John Medeski

John Medeski is the keyboardist of Medeski Martin & Wood, the trio he formed with drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood in New York in 1991 and one of the defining groups of the improvised avant-groove scene. Rooted in jazz but drawing freely on funk, soul, and hip hop, he is known for a wide-ranging keyboard palette that runs from acoustic piano to the Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer, clavinet, and vintage synthesizers. Born in 1965 in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he played alongside Jaco Pastorius as a teenager before studying at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Beyond the trio he has recorded and toured widely with guitarist John Scofield and collaborated with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, and many others across the downtown New York and jam-band worlds.