John Medeski has heard stories about a bird — he believes it might be a canary — that changes its song every year, never repeating itself.

Medeski believes there's a lesson to be learned that can be applied to musicians, something about the value of creative restlessness and an unwillingness to settle for the familiar.

"I figure if a canary can do it, we should be able to do it as well," Medeski says.

Medeski, a keyboardist, is referring to his band, Medeski, Martin & Wood, a jazz trio always in search of new ways to express itself.

The New York-based trio, which will perform tonight at the Chameleon Club in downtown Lancaster, has built a career on the strength of its innovative improvisations and its groove-based songs. MMW enjoys a broad fan base that includes jazz purists and the jam-band crowd.

MMW always seems in search of new ways to entertain both itself and its fans. This year is no different.

The trio has released a children's album that should satisfy young and old fans alike. The members of MMW, an instrumental group, sing on the album, along with their children, but there is no dumbing down going on here.

The songs, a mixture of originals and covers, live up to the album's title, "Let's Go Everywhere."

"Musically, kids can handle a lot," said Medeski, whose fiancee has a 7-year-old daughter. "You go into any folk music or traditional music and look at the kids' music, and it's not that different from the regular music — maybe the lyrical content is more what kids are into or what kids relate to.

"But there should be depth. Kids get it more than most adults, to be quite honest."

For the adult set, MMW plans to release three albums this year.

Medeski said the band has scheduled three mini-tours. Before each one, the bandmates will write new material, go out and play it live and then enter the studio to record it.

The band is calling the project the Radiolarian Series and the live dates are billed as the Viva La Evolution Tour.

The Chameleon date is not part of that tour, but Medeski said fans can expect to hear some songs from the first of the three tours, completed earlier this year, along with tunes from "Let's Go Everywhere," selections from their extensive songbook and a whole lot of improvisational music.

"The best thing to expect is the unexpected," Medeski said.

Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood all knew each other from New York's jazz and avant-garde scenes before deciding to form a band in the early 1990s. Medeski said they hit it off immediately.

"We have a certain chemistry," he said. "It's astounding. I'm always amazed it works. We have no meetings, we talk very little, we just play. Three's a magic number for us, I guess."

As evidence, Medeski points to "Uncle Chubb," a song they created the first time they played together. It wound up on the band's first album, "Notes from the Underground" (1992).

Since then, the band has released 16 albums, including "Combustication" (1998) and "The Dropper" (2000).

The band abandoned the trio format in favor of a quartet in 2006 when it released "Out Louder" as Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood, with jazz guitarist John Scofield becoming a temporary member of the band. It was the trio's second collaboration with Scofield as they backed the guitarist in 1997 on his album "A Go Go."

The band members also keep themselves busy with numerous outside projects. Most notably, Wood and his brother, Oliver, perform as the Wood Brothers, a folk act that recently released its second album ("Loaded") and Medeski recorded a remarkable gospel album called "The Word" with the North Mississippi Allstars and guitarist Robert Randolph. All three musicians also are in-demand session players.

"We all love all kinds of situations and we play in a lot of different groups," Medeski said. "It keeps us growing. It keeps us individually stimulated and growing. The more we each keep ourselves developing, the better we are for each other in the group."

It's all part of finding a new song to play each year.

Medeski, Martin and Wood, today, 8 p.m., Chameleon Club, 223 N. Water St., $25, 299-9684.

E-mail: jferguson@lnpnews.com