An
avant-garde jazz trio consisting of
John Medeski on
keyboards,
Chris Wood on
bass, and
Billy Martin on
drums.
They released their debut album, Notes From The Underground, in 1991, which took a new and innovative look at classic jazz tunes from Wayne Shorter and Duke Ellington. Their followup release, It's A Jungle In Here, in 1993 was similar, including a medley that mixed Thelonious Monk with Bob Marley.
Then in 1994, their sound turned a musical corner. Medeski's keyboards became more electrified, and their music as a whole often became reminiscent of Sun Ra's Arkestra, or Miles Davis' album, Bitch's Brew. Friday Afternoon In The Universe was released in 1995 and was their first album to feature their new sound. In 1996, they released Shack-man which carried on with their new sound, which many music critics dubbed neo-punk or fusion or post-bop. At any rate, the sound was a success, and their audiences grew.
Several tracks from Shack-man were remixed by various DJ's to form a remix EP released as Bubblehouse. One of the DJ's, DJ Logic, was received so well that the band invited him to guest on an upcoming album.
1997 brought their mail-order-only release of Farmer's Reserve, which strayed from their usual sound to form a sonic landscape that was performed spontaneously.
Going back into the studio, with the help of DJ Logic, they recorded Combustication, which would be released in 1998, and prove to show that could they would continue to push the limits of their sound, while still paying homage to the jazz greats that influenced them.