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If you were pitching a party for the apocalypse, you could hardly find a more appropriate band for the festivities than Medeski, Martin and Wood. The trio, as heard on last year's End of the World Party (Just in Case), combines elements of hip-hop, electronica, avant-garde rock and boogaloo jazz in a mix that's refreshingly free of pretense, designed to shake your ass while it fries your mind. Forward-looking with a nod to the past, this is the music doomsday demands.

"Well, you know, it's just the truth," the band's keyboardist and former South Florida resident John Medeski says by way of explaining the album's title. "We gotta dance while we can; you never know."

Driving to Boston with bassist Chris Wood and drummer Billy Martin from their home base in New York, Medeski answers questions by cell phone, joking that he'd like to be more candid, but y'know, the guys are right there; he promises to reveal all when he gets to Sunrise, which he'll do this week when MMW plays the Langerado jam extravaganza.

He also hedges about any overt political message tied to End of the World, which contains a track titled "Bloody Oil." Listeners, he says, can draw their own conclusions -- always a plus when it comes to instrumental music -- but he won't deny that the song carries a message.

"Of course, I mean, everything does," he declares, his conversation as rapid and by-the-seat-of-his-pants as the solos he rips out of his Hammond B-3 or Wurlitzer. "Music is supposed to inspire, take us up and out, you know?"

Certainly, MMW's music has taken the group up and out, as it becomes, to quote a 2002 album title, increasingly Uninvisible. From its beginnings in the early '90s, the threesome defied any conventional definition, playing the seedy punk-rock venue CBGB as well as the storied jazz room The Village Gate. More-adventurous jazz fans could appreciate the band's sophisticated musicality and improvisational acumen, while listeners inclined to wiggle and twirl found themselves slaves to the groove.

"We played rock clubs and coffeehouses," Medeski recalls. "We were looking for young people with creative minds, which certainly weren't in the jazz clubs. And they're still not; sure, [they were] in the '50s and '60s, but [they] haven't been there in a while."

Although still an underground phenomenon, the trio parlayed its hip downtown buzz into a record deal with Gramavision, releasing its 1993 debut, It's a Jungle in Here, and touring relentlessly. Momentum continued to grow, and in 1996, the trio joined the H.O.R.D.E. tour.

In 1998, MMW released its first recording for the fabled Blue Note label, providing the band instant cred with jazz fans worldwide. One may think this would have been a big deal for Medeski, to record for the label that had released signature albums by one of his great influences, the late Hammond innovator Jimmy Smith.

"Ummm, yeah, well … No, it wasn't," he admits. "Although I love them, and it's been a great experience, and they're a fantastic record label, to be honest, at that point, we'd already carved a niche for ourselves, and there were like 17 labels bidding for us. … And at that time, [Blue Note was] never really on top of what we were doing. But since then, they've been great. But at the time, they didn't really get it. We were just used to going out and doing our thing anyway."

Certainly, Blue Note didn't get in the way. MMW's debut for the label, Combustication, was hardcore groove, featuring friend DJ Logic on one track and poet Steve Cannon on another. In 2000, the same year they graced the cover of jazz bible Down Beat, the trio simultaneously released the live acoustic recording Tonic and perhaps its most avant-garde album, The Dropper.

"We made it clear that we wanted artistic freedom with Blue Note, and they were totally open to that because there was already a market," Medeski explains. "We were already selling -- not a lot, but by jazz standards we were selling pretty good. They just wanted to take us to the next level."

MMW's rise also coincided with the explosion of the jam-band phenomenon. Young listeners who had never stepped inside a jazz club were digging the band's genre-blending sounds, perhaps lured in by MMW's association with jam-band faves such as Col. Bruce Hampton, the Antibalas Horns and Sex Mob slide-trumpet player Steven Bernstein. While MMW is certainly accepted by the jam base and some segments of the jazz world, Medeski doesn't claim either. "We don't feel like part of any scene, really," he says.

That may be an enviable situation, sort of like a kid in high school who can kick it with the stoners or the honors students. Certainly, either crowd could find something to like in the smart, trippy music on End of the World Party. The album was produced by the Dust Brothers' John King -- who'd helmed recordings for Beck and The Beastie Boys -- and maintains a fun, accessible vibe throughout. The longest track here tips in at just over five minutes. "There's not as much expanded soloing and improvisation, which is just a more pop way of doing things," Medeski notes. "There's a lot of depth in the arrangements and the orchestrations, though."

Medeski's approach to the keyboards is unique. While certainly drawing upon deep jazz roots, nodding to Hammond pioneers such as Smith and Jimmy McGriff, his colors and textures are distinct. "I'll put on a Jimmy Smith album instead of one of these younger guys who sound like Jimmy Smith," he states. "I love that music, but he already did it."

Rhythmically, jazz has always evolved with the times. Ragtime and boogie-woogie gave way to swing, bebop, post-bop, fusion and beyond, so why shouldn't MMW incorporate the funk and hip-hop grooves of today? The trick is maintaining artistic integrity while blending all these elements.

"And that's one thing we were interested in," Medeski relates, "is how can we really be truly ourselves, who we are, living now, and still sort of keep this spirit of spontaneity and music for the moment that jazz always has."

Medeski, Martin and Wood will perform 5:30 p.m. Sunday on the Sunset Stage at the Langerado Music Festival.