Medeski, Martin & Wood at the Sommerville Theater Sept. 29, 1996
by Dj Wonton

John Medeski (Organs, piano, wurlitzer & clavinet), Chris Wood (acoustic & electric bass), and Billy Martin (drums & percussion) form the experimental and highly innovative jazz/funk trio out of Ney York. MMW played to a sold out Sommerville Theater this past September 29 to the delight of many avid fans in the Boston area. The concert, as usual, was a constantly changing ensemblage of bizarre experimental jazz fusion which creatively flowed into funky, explosive jazzy, improvisational jams. Each member of the group contributed to the unorthodox style of jazz/funk with their own innovative styles and elements.

The trio, disguised as an ornate pair of salad tongs, began with a spacey bizarre piece which flowed into a highly intense flagrant funk groove, very representational of their style. The Sommeville Theater provided a somewhat intimate ambiance as many concert goers remained seated during the shows process. I myself grew disenchnted with the idea of sitting down and eventually drifted into the isle where I was free to stand and enjoy the music much more. Not more than a few minutes passed by, however, before a college type looking fellow (not unlike myself) asked for me to sit down reasoning to me that he could not see the show. I looked at my friend who will remian nameless (we shall call him Peter B.) in disbelief, he did the same. I eventually wandered downstairs where more people were standing and dancing. I still could not comprehend why someone would want to sit quietly to the intense and highly dancable grooves of MMW. I will not worry about it any longer though. The group continued to jam through the first set which they used to present a lot of new material from their new album "Shack-man". The new stuff was much like their previous albums, (start italics here) Friday Afternoon In The Universe, It's A Jungle In Here and Notes From The Underground. (end italics) That is, the set was a continuous flow of unique experimental jazz into highly funky jazz grooves. Billy Martin (drums, and percussion) seemed to lead the group through these jams with an exceptional mix of percussion and solid (incredibly qiuck) beats. John Medeski wowed the crowd with passionate organ and (all his other instrument) solos. Chris Wood, a tremendous bass player, stunned all with his funkability.

The long second set was preceeded by a brief but enjoyable set break. This set contained more familiar MMW grooves such as "The Lover", Wiggly"s Way", and other songs that I did not recognize, not that it mattered. What is important was the highly talented musical expressions of Medeski, Martin, and Wood. The band ended the show with a unique version Of Jimi Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic," in which John Medeski showcased his organ-like abilities. The encore from Friday Afternoon In The Universe spaced and funked out the Sommerville Theater to exhaustion. I got home safely. I highly reccomend picking up any MMW CD, and even further reccomend seeing the band live. They will be back at the Sommerville Theater on Nov 3. You can obtain tickets through TicketMaster, the Sommerville Theater, and Songstreet Productions. The MMW home page is at http://www.netspace.org/mmw. Thank You.