Developed during sundry jam sessions in the Catskill Mountains and recorded in Woodstock, New York, 2019's Upstream is the creation of drummer Ben Perowsky, keyboardist John Medeski, and saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed. Longtime associates going back to the '90s, Perowsky, Medeski, and Speed have worked together as members of numerous bands over the years, but first began performing live as a trio under the name RedCred in 2007. As a trio, they specialize in a kinetic brand of groove-based jazz, bringing together a disparate range of stylistic touchstones, from '60s organ jazz to '70s fusion to far-flung avant-garde improvisation. Anchoring this vibrant post-bop stew is Perowsky, whose roiling funk and swing rhythms propel the band's sound. He and organist Medeski play with a serpentine logic, offering a textural landscape of thick chordal grooves that Speed cuts through with knife-like precision. An aesthetic glue throughout Upstream is the trio's choice of material. They filter their distinctive sound through a handful of deftly chosen cover songs, including legendary Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius' "Dania," Miles Davis' "Sidecar," and Perowsky's moody arrangement of Wayne Shorter's "Face on the Barroom Floor." Equally engaging are their readings of their own material, including Medeski's dusky "Meta" and Perowsky's circular "Kanape," the latter of which features a spiraling, harmonically dense sax solo from Speed. Elsewhere, they reveal their wry sensibilities, paying homage to the late drummer Paul Motian and the Beatles' Paul McCartney on the sprawling psychedelic slow-burn number "Paul."