VIA PRESS RELEASE | Oscilloscope Laboratories in conjunction with MVD Entertainment Group announce the release of Not Not Jazz via video on demand, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 9th.
The documentary, directed by Jason Miller and produced by Tyler Davidson, Jim Stark, and Elie Weiss, is an in-depth look at the unique and wholly improvisational creative process of the revolutionary “avant-groove” band Medeski Martin & Wood, as they endeavor to record a new album at the famed Allaire Studio, twenty-five years after their formation. The film premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival—not far from where the documentary was filmed in New York’s Hudson Valley—and most recently screened during the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN this past spring.
Director Jason Miller notes: “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. 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.”
Medeski Martin & Wood is a group that effortlessly straddles the gap between avant-garde improvisation and accessible groove-based jazz. They have simultaneously earned standing as relentlessly innovative musicians and as an enormously popular act. Emerging out of the New York Downtown scene in the early ’90s, MMW soon set out on endless cross-country tours before returning home to Manhattan to further refine their sound through myriad influential experimentations.
Each of the musicians—keyboardist John Medeski, drummer/percussionist Billy Martin, and bassist Chris Wood—had crossed paths throughout the ’80s, playing with the likes of John Lurie, John Zorn, and mentor Bob Moses. In 1991, the trio officially convened for an engagement at New York’s Village Gate. Soon, the group was rehearsing in Martin’s Brooklyn loft, writing, and then recording 1992’s self-released Notes from the Underground. As the group began to tour, escaping the supportive though insular New York music community, Medeski—a former child prodigy—switched from grand piano to Hammond B-3 organ.
Low Spark Films is a feature film finance and production company that has produced seven Sundance hits over the past decade, including EMILY THE CRIMINAL, TAKE SHELTER, THE KINGS OF SUMMER, and THE LAND, launching some of the most sought-after, emerging filmmakers working today.
