Medeski Martin Scofield & Wood
Whitney Museum
New York, NY
August 5

As the audience quickly filled the Whitney Museum’s small performance space to see the first of four free Medeski Martin & Wood shows held in celebration of the group’s 20th anniversary, those who showed up late looked down with envy on the intimate sculpture garden which had been converted to a music venue for the evening. Moroccan musician Bachir Attar also was on the bill, which saw MMW reunite with legendary jazz guitarist and longtime collaborator John Scofield.

As Medeski Martin & Wood emerged, the first shrill notes slithered from Attar’s horn like a snake over the deep, earthy tones coming from John Medeski’s organ. Together, they outlined the sun-scorched psychedelic landscape that spanned the first two improvised songs. With the addition of Billy Martin’s drums and Chris Wood’s bass, the airy tune found solid ground and started to groove, particularly when Wood switched from his upright to his electric Fender Precision bass, sending the song into an otherworldly funk jam. Biting his lip and furrowing his brow, Wood locked eyes with Medeski, while Martin wrinkled his nose and shot a perplexed look at the crowd that asked, “Why aren’t you dancing yet?”

The second song had a mood similar to the first, but with a much sharper edge. By switching to his Hofner bass and using a pick, Wood exchanged the muddy funk groove of the previous song for the drone of trippy, high register plucking. He eventually switched back to the Fender bass, playing fast triplet flourishes and raising his eyebrows as if to challenge his bandmates, who responded with flourishes of their own.

Scofield replaced Attar for the rump-shaking “Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing,” which featured a red-faced melodica solo from Medeski and a particularly long and swingin’ upright bass solo from Wood. They ended the tune with a call and response between Martin and Wood, during which Martin used every bell at his disposal (but no whistles, unfortunately).

During the next song, Medeski presided over his mellotron as a mad scientist does his creation. While soloing with one hand, he stuck the other into the back of the boxed instrument, fiddling with its pegs to mix wooden clicking noises with heavy wobbling bass notes. Wood’s funky bass line and Scofield’s jagged guitar riff joined the concoction to form some volatile funk-rock.

The funk came full force during another high-velocity smorgasbord of sounds: Medeski twisted knobs, letting forth a thundering rumble from his clavinet, while Martin provided just the right amount of cowbell. At one point, the interplay between Scofield and Medeski sounded half-way in between bebop and the beeping noises you would expect to hear coming from a supercomputer. This gave way (inevitably) to an old school James Brown-esque funk groove that got the crowd wiggling.

“A Go Go” – the title track to MSMW’s 1998 release – featured brain-tickling solos from Medeski and Scofield. With his right hand flapping percussively along the keyboard like a hooked fish on a dock, Medeski effortlessly multitasked, pushing and pulling the organ’s drawbars with his left hand to sculpt the melody exactly to his design.

During “Little Walter Rides Again” – the climax of the show – one of the fans in the front held up his hands and shook his head incredulously, apparently in rapture. Wood took an upright bass solo without any accompaniment, followed by a writhing duel between guitar and organ. By the end of the song, Martin’s shirt was entirely soaked with sweat.

The smiling band hadn’t walked ten feet from their instruments before the cheering crowd convinced them to return for an encore. As dusk fell, the quartet began playing an intensely emotional version of “Amazing Grace.” Eyes were closed and heads were bobbing both in the band and the audience. The previously rowdy crowd listened to each soloist with a quiet respect. Medeski’s churchy organ solo filled the room with the solemn hymnal as if it were a small Southern parish, while Scofield’s wailing blue notes moved his bandmates as much as they did the audience – all three of them shook their heads back and forth in unison. Although they had flipped the ambiance of the night’s performance on its head, somebody in the audience summed things up well: “That was fucking beautiful, man.”