For their 10th album, the venerable jam-jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood wanted to try something different, so they enlisted producer John King (whose credits include Beck's Odelay and the Beasties' Paul's Boutique) to fashion an update. The result is End of the World Party (just in case), which distills the group's funky instrumental sound into tight, riffy tunes and de-emphasizes the improvisational expansiveness that has become its hallmark. Overall, the effort works in spots and sounds a bit constricted in others, but ultimately it shouldn't matter much: MMW will likely deliver the same kind of open-ended show they always do, with the tunes acting as the thinnest of frameworks for their heady interplay and collective expression. The group seems to have found a local home at Jannus Landing, so there's every reason to expect this to be another terrific concert.
Medeski Martin & Wood, Fri., March 18, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20 advance, $23 d.o.s. (www.jannuslanding.net).
-ERIC SNIDER
