose bits of Charles Mingus' classic, "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," to great effect.
Originally their demo tape, the trio's first recording, "Notes from the Underground," has been re-issued on cd and showcases Medeski's abilities on acoustic piano. John also co-led a cd, "Lunar Crush," with guitarist Dave Fiuczynski pulling off a pretty decent impression of Jeff Beck crossed with John McLaughlin.
Apparently knowing no bounds regarding potential, this ubiquitously prolific trio has also added their music to various soundtracks, including "Get Shorty" and "The End of Violence."
MMW's appearance on PBS's "Sessions at West 54th" this Fall showcased cuts from their latest offering, "Combustication," another slammin' set of originals augmented with the turntable mixes of DJ Logic, who's on tour with them.
It's good to see those with a vision do what it takes to bring it off and make that vision understood and appreciated by others. Hear this in action: the next time you're in a disc store make sure you leave with either Scofield's "A Go Go," MMW's "Its a Jungle in Here," or "Combustication."
AAJ: You don't really do the sideman thing per se, so much, do you?
JM: Well, I've done a lot of sessions and stuff...its usually music I really love or they know what they're gettin' when they hire me, so, its like they hire me because they want what I do; not because they just want somebody to play keyboards, 'cause there's plenty of other people that can do that better.
AAJ: That do it for a living, yeah.
JM: Yeah. I mean I used to do that kind of stuff more when I was younger but that was one of my vows when I moved to New York and threw away my tuxes and said I'm not gonna do that. You just do it. I mean the secret is to make the jump and I did, I said 'I'm not playing any more weddings or bar-mitzvahs', cause you know, I played 'New York, New York' plenty (laughs)...three times a night plenty of times, you know, so when I move to New York that was it, I'm not going to do those kind of gigs. Most good musicians have done that (played weddings, etc). At a certain point you'd just like to be doing a gig, playing music. But the more you do it the less fulfilling it becomes. Once you get it down a little bit or even if you don't get it down, you get a sense of what it is, maybe thats not as fulfilling as doing something else, for some people. For some people it is fulfilling. I think you've gotta have live bands and I'm all for it. I don't know, I guess I'm a jazzhole at heart.
I just wanted to do something more creative and so I started to think of other ways to make money, like I even did a little massage and body work for awhile, a little bit to make some money instead of doin a wedding and I'd end up doing a wedding but it'd be like with Oren Bloedow (bassist with The Lounge Lizards), Billy Martin, you know it'd be a great band (laughs).
AAJ: That must've been really hip
JM: Yeah, exactly, I'd learn some tunes or I'd play in a funk band or something like that; this woman, Zan, I played with; the band was like, Danny Bloom, on guitar, Sebastian Steinberg, you know, from 'Soul Coughing' was the bass player and then these different, great drummers, you know - Graham Hawthorn. I mean it was like all the great downtown, kind of groovin' musicians...
AAJ: How about your main influences - piano and organ?
JM: Wow, pretty much everything and everybody I've ever listened to or talked to? That influence question is such a hard one. For me its everything that I've ever heard and everybody that I've ever taken a lesson with.
AAJ: Well, that narrows it down..
JM: You know what I mean? Cause that's really the truth. Obviously its a question that gets asked a lot and I can say 'oh, Bud Powell' you know, but its sort of like hearing people's influences is kind of coming from the outside, I mean, what do you hear as my influences, what do other people hear? Because sometimes what music's important to me may not be what comes out of the music. Thats how Rock-n-Roll happened: white guys tryingto play the Blues. But they weren't. It ended up not being a Blues even though their influence was Blues musicians. Its like what ended up coming out was something totally different. So thats why the question of influences...its really everything. And I've listened to a lot of different kinds of music. Right now I'm listening to Glenn Gould playin Bach and that's a big influence on me. Cecil Taylor's (avant- guard pianist) also a big influence on me. Larry Young (avant-guard jazz organist), organ-wise, Messien organ music, the Classical stuff, is a big influence on me. Jimi Hendrix is a big influence on my organ playing.
AAJ: Yeah, that's an interesting point that you mention - Hendrix and Coltrane - in that 'Musician' article (Feb. '99) about them pushing their instruments to the limits.
JM: Yeah, I think a lot about Hendrix when I'm playing electric keyboards. Wayne Shorter (Tenor sax w/ Weather Report) was one of my biggest influences. He's one of the only people I that I really transcribed, as a kid and just his solos. I just loved his melodic spareness and the way that he could play things that made the rhythm section sound incredible. He was like sort of icing on the cake that made the whole thing work. So I'm sure he had as big an influence on me as any piano player or keyboard player.
AAJ: So you're talking compositionally, too?
JM: Yeah, compositionally...cause when he's improvising, he's composing. His solos are so beautiful and compositional and deep. And then of course there's Herbie (Hancock). I mean what keyboard player today...we're all influenced by the same people: Herbie, McCoy (Tyner), early Chick (Corea)...
AAJ: Keith Jarrett.
JM: Keith Jarrett, Bud Powell, for me where some of the first when I started listening to jazz...Oscar Peterson, (Thelonius) Monk, really were big influences back then and then there's the other guys, there's Herbie Nichols, there's Sonny Clark...
AAJ: All the Bluenote guys...
JM: And then you hear about the more obscure guys cause you buy anything that's on Bluenote.
AAJ: Sonny Clark was awesome.
JM: Oh, man, yeah! And Red Garland. Red Garland's trio, I listened to that stuff a lot, also, Ray Bryant is another guy that I listened to a lot. All thats stuff...its pretty endless...there's s much good stuff out there....big band music was an influence on me, too, at different times.
AAJ: What do you think each player's brought to the group and do you guys have similar musical backgrounds?
JM: I think that we sort of have different musical backgrounds and they're also similar in other ways. I think we do bring different elements to the group. We each bring our instrumental parts to it.
AAJ: Have you known each other a pretty long time?
JM: Well, we've known each other yeah, like 8 or 9 years, at this point. We all met out of school. Billy never really went to school. He did some stuff at Manhattan School of Music but he didn't actually, officially go to music school. But in music there's so many other ways to go to school, you just find teachers and I think Billy really got into Brazilian percussion and Samba school and all that kinda stuff, during those years. I went and graduated from New England Conservatory (in Boston) and Chris went there for a year or two but that was after I'd already graduated, so I met Chris in Boston, but we ended up really hooking up on this tour of Israel that we did with Bob Moses (drummer) and some other people.
AAJ: Did you ever get to play with (George) Garzone (tenor sax legend) and those guys?
JM: Oh, yeah, yeah.
AAJ: He was here just a few days ago.
JM: Oh, I love him, I mean Garzone is probably my favorite tenor player.
AAJ: He's awesome. Actually, he was with Kenny Werner (pianist)
JM: Oh, man, that must've been incredible. Kenny Werner is unbelievable. Who else was the band?
AAJ: John Lockwood (bassist) and ...
JM: Bob Guliotti?
AAJ: Yes.
JM: So it was the 'Fringe' (Boston free-jazz trio) with Kenny Werner. Oh, man.
AAJ: I've never seen them expanded like that before.
JM: Well, not too many people can fit in with them.
AAJ: So, did you watch a lot of Sanford and Son when you were a kid (theme: Herbie Hancock)
JM: Actually, I did. I sure did. All that stuff was probably an unknown influence.
AAJ: Yeah, you know, it just kind of made sense, I guess.
JM: Yeah, I mean I did, I loved that show (laughs).
AAJ: (laughs) When did you think you'd found your voice, your sound?
JM: I guess its been since I started playing...it was always kind of important to me. I don't know if it was about finding my voice, but just expressing myself, you know, always thats been, whatever kind of music I've been doing, I've always been like more interested in...I don't know..
AAJ: Kind of always trusting instinct?
JM: Yeah, I was a classical major my first year in school and had an incredible teacher, this guy, Leonard Shur and he would show me how to do things that would be so obviously perfect and amazing, but there was something about the fact that, well, he can do this already so what's the point doing it since he already knows how to do it, you know what I mean? There's just something about me that's like: 'well, I don't need to do this cause somebody else can learn how to do this'. I gotta find out what I can do. I had some tendonitis problems when I first went to school. And I think, that was all part of evolving my own style, you know? At that time, and working with Ran Blake (pianist/composer/instructor) and working on ear training and that's kind of what that department was all about at the Conservatory. The Third Stream (classical meets jazz) department was all about personal style and discovering your personal voice. That was the focus of it.
AAJ: Did you ever get with Banacos? (legendary pianist/advanced instructor)
JM: Yeah, I did. I'm actually doing some correspondence work with Charlie Banacos right now. I just started again. I took like three lessons with him back then and he really helped me out with some of the tendonitis issues, but at that time I just wasn't ready for, you know, I was just trying to find my own thing and I wasn't ready for that kind of structure, you know?
AAJ: Yeah, I worked with him for about five years...
JM: Oh you did? What was that like, doing that much work with him?
AAJ: Yeah, it was great, it was over quite a bit of time, you know, it wasn't every single week.
JM: Right.
AAJ: You know how that goes. But yeah, it was awesome...best teacher I ever had.
JM: I think he's one of the best teachers in the world, period, ever. He's kind of done to Jazz, you know, what Schoenberg did with the theory of harmony, he sort of set up a way of going through it that isn't just theoretical its also kind of compositional and learning, yet it gives you all the...its a broad understanding of the basics. I think he's incredible.
AAJ: And it's so thorough, too.
JM: Yeah, exactly.
AAJ: No stone unturned...
JM: Exactly, and as there shouldn't be.
AAJ: Regarding the grooves you come up with like on tunes: "Where's Sly, "A Go Go", "Shuck it Up"...where are you getting the ideas for style superimposition and arrangements that just groove so hard and are so original and unique?
JM -Well, thats what we try to do. Thats what we're looking for. Billy's really into and is really great at breaking a lot of different rhythms - dance rhythms from all over the world - down to their essense, you know. He's actually working on a book that shows once again all the cross relations between African, Carribean, New Orleans, R & B. How there's certain claves (regionally indigenous rhythms) that are parallel throughout all this music and you can see how they parallel and then you can work with some of these basic clave structures and maybe alter them a little but keeping the basic essense of them. And I guess thats what we try to do to keep it grooving, and then we work out stuff on top of it...find colors...and thats what we're about: trying to find creative ways to deal with groove music...with grooves and not grooves ..but just trying to find ways of creative ways to deal with that stuff.
AAJ: Yeah, it was really interesting, in that same 'Musician' article where you talk about the claves as applied to harmony and form and also just going for that framework: the essense of harmony and rhythm.
JM: Right.
AAJ: How are you absorbing that, basically, the essense of something rather than its specifics and then taking that and doing your own thing with it?
JM: I don't know, just doin it, 'cause for everybody the essense is going to be a little different so you find what you think is going tobe the essense and take it in and you know it has to do with listening and learning to sing it. I think maybe thats probably the most important thing. Its like taking it into you in a way thats gonna stick, not just writing it down and having to pull it out and look at it, you know. But, picking and choosing stuff thats sort of...you know, you could easily just transcribe every song and every solo, but its picking and choosing the stuff that is maybe essential or really plucks you heart, you know? Like really hits you in the gut. Like cretain solos will just like be the ones that are just like 'oh, thats just it for me'. And so those are the ones you go for, those are the ones you explore and learn and check out.
AAJ: What moves you.
JM: Yeah, exactly and then I think there's some standard reportoire that you gotta deal with you konw, (laughs) in Jazz, You know, you gotta learn certain tunes and lines and stuff like that. But most important is to really tune into what touches you and then becoming in touch with your connection to music and what music can express and things like that. So then you learn those things and you try to do it yourself. I think improvising free is very important for people to do, especially people that haven't improvised before. You gotta learn theory and all that stuff but its equally important to connect to your own expression. Because you can do all the theory in the world and still not be able to move people. Thats why sometimes people with fewer tools can make for a greater musical experience (laughs).
AAJ: Yeah, it's like you've got to be able to feel something before you can make someone else feel something.
JM: Yeah, it has to be real. People aren't making music out of the basic need to make music anymore. There are a lot of other reasons (laughs).
AAJ: So when you write music is it coming from just performing together or do you ever actually sit down and 'compose' anything?
JM: A little of both. Mostly - ninety five percent of the time - it comes out of improvising together, like looking for/creating a mood together and then going back and listening to it and to it and saying 'oh, that worked' and then reworking it again and creating structure around it. But I think that's what most composers do, is they get a feeling and then they figure out how to express that feeling through music and then they/you can create a structure to do it or certain boundaries as to what the structure is - certain rules. But its usually just coming from...just the music and what we have to say. Like we'll come up with a groove or something and we'll just build it. We usually build things together the way you would do it if you were sitting down alone, composing. Theres a process of working it out: repeating stuff, going back, seeing where it needs to go, what note comes next. So you go back to the beginning and you play it through and then 'alright, where does it go? what kind of development needs to happen?'. And thats what we do, but we do it together, which makes it a little harder (laughs) you know, because we have to stop, but I don't know, its rewarding, in the end. When we come up with something, its rewarding, and you know its like I feel that we all kind of balance each other off, in a certain way. Because if we find something that we are all into its usually pretty good.
AAJ: How did 'A Go Go' (guitarist, John Scofield's latest cd) come about?
On to part 2 of the John Medeski interview
