Medeski, Martin and Wood -- "Notes From The Underground"

John Medeski on keyboards, Billy Martin on Drums and Chris Woods on Double Bass and Bass Guitar make up this jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood also refered to as MMW. MMW formed in 1991 then shortly after that released their first album, this album, Notes From the Underground. This is one of the few albums of theirs that is all acoustic as Medeski found it hard to lug a piano around everywhere. The thing that sets MMW apart from most Jazz bands is their ties to freeform Jazz. This being their first album is a lot more based in actual Jazz and is a very soothing as well as exciting album. But it does delve into freeform jazz as well. Mark had asked why MMW is considered in the Jam Band catergory as most Jam Band enthusiasts also like MMW. Well apparently they opened for Phish a couple times and Trey of Phish gave them the moniker of being a Jam Band.

MMW is very much a listen to with headphones on type of band. They're best played in that context. If you like Jazz you might want to give them a try. Though some jazz enthusiasts really don't like them all that much. Everytime I listen to this album I really like it, but then I forget about it, and don't listen to it until a couple months later. It's a good album, but it isn't extraordinary. So I'm going to give it 3.5 out of 4 stars.