Medeski, Martin and Wood shake D.C.

Medeski, Martin and Wood (MMW) performed for over two and a half hours at the 9:30 Club in D.C. into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The jam band once again proved that they are one of the most energetic, virtuosic and loud acts around.

But MMW is much more than a stereotypical "jam band." Their music has more to do with Cecil Taylor's free jazz than with Jerry Garcia's blues-rock. Although their new album, End of the World Party (Just in Case), shows a trend toward shorter, more structured songs, the group's live show features their signature 20-minute, incendiary grooves, essentially in an all-improvised show.

John Medeski is one of the most intense and insane keyboardists around. He can go from free avant-garde acoustic piano to blistering organ grooves and back again in the space of a few minutes. At this performance, he had about five keyboards, most of which were analogue synthesizers that haven't been made since the 1970s. His set-up brings to mind an elementary-school boy in a fort with all his toys; he spun around his stool, madly pushing buttons, turning wheels, twisting knobs and pumping peddles as his bald head glistened under the stage lights.

Not to be outdone, Billy Martin came with a percussive arsenal: everything from the simplest tambourine to African hand drums, shakers and a whole table of tuned, metal, bell-like objects. Martin's style complements Medeski's, ranging from abstract polyrhythmic motifs to the most addictively hypnotizing beats.

Chris Wood anchors the group. He's one of the few musicians to have mastered both the electric and upright bass. On one song, he played cyclical, Les Claypool-like, chordal melodies at breakneck speed, and on the next, he walked on upright with James Jamerson-like confidence and ease. When he soloed, he played with a jazz master's technique and the melodic sensibility of a seasoned bluesman.

Although MMW may at times appear to be showing off their "chops," the music is more eccentric than indulgent, even when the group is playing the farthest "out." The first piece began with dissonant scraps of melodic phrases from Medeski and ended in a dark, roaring, organ-saturated jam. Martin played two particularly ridiculous drum solos that framed the extremely intense second set. But the most powerful piece of the night featured Wood playing full blast, like the evil groove machine that he is, while Medeski delivered a cacophonous synth solo.

MMW plays in the D.C. area about once a year.