JPG: Was that something in your mind creatively that you had a desire to do that or was it developed when you attended the New England Conservatory or after your dissatisfaction with the jazz scene in New York?

JM: It’s something I always felt. That’s where the dissatisfaction came. I played classical music. When I went to the conservatory I was a classical major. Disappointed may not be the right word. I knew I didn’t want to perform that music. I loved the music but what I really loved was what they were doing as composers, creating music. I wanted to be them not perform them. And, the same thing happened as far as my relationship to the jazz scene. It’s the greatest in terms of the highest level of so many aspects of music but when it’s not about listening and interacting and improvising and creating then I’m not interested in it.

Also, I tried to be realistic about who I am and who we were and honoring the era that we grew up in and the music that surrounded us as we grew up. We don’t have to pretend that we’re from another era where all these things that happened happened. We’re trying to be informed by everything going on in the same way that the popular music of the time informed the great jazz musicians. They would use the song forms and chord changes and structures of popular songs and write new melodies and create a new melodic and rhythmic language. Medeski Martin & Wood took that idea and reinvented it in our own way.

JPG: What I find interesting about the three of you is how you developed quickly. I’m used to college jazz ensembles that are more in tune with big band orchestras with some students going off and doing their own thing as well. So, I’ve seen that schooling process firsthand more so than an emphasis on improvisation and incorporating other musical elements.

JM: That’s easy to do. In a big band a lot of the music is written out. It’s predetermined. It’s doesn’t require deep levels of communicating with the music language. It requires other things — rhythm and listening and being in tune. Believe me, I played in big bands a lot growing up. I love the music, but it’s like being on a sports team. There’s a collective energy, it’s great. But there needs to be a balance, I think. When I went to conservatory I played in a big band and I played with George Russell’s big band (The Living Time Orchestra) and I played with several big bands outside of school. I loved it but you also have to find your own thing. As a musician, especially a jazz musician where improvisation is involved, you need to work on finding your own voice.

The department I ended up in when I left the classical department, which was called Third Stream at that time and is now called Contemporary Improvisation, and their whole thing was developing your personal style through advanced ear training by looking at yourself and thinking “What do I really love?” and absorbing these musics that you love whether it’s punk rock, Sephardic music or Moroccan, jazz, folk songs, whatever it is. You absorb that and really get to know it. Then, you just internalize and it naturally starts to come in your music. You do it through your ear, learning to sing the stuff and deep listening, which is something you can teach but you can’t teach. You need to do it, which means really listening in a way that you’re taking it into every cell of your body and developing your aural memory, which has a lot of levels; your aural memory, just being able to remember the logistics of the melody or a song but also to really have within you, almost in a cellular way, the nature of a piece of music.

You don’t need to learn a lot of things. You can do that with a few things. It’s just about picking the right stuff. To absorb it that way…say I like Thelonious Monk and then I’d find pieces of music that you know are going to give you what you need and then really learn them.

JPG: Was that something that was in your head and your soul that you felt you needed to do and that’s why you left the classical department?

JM: Well, I’d always played jazz and I loved jazz. I just did both. When I first went to school my idea was, “Why would I go to school for jazz? I’d just move to New York City.” I thought, “Alright, I’ll go to school if I’m gonna look into getting a degree.” Then, going there and seeing from one angle there was an open-mindedness at the Conservatory that there wasn’t at Julliard or a truly classical-oriented music school. It gave me the understanding that I can get something else out of school (slight laugh), and I can study non-Western Music, jazz theory and I can use the school as way to dive into a lot of different music and absorb it and broaden my palette.

JPG: At your upcoming Cleveland shows you’re playing with a wide range of artists: Marc Ribot, Steve Bernstein, Cyro Baptista, DJ Logic, DJ Olive…

JM: Those are all our New York peeps from the early days; people we collaborated with. We play with different people but mainly we’re a trio and if certain people add a fourth dimension to what we do so that’s why we’re picking off a lot of our favorites and out of who was available for those gigs.

JPG: Those shows are you going to chronicle them? Audio? Video?

JM: We’re shooting a whole film in Cleveland, the beginning of a documentary.

JPG: There was a tweet from Billy saying about new material coming out this fall. One website reported it as an announcement that you were working on a new album.

JM: I’ll have to ask him.

JPG: Unless he’s working on a new album.

JM: I’m sure he is. We all are individually. We talked about it but I can’t quite reveal yet because we haven’t talked to some of the other people involved to see if they want to do it or not. We have some ideas, definitely next year do another record.

JPG: In the band bio, you mention the band’s musical sensibilities as “wide open.” That relates to this. I found my MMW preview I wrote during the Shack-Man tour. I asked this question to Chris. So, with the passing of time I’ll now ask you. What is Medeski Martin & Wood?

JM: I still have no idea and that’s why we’re still together.

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