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Medeski Martin & Wood will play the Crystal Bay Club on Feb. 24. Courtesy photo |
CommentsFive Questions With Chris Wood
Wednesday Feb. 24
Published: February 9, 2010by Jackie Varriano
Medeski Martin & Wood has been known not only for jazz, but for their unconventional style, sometimes referred to as “avant-groove.” John Medeski (keyboards, piano), Billy Martin (drums, percussion), and Chris Wood (double bass and bass guitar) are making an appearance at Crystal Bay Casino Wednesday, Feb, 24, at 9 p.m. Amidst a busy New York afternoon with contractors remodeling his abode, I chatted up the ever humble Wood.
Moonshine Ink: How has touring changed since the early nineties when you started?
Chris Wood: Well, you know back in the early days, I handled the money, John was the cook and Billy was the mechanic. … Since then we’ve gotten someone who really knows how to be the accountant , we grew up, we all got married, we’ve got kids so our lives have gotten more complicated. But somehow we still love making music together, have plenty of ideas and it’s just a matter of making it happen. The creativity is always there.
MI: You all have side projects, how does it feel to come back together?
CW: Its kind of refreshing to go off and do these other things and when we come back it’s fresh. The first time we ever played together it felt good — it instantly felt good — and having such long breaks can actually help the music. Some bands feel rusty but we have a certain chemistry that feels right.
MI: Will you be playing acoustic or electric when you play in Tahoe?
CW: Both. I’ve got two different electric basses that are really different. One I can play with a pick — more of a guitar, strange, hollow, cool, nasally sound — and the other is classic electric. I’ve also got the upright — I can bow it and get all kinds of different sounds on that.
MI: Where is your favorite place to play?
CW: I’ve always loved Chicago and San Francisco as far as U.S. cities. We’ve been having a great time in Argentina, Buenos Aires, and Brazil; it’s a lot of fun in South America. I love playing and eating in Italy, same with Japan — it’s always fun to go to Japan.
MI: It seems a lot of musicians are putting out memoirs. Any plans for a MMW memoir?
CW: Well, we kind of did a documentary in the box set (“Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set”). The box set packages the individual Radiolarians installments together for the first time and also includes additional material including a double vinyl LP, a live album called “Explorarians,” a remix album aptly titled “Remixolarians” and “Fly In A Bottle” (MMW’s first feature-length DVD), which was more geared towards the making of [Radiolarians]. We have great footage from [recording] “Shack Man” and we’d like to do a documentary with that. Life is too full to put it together now, but it has crossed my mind.
Ever the gentleman, Wood politely excused himself while planning the rest of his day of remodeling, working on songs for his side project with his brother, the band the Wood Brothers, taking a walk and picking up his kid from school. Catch Medeski Martin & Wood Wednesday, Feb. 24, in the Crown Room, tickets $25/Adv, $27/Door, 14 State Rt 28, Crystal Bay, (775) 833-6333, crystalbayclubcasino.com. Find out more about at mmw.net.
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