I don’t know a whole lot about jazz. I just know I like it. The reason I like it is MMW - John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood.
These guys make jazz accesible. They touch on traditional jazz as a three piece, but have branched out on more than one occassion. They’ve touched on hip-hop, acid, funk, and a whole lot of live improv while ensuring that the listener doesn’t get too caught up in the minute details - a blessing and a curse for jazz, in my opinion.
During the late 90’s, MMW started to collaborate with John Scofield. If you haven’t heard of Scofield, do yourself a favor and start digging. Dude can rip your heart out with his sound. The collaboration led to one of my “desert island” albums - A Go Go. Here’s a live cut of “Chicken Dance”. It starts slow, but give it some time. Once Scofield takes the reigns you’ll see what I mean.
- MJ
