[Text by MacKenzie Ryan; from the Ithaca Times]
Medeski, Martin & Wood, the New York psychedelic jazz trio, have embarked on an ambitious yearlong journey. They will compose new music shortly before each of their three tours, then, record the material after each tour.
Therefore, while everyone else was out wining and dining this Valentine’s Day, these improv masters focused on producing something fresh for the tour starting only four days later.
What inspired this rather unorthodox method of recording? “I was reading a book. It was about a canary. Every year [the canary] comes back with a new song,” pianist John Medeski responds. “It never repeats its song in its lifetime. If a bird does it, we should certainly be able to do that: a new song for every season.”
Medeski says the canary’s singing patterns spawned the idea of writing music on tour, which goes against what he calls “the traditional sort of model, the modern capitalist model: make a record and then go on the tour.”
“You play the same music,” Medeski asserts about the record industry’s preference to use touring as a means to promote an artist’s new album. “If you have a hit, you’re stuck playing it for the rest of your life. The anti-thesis of that is to go on tour and write the music and never play it again…unless you want to.”
From 1998 to 2005, Medeski, Martin & Wood released six albums on Blue Note Records. “As much as we loved our time on Blue Note and as great as they are, they have a business,” he says. Medeski claims the three men realized they could make more records in a year, a large part of their impetus to record so much new material in 2008.
Medeski calls his band’s writing-touring-recording triathlons ” just an opportunity to explore and be creative.”
“It’s an opportunity to get together and figure out, ‘Hey, What do we have to say right now?'’ Because it’s improv-based, [the music] can be developed throughout the course of the tour.”
The trio will hit nine cities in 10 nights for the first tour. Still, even this might prove a little daunting: “Of course we picked the winter to do the Northeast,” Medeski jokes. On Thursday, Feb. 28, they will visit the State Theatre.
“Expect the unexpected,” Medeski laughs. “We’re coming with totally new bizarre concepts, new music.”
Where Medeski, Martin & Wood will travel for the next two tours remains undetermined for the moment. However, the pianist did say the second tour will start in June, the third coming next fall. They’ve also planned gigs in Europe and Israel.
Despite the Goliath-seeming schedule in 2008, Medeski likens it to a brisk walk in the park. “Honestly, we design it to be fairly comfortable for us. We pace ourselves. In the old days we were out! That was rigorous. We were out for two years straight! [Now] we try to find a balance so we can keep doing in,” claims the keyboard player.
“We’re having a good time already. For us, this is a really inspiring thing. We thrive on creation, spontaneity,” Medeski adds. Chalk it up to the band’s hyperproductivity and the intimacy only 16 years of creating music together can bring.
Also new on the band’s repertoire is the children’s album, Let’s Go Everywhere. Medeski maintains making music for kids was always one of the trio’s dreams and the label, Little Monster Music, was able to make it happen just in time.
“There was a period there where kid’s music sucked,” he says. “It seemed people were playing down the kids, treating them like lesser beings. Kids have the capacity to feel, [though] there are certainly ideas musically that take time to develop, for adults or children.”
“I think our music is good for kids,” the keyboardist notes, pointing out Medeski, Martin and Wood’s children’s record is “not that different from our normal music.”
Beginning this summer, Camp MMW will offer five days of intensive music workshops (Tuesday, Aug. 5 to Sunday, Aug. 10) at the Full Moon Resort in New York’s Catskills Mountains. Eighty guests of all ages — you must be 16 or older — with a variety of different musical skills can apply to visit the jazz group’s band-camp-gone-improv. Interested parties must submit two MP3 music samples by May 1.
Medeski Martin & Wood will perform at the State Theatre this Thursday, Feb. 28. For tickets, 607-27-STATE.