Jazz Articles about Medeski Martin & Wood

John Medeski: Strong as Ever with MMW

by R.J. DeLuke
December 28, 2009

The Medeski, Martin & Wood band, one that has amassed followers like a snowball rolling down a mountain of wet snow since its emergence on the scene over 18 years ago, is one of those exceptional organizations that doesn't stick to playing what might be expected by its audiences. They don't play it safe, instead choosing to explore sounds, grooves, genres as the spirit moves them. And 2009 saw the spirit moving them a great deal.

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians - The Evolutionary Set

by John Kelman
December 28, 2009

Released over the last year, Medeski, Martin & Wood's three-part Radiolarians series bucked the longstanding and conventional trend of writing > recording > touring. Touring material before documenting it on record isn't exactly new, but few if any artists have done so with such an extensive repertoire--three hours of new material, all taken on the road and honed before MMW ever set foot in a recording studio to lay the tracks down. That there's such a tremendous benefit ...

Medeski Martin & Wood: Medeski Martin & Wood: Radiolarians III

by Doug Collette
August 16, 2009

Bonded as if in a purposeful and passionate quest to unite the opposites of discipline and spontaneity, the Zen masters of modern jazz known as Medeski, Martin & Wood have now completed The Radiolarians Series, an eighteen-month endeavor in which the trio composed new original material, embarked on tour to road test it, and then immediately sequestered themselves in to the recording studio to capture its distilled essence.

The third and final installment begins simply enough with “Chantes de ...

The Wood Brothers: The Wood Brothers: Up Above My Head

by Doug Collette
August 11, 2009

Highlights of The Wood Brothers' live performances invariably include ingenious renditions of choice covers in addition to their own well-wrought originals. So it stands to reason they'd find it perfectly natural to put together this mini-album of outside material by the likes of Beck and Allen Toussaint, among others.

Returning to the strictly two-piece alignment from which they began and upon which they have built on their successive studio work, Up Above My_Head bristles with joyous energy right ...

Medeski Martin & Wood: Radiolarians II

by Doug Collette
April 20, 2009

Notwithstanding the noir ambience of the closing cut, a piano jazz trio reading of “Baby Let Me Follow You Down," Radiolarians II assaults more than it insinuates. As such, the basis of Medeski Martin and Wood's long-term concept--road-testing new original material prior to recording it in the studio--manifests its virtues more readily here than on its first installment.

Far from the brisk but cerebral likes of its predecessor, this second edition features more than just a dollop or two of ...

Medeski Martin and Wood: Zaebos: Book of Angels, Vol. 11

by Graham L. Flanagan
December 25, 2008

Just take a moment to absorb this disc's exhausting title; yeah... this probably isn't what you should pick up after drawing the name of your Erskine Hawkins-loving grandpa when figuring out whose Secret Santa you're going to be; that is, unless said grandpa has a penchant for atonal, acid-tinged klezmer-jazz. Hey, you never know. To the uninitiated, this title certainly might seem, on the surface, somewhat imposing. “Should I first check out Volumes 1-10? Will I have the slightest clue ...

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians I

by Doug Collette
November 15, 2008

The concept behind Medeski, Martin and Wood's Radiolarian Series isn't wholly new to the forward-thinking trio. They spent the better part of a year or more playing pieces live that would come to comprise their Blue Note adieu, 2004's End of the World Party (Just in Case) (2004). But this yearlong project involves a quicker turnaround from composing, to touring, and then to recording.

Like MMW's previous 2008 release, Zaebos: Book of Angels (Tzadik), Radiolarians 1 benefits from a straightforward ...