Medeski, Martin and Wood's drummer Billy Martin Riffs on Improvisation and the Artists Journey
By Michael Evans, CitySearch.com Contributor

For the uninitiated, the jazz-not jazz music of Medeski, Martin and Wood must seem a bit bewildering. The trio features an organist (John Medeski), a drummer (Billy Martin), and a bassist (Chris Wood) playing vocal-free music that's not quite jazz, not quite funk, not quite rock, and not quite avant-garde. Some don't bother trying to figure it out and just call it groove music. MMW recently unleashed its latest recorded opus, "Combustication," the group's first disc for the esteemed jazz label Blue Note. Drummer Billy Martin called in to CitySearch:

CitySearch: The omnipresent "groove band" tag -- do you think that designation captures what MMW is all about?
Billy Martin: I don't think it's the most accurate term to use. Groove makes reference to rhythm...music that is dance-oriented. That's one side of us -- but that's not the whole picture.

CS: When MMW first started performing, did you have any sort of game plan in mind -- where you wanted to go with your music?
BM: We don't pre-conceptualize much. We just kind of...play together. It's more of the "I see what we're doing" instead of "This is what we're going to do."

CS: Do you think improvisation is the most important thing that you do?
BM: Yeah. It's far and away the best way for us to express ourselves.

CS: Tell us about your new record, "Combustication."
BM: I feel each track on this record has its own world. Texture-wise, the sound is more diverse than our other records. We do a version of (Sly and the Family Stone's) "Everyday People" along with a Hawaiian traditional tune... One of the guest artists on the record is DJ Logic, who added a nice dimension to the music. As well as being rooted in hip hop, he contributed a lot of interesting sounds that we "collaged" into what we were doing.

CS: The band has worked on several other projects recently including "A Go Go" (Verve), a record with famed jazz guitar man John Scofield. What's it like for MMW working in a support role?
BM: It was easy. Scofield just called us up out of the blue. He'd heard our last album, "Shack-Man" (1996), and wanted to work with us. Medeski called him back not knowing whether or not someone was playing a joke on us. The record turned out quite well; it was a good match. We love to do that New Orleans style, James Brown stuff. It was easy for us to jump in and play with him.

CS: Your artwork adorns the covers of several MMW discs. Do you feel there are parallels between painting and playing music?
BM: Yes, definitively. When I finish drawing or painting something, I get the same sort of feeling of creative power as when I'm playing music. With my music I'm a little more (artistically) advanced, but then again, it's not really about that...it's about the journey, the adventure.