John Medeski, Billy Martin, and Chris Wood formed in New York after all three had been working through various downtown and experimental circles. The short version is: they found each other, moved into the clubs, and figured out a sound by playing constantly. Before they ever had a record deal they had a following, which is honestly the best way to build one. Their early gigs were long, loose, and loud in a way that jazz clubs didn't always know what to do with.

Medeski is the engine. He plays piano but the organ and clavinet and Wurlitzer are just as central to what the band does, and he cycles through them like a chef reaching for different knives. He's got serious technique but he rarely shows it off — he's interested in texture and repetition and the hypnotic zone you can get to when you stay inside a groove long enough. Album Title Friday Afternoon in the Universe (1995) is the place to start: it's funky, it's weird, and it's the record that hooked most people who found them in that era.

Billy Martin is one of the more creative drummers working in any genre. He's got a percussionist's brain — he thinks in layers and colors rather than just keeping time — and he brings a rhythmic restlessness to the band that keeps things from getting too comfortable. Chris Wood on bass is the anchor. He's melodic in the way a great jazz bassist is supposed to be, but he also locks with Martin in this almost telepathic way that gives Medeski room to do whatever he wants on top.

Combustication (1998) was the moment they broke through to a bigger audience, partly because DJ Logic appeared on several tracks and the hip-hop influence was explicit in a way that felt completely natural rather than grafted on. Some jazz purists grumbled, but the record holds up fine. They weren't chasing a trend so much as following their own curiosity, which is a different thing entirely.

They've gone through quieter periods and louder ones, recorded with John Scofield as a quartet on A Go Go (1998) — which is a genuinely great record and maybe the easiest entry point for someone coming from a straight-ahead background — and continued releasing adventurous albums that range from pretty accessible to genuinely difficult. They don't make the same record twice. Whether that's always a virtue depends on what you're looking for, but it means there's a lot of ground to cover once you start digging.