“Avante-groove” acid jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood is the subject of a documentary, Not Not Jazz, headed for streaming and DVD Blu-Ray on August 9th. Following screenings at the Woodstock Film Festival and Big Ears Festival, the 2019 film by director Jason Miller on Thursday shared its official trailer which gives a look inside the group’s creative process.
Not Not Jazz takes viewers into the famed Allaire Studio in Woodstock, NY where Medeski Martin & Wood reconvened to record a new album 25 years after their 1991 formation. As is the case with the band’s revered (and now rare) live performances, improvisation lies at the heart of the recording sessions. Throughout the 77-minute film, keyboardist John Medeski, bassist Chris Wood, and drummer/percussionist Billy Martin display the inherent musical ingenuity that made the band a pillar of the emerging jam scene in the 1990s and a staple of festivals and nationwide tours for the next two decades.
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“I knew it, as soon as we played,” Martin says in the trailer. “It’s like, ‘This is it, we gotta hold onto this and not let anybody dictate how we’re going to make music.’”
Medeski Martin & Wood were a product of the New York City downtown scene, an environment that birthed avante experimentations like the Benevento/Russo Duo and countless others. After crossing paths throughout the ’80s by way of luminaries John Lurie, John Zorn, and mentor Bob Moses, the group officially formed in 1991 for an engagement at NYC’s Village Gate. In 1992, the band self-released Notes from the Underground and in the quarter century since has issued over a dozen of its own albums and collaborated with DJ Logic, John Scofield, Nels Cline (Wilco), chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound, and more.
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“I am deeply grateful to have met John, Billy, and Chris and to have been entrusted with documenting their process as musicians and exploring their personal lives,” director Jason Miller said. “It’s been a long and arduous journey to get the film made and released, and I learned a lot from them along the way. It’s my hope that everyone who watches the film will take something away as well.”
Check out the trailer for the new Medeski Martin & Wood documentary Not Not Jazz, available on video on demand and DVD on August 9th.
Not Not Jazz | Official Trailer
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