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Keyboardist John Medeski is not shy when it comes to musical collaboration. He\u2019s played with dozens of bands \u2014 including his own side projects and guest spots with other groups \u2014 and contributed to more than 300 albums.<\/p>\n
Medeski\u2019s collaborations span the musical gamut, from the avant-metal of Simalcrum to the psychedelic Moroccan trance of Club d\u2019Elf. He came to prominence as a co-founder of Medeski, Martin & Wood<\/u><\/a> \u2014 an improvisationally minded trio whose jazz-rooted style requires a pocketful of hyphens to describe adequately. The trio has played rarely in recent years, but Medeski\u2019s calendar stays full.<\/p>\n He brings a seldom-seen group to the Music at the Intersection<\/u><\/a> festival in St. Louis this weekend. John Medeski\u2019s Mad Skillet<\/u><\/a> is rooted in the rhythms of New Orleans-style brass bands, with heavy doses of jazz, funk and experimentation mixed in. It includes guitarist Will Bernard<\/u><\/a> and the core of New Orleans ensemble the Dirty Dozen Brass Band<\/u><\/a>\u2019s rhythm section: sousaphonist Kirk Joseph<\/u><\/a> and drummer Terence Higgins<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n John Medeski\u2019s Mad Skillet<\/u><\/a> was formed out of annual late-night jam sessions during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. After a 2018 album and some touring the next year, the quartet has been pretty quiet. The St. Louis appearance is the band\u2019s only U.S. show booked this year.<\/p>\n Medeski\u2019s group will be one of more than 75 musical acts<\/u><\/a> featured at the three-day MATI festival<\/u><\/a>, which begins Friday.<\/p>\n St. Louis Public Radio\u2019s Jeremy D. Goodwin asked Medeski about his approach to entering different musical environments, and how this project graduated from once-a-year events to a working band.<\/p>\n Jeremy D. Goodwin<\/b>: How did this group come together?<\/p>\n John Medeski<\/b>: I would go to JazzFest every year, doing the musician rite of passage \u2014 you know, 25 gigs in two weeks. Two or three a day. And Will Bernard and I would play together, and we did it in a few different configurations. This combination kind of landed, and it was as though we’d been playing together every day. It was just: Everything clicks.<\/p>\n For me, it’s all about chemistry, and it just had this magic chemistry. And it wasn’t a one-time accident or a lucky night, it was like every time we get together.<\/p>\n