DRKWV, as this Regattabar show was billed, is a collaboration of keyboardist John Medeski, saxophonist Skerik, and drummer Adam Deitch and I was quite curious to see what they are doing as a trio.

John Medeski’s hands

I know DRKWV’s music will not appeal to everyone, but if you like avant-garde jazz and funk or if you merely love extremely good musicians, you’ll find this project interesting at the very least.

I have seen all three perform with their other projects:  Medeski with Medeski, Martin and Wood; Skerik with Garage a Trois, and Deitch with Lettuce. All of those projects have elements of both jazz and funk musical styles; I thought it logical that they came together to produce something new.

John Medeski

Skerik

Adam Deitch

I was seated close enough to Medeski’s keyboards that I could have reached out and played them myself, which was great for watching him. He had five sets of keys along with lots of pedals and buttons to push and it was fascinating to watch as he bent notes and created sounds I never realized a keyboard could make (or that I’d heard but did not realize were being produced by a keyboard).

John Medeski’s hands

In addition to playing the sax, Skerik used an iPad to produce ‘singing’ as well as notes that he also bent.

Skerik at the iPad

I could not see Deitch well, but he had a number of percussion instruments in addition to a traditional drum kit, including a rain stick. The multi-colored blurry object in the bottom right of the next photo is the rain stick.

Adam Deitch with the rain stick

Their 65-minute set consisted of what was probably more than one song, played without pausing between them. I presume that there was a lot of improvisation happening, but without knowing their album I cannot be sure. Regardless, the collective talent on the stage was immense.

Skerik

Adam Deitch

John Medeski

Even though there were no lyrics to the music, both Medeski’s and Skerik’s lips were moving as if they were singing scat; there may be a word for what they were doing, but if so I do not know it.

John Medeski

There was a lot of trance-jazz being played and at times I closed my eyes to let the music transport me.

Skerik

It was a last-minute decision, but I am glad I went to this show. It is always a pleasure to hear music that is slightly outside my normal range – especially when the musicians are so good.

Ticket courtesy of Regattabar; all opinions are my own.