Medeski Martin & Wood Documentary ‘Not Not Jazz’ Gets Release Date

A good documentary can take a while to create and we often hear rumblings about them during the process. Authenticity is such an integral component to these films but, unfortunately, when you’re operating within a world of uncertainty, any number of things can derail or postpone such projects indefinitely. I’ve been checking for the Moondog documentary to come out for years, and I still don’t think it’s happened. One project we’re incredibly eager to see is Not NoT Jazz, which focuses on the New York trio Medeski, Martin, & Wood. The film was directed by Jason Miller, who previously created the of Montreal documentary, The Past Is A Grotesque Animal (2014). Not Not Jazz debuted at Woodstock Film Festival in 2019 and, while I can’t say what’s delayed it from achieving a wider release, I’m sure the pandemic didn’t help the cause. The important thing is that the film is finally being released in physical formats and on-demand as early as next month.

Formed in 1991, Medeski, Martin, & Wood introduced jazz to a whole new generation of listeners, delivering a fresh take on the genre that not only made it feel accessible but unwieldy and exciting. During the 80s, members John Medeski (keys), Billy Martin (drums/percussion), and Chris Wood (bass) crossed paths while playing with artists like John Lurie and John Zorn, but mentor/drummer, Bob Moses has been credited with introducing them to each other. Bob, who had played with both Medeski and Wood, was Billy Martin‘s instructor. In 1991, the trio played their first show together at New York‘s Village Gate and, from how it sounds, they knew they had something special right from the jump. They soon began rehearsing, writing, and recording together at Martin‘s Brooklyn loft, resulting in the self-releasing of their 1992 debut, Notes From The Underground. Medeski later switched from grand piano to his now-trademark Hammond B-3 organ, and they began touring and expanding beyond their active yet somewhat isolated NYC jazz scene. Their work influenced a new wave of musicians and fans alike, opening new avenues into the genre while redefining previous boundaries and limitations.

When I heard their 5th album, Combustication (1998), for the first time, I was instantly drawn to it. Their studio debut for Blue Note, it featured turntablist, DJ Logic, scratching over some funky-ass jazz grooves, incorporating non-traditional sounds like hip-hop in a way I’d never heard before. If you look it up on Discogs, they label the album as “illbient,” “acid jazz,” and “trip hop.” All that I knew was it hit me in my core, as it was infectious enough to make me move, yet adventurous and cerebral enough to keep me mentally engaged with every turn. I already appreciated jazz more than a lot of people I knew, but I likely still viewed it as a more “serious” genre. The stuff that MMW was doing on this album, and records like Shackman (1996), were legitimately fun. They not only compelled me to look deeper into their catalog, but to explore who else and where else might be generating something similar.

MMW provided a new template and archetype of a jazz trio for a hungry young wave of connoisseurs. Their songs grow and swell, often like large, lumbering creatures moving, swaying, and stomping about. Medeski‘s sustained organs can raise and lower the tides, while Billy Martin‘s drumwork confidently slaps down bricks paving the winding path forward. Chris Wood‘s bass has a guttural tone as if it’s being plucked from the belly of a toad. With their skills combined, there are no directions they can’t sail the ship. Each player enters the space with an equal presence, as they lift and support one another; shifting, elevating, submerging, and bubbling back up. The trio plays with spy grooves, mutating tones, and dizzying spirals of vertigo. They’ve been known to create compositions that sound like an MC Esher drawing feels. The true magic lies in their ability to move tightly as a cohesive unit while remaining loose enough to traverse anywhere needed. Often referred to as “avant-groove” their sound is wild, daring, and improvisational, but it all rotates around a solid, gyroscopic center.

One thing that helped the trio enter a lot of radars was forming a connection with Phish. It started around 1995, when they sat in with the Vermont 4-piece, resulting in multiple other collaborations between members of both bands. Medeski even recorded with Trey Anastasio and John Fishman for the free-jazz project, Surrender To The Air. One of their most productive and enduring collaborations has been with guitarist, John Scofield, specifically when they operated as his backing back on the classic A Go Go (1998), album. They later reunited on the 2014 Medeski, Scofield, Martin, & Wood collaborative album, Juice. This doesn’t even include Sco‘s work with the individual members of MMW.

The members have covered a lot of ground in their careers, both within their collective catalog and outside of it. My son has grown up listening to their 2008 children’s album, Let’s Go Everywhere, which I owned years before he was ever an idea. For someone like myself who likes all aspects of what they do, MMW never disappoint, but I imagine some folks who only know the more digestible fare have been completely lost by them in certain settings. In 2002, I saw them open a New Years Eve show in Oakland headlined by post-Grateful Dead project, The Other Ones. MMW went on after an acoustic set by Hot Tuna and got weird with it. Martin‘s illy B project consists of him making breakbeats. His history involves him coming out of the Brazillian scene into collaborating with names ranging from Iggy Pop to Maceo Parker. Chris Wood continues to have a successful career working with his brother, Oliver, in the roots project, The Wood Brothers. You never know where Medeski is going to show up. He’s worked with artists ranging from Jaco Pastorious to Coheed & Cambria and, in 2016, formed the “instrumental-based, genre bending music collective“/ supergroup Saudade alongside Chino Moreno (Deftones, Team Sleep), Dr Know (Bad Brains), Chuck Doom (Team Sleep, Crosses), and Mackie Jayson (Cro-Mags, Bad Brains). I once saw him perform in the Tony Williams tribute project, Spectrum Road, with Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Jack Bruce (Cream, Tony WIlliams Lifetime), and Cindy Blackman Santana (Lenny Kravitz, Santana). More recently, he composed the score for the Nathan Fielder program, The Curse.

Not Not Jazz documents the unique improvisational process of Medeski, Martin, & Wood as they “endeavor to record a new album at the famed Allaire Studio, twenty-five years after their formation.” Regarding the process of creating the film, Jason Miller states, “I am deeply grateful to have met John, Billy and Chris and to have been entrusted with documenting their process as musicians and exploring their personal lives. It’s been a long and arduous journey to get the film made and released, and I learned a lot from them along the way. It’s my hope that everyone who watches the film will take something away as well.”

The film recently screened at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, followed by a Q&A with John Medeski and Billy Martin. Medeski also performed at the festival as part of a trio with Joe Russo (drums) and Marc Ribot (guitar), as well as with Angelic Brothers, his Sun Ra-inspired duo with cornet player, Kirk Knuffke.

Presented by Oscilloscope Laboratories and MVD Entertainment Group, Not Not Jazz will be released on video on demand and blu-ray on August 11th. Check out the trailer, below.