Jam bands don't come more creative, more spontaneous or more talented than Medeski Martin and Wood. The trio of downtown New York avant-jazzers decided nearly a decade ago to take their sublime improvisations on the road, just to see what might happen. MMW subsequently tapped into the burgeoning neo-hippie nation, appealing to Phish kids and open-minded jazz fans alike with long, steadily building performances given to hypnotic grooves, deeply funky riffs, and bits of bebop, psychedelia and experimentalism.

"Tonic," featuring performances culled from a nine-night run at the titular Manhattan nightclub, represents a rather surprising left turn for keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood. DJ Logic added sampling and scratching to the group's electric sound for 1998's intriguing "Combustication" album and last year's dance-oriented "Combustication Remix" EP, but MMW's first live disc is all acoustic, sort of a flashback to "Notes From the Underground," their 1991 debut. It's an approach that accentuates even the tiniest telling details of the musicians' sophisticated interplay.

The three exercise their collective jazz jones with a loose-limbed, wild and wooly work-out on Lee Morgan's "Afrique," associated with Duke Ellington and Art Blakey; an innovative take on "Your Lady," a John Coltrane ballad; and a bluesy, appropriately quirky reading of Bud Powell's "Buster Rides Again." A molasses-slow version of Hendrix hit "Hey Joe," an MMW concert staple, is also offered, along with rambunctious, rambling closer "Thaw" and three other new original tunes. It's a traditional piano trio. It's an acoustic jam band. It's avant-garde. It's all three simultaneously. It's quite a feat.
- PHILIP BOOTH