Medeski, Martin & Wood @ Boulder Theater, March 4
Although it seems like it’s happening more and more, it certainly isn’t every day that a band turns 20. Maybe it’s that we’re getting old, or maybe our music taste is falling behind. Or, maybe (hopefully) the music we listen to has such longevity because the musicians themselves enjoy playing together so much that they couldn’t possibly leave it behind.
[All photos by Matthew Speck]
For
Medeski, Martin & Wood at least, it is most definitely the latter, and it’s no fluke they’re still around. Since 1991, MMW has been putting out disc after solid disc of exciting music that has ranged from the avant-garde of
Tonic and
The Dropper to the experimental electricity of
Combustication, collaborations with musical legends like John Scofield and Marshall Allen, and even a kids’ album. And, they continue to maintain their relevancy even today: their track Hey He Hi Ho was chosen for the upcoming release
JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology, due out March 29. So, in honor of this 20th anniversary, the trio has taken to the road for a ten-date tour through the month of March.
After spending some time in the Rocky Mountains with shows in Beaver Creek and Aspen, MMW came out for a show just outside those mountains in Boulder, the hometown of bassist Chris Wood. The story is this: the band is taking requests ahead of time, and devising their opening sets based on what the fans want to hear. The second set of each night will honor an old MMW tradition: the shack party, entirely improvised. Even more than usual, there was an added sense of excitement to the pre-show jitters.
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