Medeski Martin and Wood bring jazz to the groove nation (BerkFest Preview)
by Seth Rogovoy

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., Aug. 10, 2000) -- When the curtain comes down on the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival on Sunday night, Aug. 13, it will descend on a band that is in some ways the most unlikely of ensembles to headline a jam-rock festival.

The final act scheduled to perform at this weekend’s BerkFest, as it’s called, at the Butternut Ski Area in Great Barrington, is a trio of downtown, avant-garde jazz musicians.

That Medeski Martin and Wood also happen to be hugely popular with the groove nation to whom the BerkFest is geared is just one of the more hopeful signs suggesting that the jam scene might evolve into something more than a never-ending, post-Grateful Dead noodle dance.

While some of MMW’s more accessible efforts have drawn influences from popular sources like Bob Marley, Funkadelic, David Byrne, Jimi Hendrix and Booker T and the MGs - popular enough so that the group will open a series of live dates for the Dave Matthews Band later this month on the West Coast - MMW’s downtown credentials are impeccable. They include work with the Lounge Lizards, Marc Ribot, John Zorn, Reggie Workman, Bob Moses and the Klezmatics, among others.

And the group’s latest recording, “Tonic,” is on Blue Note, the legendary jazz label. It captures the trio in an acoustic setting at the intimate downtown nightclub of the title in a program of extended hard-bop improvisations and renditions of compositions by John Coltrane, Bud Powell and Lee Morgan.

So how to connect the dots? What draws the neo-hippies of the noodle nation to some of the most outer space jazz since Sun Ra returned to his home planet of Saturn?

“In general what people connect to is the energy that we give off,” said drummer Billy Martin in a recent phone interview. “We get more creative with what we do than a lot of bands in that realm, and I think that turns a lot of the young kids on -- stepping out and taking chances musically, pushing the envelope, being creative and not being afraid to make mistakes, putting our personality out there.

“I think that speaks to peoples’ ears and they respond to that. It blows their minds. Kids growing up are exposed to a lot more popular stuff, and they see formulated bands. The difference with us is we’re sincere about who we are and we take chances.

“Plus, we groove, and it’s a groove festival. We can do that, too.” Most fans know MMW today as a funky update of Jimmy Smith-style soulful organ-jazz, sometimes called “acid-jazz,” with Medeski playing Hammond B3 organ. The music includes samples, sound effects, and an ineffable rhythmic pulse. It appeals to fans who might not otherwise listen to jazz. For some it might even open the door to further exploration of improvised music. Martin himself grew up in New York City listening to a wide variety of music. His father was a violinist with the city ballet and opera and his mother was a dancer and dance teacher.

“I grew up hanging out, going to rehearsals with my father,” said Martin. “I listened to a lot of different repertoire. The instrumentation and the orchestrations, that side of it, was really a big part of the influence for me.
“And then my older brothers -- they’re like almost a decade older than me, so growing up in the Sixties and Seventies they were listening to everything from Sly Stone to the Allman Brothers and James Brown and the Stones. In high school I was listening to Led Zeppelin, the Police, Aerosmith.
“Then I got into African and Brazilian music and Afro-Cuban stuff. That was the turning point for me. So I’m open to a lot of things. When I met John I could hear in his playing the contemporary classical side, sophisticated harmonies and voices, which I’d heard in orchestral voices, and the rhythmic aspect and bluesiness of how he played really hit home with me.”

MMW’s recent foray into acoustic jazz was actually a return to the group’s roots. The trio formed in New York in the early-‘90s centered around John Medeski’s acoustic piano. “We started off as an acoustic trio,” says Medeski. “That was originally the way we got together. Part of our shift to electric instruments was the logistics of touring. As soon as we could, we had a piano back in our arsenal whenever we could afford to have one travel with us.”

Martin said that after several years of high-profile gigs, albums and touring with the electric trio much like a rock band, MMW needed to get back to its roots in acoustic jazz.
“We needed to balance it off,” he said. “It was very important for us to play these gigs and exercise that muscle, so to speak. It’s more intimate. There’s a certain subtlety and interaction with each other in that format. It’s different and refreshing.
“I think we needed to get into that for a while, and I’m already missing it. I want to do more of it. I think eventually I’m going to settle into one or the other, one of these days. The electric thing now is exciting -- the stuff is very powerful -- but the ‘Tonic’ thing was very rewarding and satisfying, both the tour and the album. Sometimes when you play a loud electric club, you lose the subtlety.”

Martin said the experience of playing acoustically again has also had a spillover effect on the band’s current electric tour. “It’s had a positive effect in that I think it helps us to write and play together,” he said. “We learn how it is to communicate with each other on stage, especially when we want to improvise. It strengthens those abilities
. “Also I think as a group and as friends we feel closer after doing that. We feel like, wow, that felt really good, I’m glad we did that. It’s good to change the scenery. You can get worn out after a while. By doing that we got invigorated.”

This weekend’s festival includes other experimental and eclectic performers, such as Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, String Cheese Incident, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice, Deep Banana Blackout, Galactic, Femi Kuti and Spearhead. Many of these groups blend such diverse influences as bluegrass, funk, jazz, world-music, rock and electronic music.

Other bands expected to perform include Jiggle the Handle, ThaMusement, Ekene, Moe., Keller Williams Incident, Soulive, Yonder Mountain String Band, Joules Graves, the New Deal, John Brown’s Body, and the Tarbox Ramblers. Also Viperhouse, Ray’s Music Exchange, Acoustic Syndicate, Dr. Didg, Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormans, the Slip, Dan Rockett, Addison Groove Project, Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Organically Grown, Peter Prince, Uncle Sammy, Loop Dreams, Cabaret Diosa, Ulu, Balkan Tribes, Wax Poetic and Camela Kraemer.

The festival, the third overall and the second at Butternut, begins on Friday at 12:30 p.m., and runs through Sunday night until about 10 p.m. Camping on-site is encouraged, and campers are permitted to stay through until Monday morning.

In addition to music and camping, BerkFest -- a three-way production of Gamelan Interactive, I’mTheMiddleMan and High Sierra -- will offer a variety of food vendors, an arts and crafts fair, children’s activities, banjo and DJ workshops, beer tents, nighttime movies and showcase stages. For more information or to order tickets call 888-513-FEST or visit www.berkfest.com.

[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 10, 2000. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]

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