Christopher Barry Wood is an American
bassBass is a family of musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
player, best known for playing with the avant-garde
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
-
funkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
trio
Medeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & Wood is an American jazz trio formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards and piano, Billy Martin on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on double bass and bass guitar....
(MMW).
Born on November 25, 1969 in Pasadena, California, Wood formed MMW in 1991 with
John MedeskiAnthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avante-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
and
Billy MartinBilly Martin is an American jazz drummer, best known as a member of avant-garde jazz-funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood.-Biography:Before becoming part of Medeski, Martin & Wood, Martin was part of the New York City Brazilian scene in the 1980s. He performed regularly with Pe De Boi, Batucada and...
.
Wood also collaborates with his brother Oliver Wood as the
The Wood BrothersThe Wood Brothers are musician siblings Chris and Oliver Wood. Chris was a founding member of Medeski Martin & Wood, and Oliver played second guitar with Tinsley Ellis before forming King Johnson....
. Their debut release, entitled
Ways Not to Lose, was produced by
John MedeskiAnthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avante-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
.
Wood plays both upright and electric basses.
Christopher Barry Wood is an American
bassBass is a family of musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
player, best known for playing with the avant-garde
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
-
funkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
trio
Medeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & Wood is an American jazz trio formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards and piano, Billy Martin on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on double bass and bass guitar....
(MMW).
Biography
Born on November 25, 1969 in Pasadena, California, Wood formed MMW in 1991 with
John MedeskiAnthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avante-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
and
Billy MartinBilly Martin is an American jazz drummer, best known as a member of avant-garde jazz-funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood.-Biography:Before becoming part of Medeski, Martin & Wood, Martin was part of the New York City Brazilian scene in the 1980s. He performed regularly with Pe De Boi, Batucada and...
.
Wood also collaborates with his brother Oliver Wood as the
The Wood BrothersThe Wood Brothers are musician siblings Chris and Oliver Wood. Chris was a founding member of Medeski Martin & Wood, and Oliver played second guitar with Tinsley Ellis before forming King Johnson....
. Their debut release, entitled
Ways Not to Lose, was produced by
John MedeskiAnthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avante-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
.
Wood plays both upright and electric basses. One technique he uses on the upright bass involves using a drumstick as a slide near the bridge of the bass. Wood bows between the drumstick and the bridge to produce a high-pitched, warbling sound, similar to a
thereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone / etherophone or termenvox / thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928...
. Wood is also known to insert a sheet of notation paper behind and between the strings of his bass which creates a unique "snare bass" sound, an adaption of a technique devised on the
double bassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
by
Bertram TuretzkyBertram Turetzky is a contemporary American double bass soloist, teacher, and author of The Contemporary Contrabass , a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways of playing the double bass including featuring it as a solo performance vehicle with no other instrumental accompaniment...
. This is featured on the Medeski, Martin, and Wood recording of "Paper Bass" on the album "Friday Afternoon in the Universe" (1995).