Here's a riddle. What do you get when you take three Manhattan hipsters with a taste for old school, new school and everything in between, and put them in a room with a piano, bass and drums?

Give up? The answer can be given in three words and one band: Medeski, Martin & Wood.

Like most acts of the jam-band persuasion, John Medeski (piano), Billy Martin (drums) and Chris Wood (upright bass) have always gotten by on their ability to string together loose jazz grooves without pretense or preparation. Proving that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the band has emerged over the past 12 years as one of the most accomplished and innovative acts on the jam circuit. Individually they're great, but together they're as unpredictably dynamic a band you're likely to see onstage.

OK, they have a gift for improvisation like so many of their contemporaries. So what makes these guys any different? While commonly lumped in and associated with all the Phishes and String Cheese Incidents of the world, Medeski, Martin & Wood are at the same time both products of the jam culture and a part of something unique and of themselves. In the eclectic mecca that is the jam genre, many of its major contributors stand alone in the broad scope of pop culture but have trouble distinguishing themselves from their contemporaries within the scene. Medeski, Martin & Wood, on the other hand, play with such fleety and unrestrained finesse that they make other acts of their caliber look stiff and stagnant in comparison.

By unnervingly combining traditional jazz and funk with such latter-day styles as hip hop and techno, the trio has become both the exception and the rule, the exception in that the band has managed to create breathing room for themselves in its arena, the rule in that they set the bar further for fellow jammers.

It was 1991 when Medeski, Martin & Wood first began playing together in downtown Manhattan. The band quickly became one of the most notable and well-supported groups in New York's burgeoning underground scene, and by the time the trio released its debut record Notes From the Underground in 1992, its reputation as jazz fusion entrepreneurs had been firmly established. It's a Jungle in Here from 1993 built off of its predecessor, showcasing the trio's diverse musical intuition and outside-the-box mentality. By the time of 1995's Friday Afternoon in the Universe, the band had moved beyond its cushy New York circle and became an increasingly popular touring attraction nationwide. The record served as the band's breakthrough, perfectly defining the group's sound for an expansive core of followers around the globe.

By the time of 1996's Shack Man the trio had not only made its mark with its own records, but also through various collaborations with other jam acts, most notably Phish. By 2000, the group had drawn numerous other styles and influences into its jazz/funk hybrid, bringing the renowned DJ Logic into the fold as its unofficial fourth member.

The trio is currently touring in support of its latest record, End of the World Party (Just in Case) and is set to for a Saturday stop at The Rave. Produced by John King of the Dust Brothers, End of the World Party finds the band following its spacey futuristic tendencies even further while still adhering to their avant-jazz roots. It's one head-trip of a record, one that incorporates odd sounds, samples and distorted acoustics into the trio's groove based repertoire. It may be different from their previous efforts, but the musicianship is top-notch as the core members orchestrate 12 breezy, low-down, free-jazz nuggets into an undeniably melodic record. According to the group, it was all about going back to basics this time around.

"We decided to start from scratch," Medeski said of the new record and of working with King, in a press release. "I expected lots of looping, but he ended up doing a lot more listening. The result is as organic and natural as anything we've done."

Medeski, Martin & Wood play at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave. More information is available at www.therave.com or by calling 342-RAVE.