It may seem hard to take a band with the name Umphrey’s McGee seriously. This Chicago sextet, however, still demands respect, both for its musical virtuosity and its ever-growing resume.

In the last year or so, Umphrey’s has solidified its place as a major contender in the jam band scene, wowing audiences with an aggressive mix of progressive rock, metal, jazz and good old improvisation.

This live improvisation is what has earned the group the “jam band” label, a categorization originally applied to bands like the Grateful Dead and Phish but now encompassing genres as diverse as bluegrass, jazz, funk, and, in the case of Umphrey’s McGee, progressive rock.

Joel Cummins, keyboardist and founding member of the group, says being pigeon-holed as a jam band has its ups and downs, but agrees his band fits the category.

“There are positive and negative assumptions that go along with [the jam band label],” Cummins says. “The positive being that we do improvise quite a bit, the negative being that ‘these dudes can’t write a song, they can just play live.'”

But Umphrey’s McGee knows how to write a song or two. In fact, “In the Kitchen,” from the band’s latest album, “Anchor Drops,” was named Song of the Year at the Jammy Awards this year in New York.

The Jammy Awards honor musical artists that other award shows often pass up. This year it included performances by John Mayer, Sinead O’Connor and Les Claypool.

The Jammys award is just icing on the cake for this last year of Umphrey’s career, which also included an appearance at the record-breaking music festival Bonnaroo, performances with the Grateful Dead’s ex-bassist Phil Lesh, and several sold-out shows of their own.

Despite all these accomplishments, Cummins says he is most proud of the band’s ability to keep the music fresh throughout hundreds of concerts.

“This is probably the most important thing to me and the rest of the band, too,” Cummins says. “And that’s the constant need for evolution and change, which is something we try to bring to our music on a nightly basis.”

What that means for Umphrey’s is creating new music live and on-stage, stretching their songs to the realm of the unrehearsed and unpredictable.

Although the potential for failure always exists with live improvisation, Cummins says it is a vital part of the Umphrey’s McGee experience.

“Those moments are really exciting, when something can be created that may only happen that one time,” Cummins says. “The flip side of that is that they occasionally don’t work and you fall on your face. But I think our fans want us to go out there and take risks and try new things.”

Although the members of Umphrey’s McGee have played several national tours and even headlined a festival in Amsterdam, they are no strangers to the Midwest, and, more specifically, Iowa. Cummins says playing concerts in Iowa has a few special advantages that you cannot find anywhere else but here. The food is what brings them back, but he says the people are great, too.

“You always know you’re going to have some good corn for dinner,” Cummins says. “And Iowa is one of the only places where we also have crowd surfing at our shows. The people in the Midwest generally want to get down and have a good time.”