*** John Scofield ***

[king ubu]

Never warmed to that one... a high school friend had it on CD (must have been around 1992/93 or so).

The cold production sound turned me off big time... only later on I learned that Don Grolnick also did some "good" stuff (the Blue Note double disc set!)... guess I don't get a chance to re-evaluate, as these Grammavision discs have indeed turned pretty rare, it seems (Sco did a whole run for them).

[sidewinder]

Bought pretty well all the Grammavisions when they first came out on vinyl. Right in the middle of the jazz 'boom' of the time. Still have them, quite like them - although they are somewhat of their time. Scofield's Blue Notes and Verves are more to my taste these days.

Remember seeing him with Miles in '85 as well, after he had just joined the band.

Edited January 23, 2011 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

I can't get past the image of him in Cheltenham in the early 2000s with three young guys in baseball caps - looked like Donald Duck and his nephews.

[six string]

I do like a handful of his albums mentioned already (Hand Jive, Groove Elation and Quiet in particular) but I also really dig what he did on Joe Henderson's tribute to Miles, So Near, So Far. One could argue that his tone doesn't mix as well with the other musicians on this date but his playing does.

[Aggie87]

Listening to the new Sco album, "A Moment's Peace". I wasn't even aware of this one until I read the thread about Russell Malone's recent Blindfold Test. Already out in Europe & Japan, U.S. release in September.

This is a set of ballads, with Sco in a quartet setting with Larry Goldings, Scott Colley, and Brian Blade. I think this is the first time Blade and Sco have recorded together. And Goldings and Sco are a good combo, as evidenced on their Trio Beyond recording from about 5 years ago, with Jack DeJohnette (and previous Sco dates obviously).

1. Simply Put

2. I Will

3. Lawns

4. Throw It Away

5. I Want To Talk About You

6. Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You

7. Johan

8. Mood Returns

9. Already September

10. You Don't Know What Love Is

11. Plain Song

12. I Loves You Porgy

Edited July 12, 2011 by Aggie87

[mjzee]

It has a very strange cover.

[Tom Storer]

I heard the latest and it didn't thrill me, I must say. I love Sco live, but lots of his albums strike me as less than full-strength... all concept, little warmth. "A Moment's Peace" isn't bad--with a band like that it's clearly at quite a high level--but it didn't sound inspired. Your mileage may vary. But I'd see them live if they came through town.

[clifford_thornton]

Just recently picked this one up, and have been listening to the Scofield/Mangelsdorff tracks. Very interesting duet, electric guitar & trombone; I'm not sure I've heard that combination before. They do Mangelsdorff's "The Eternal Turn-on", Scofield's "Gray and Visceral", and then a version of "Alfie's Theme", for a total of about 30 minutes.

Worth checking out if you happen to stumble across it anywhere.

Looks cool - who's on the Marty Cook track?

The only Scofield I have in my collection (that I know of) is as a sideman on Peter Warren (b) Solidarity on Japo, with De Johnette, Ray Anderson, and John Purcell. It's a solid session though not my go-to of Warren's dates.

[Aggie87]

Just recently picked this one up, and have been listening to the Scofield/Mangelsdorff tracks. Very interesting duet, electric guitar & trombone; I'm not sure I've heard that combination before. They do Mangelsdorff's "The Eternal Turn-on", Scofield's "Gray and Visceral", and then a version of "Alfie's Theme", for a total of about 30 minutes.

Worth checking out if you happen to stumble across it anywhere.

Looks cool - who's on the Marty Cook track?

The only Scofield I have in my collection (that I know of) is as a sideman on Peter Warren (b) Solidarity on Japo, with De Johnette, Ray Anderson, and John Purcell. It's a solid session though not my go-to of Warren's dates.

Marty Cook Group -

Marty Cook - Trombone

Jim Pepper - Tenor Sax & Vocal

Ed Schuller - Bass

John Betsch - Drums

1. Comin' to Git You - A Homage to Mr. D.C. (by Jim Pepper) - 10:15

2. Face the Nation (dedicated to Jim Pepper) (by Marty Cook) - 2:46

This whole disc is interesting. Even the Klatt Quartet, which was a stand-in for Tomasz Stanko, who apparently wasn't allowed to cross the border into Germany at the time for this show (1988).

[Tom Storer]

I like Scofield's trio records with Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum, or, in later years and currently, Swallow and Bill Stewart. I also like the quartet records with Joe Lovano.

[clifford_thornton]

Thanks, Aggie - I'll have to keep an eye out for that disc.

[PHILLYQ]

I went to see the Allman Brothers in March and Scofield was the guest. Not too many people in the audience knew who he was, but he fit right in with some jam-oriented stuff(Elizabeth Reed, Mountain Jam) and played great. He got loud ovations from the audience once they heard him play.

[Aggie87]

...couple of pictures I took at the John Scofield show at the Blue Note, this past Saturday. These guys play like one musician inhabiting three bodies.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Aggie87

[mjzee]

Cool pix! Funny how that arrangement looks so much like when I saw them at Seventh Avenue South in the early '80's - just substitute Adam Nussbaum for Bill Stewart.

[Tom Storer]

I'll be seeing them in November. I love groups that stay strong for decades.

[BFrank]

Nice shots Agggggggggggggggg.

I like the one you posted on FB, too.

[StarThrower]

The last Scofield album I bought is This Meets That. I like it a lot. The latest one

is a bit too laid back.

Time On My Hands is his masterpiece, imo. That album made me a huge fan back in 1990.

As far as the fusion stuff goes, I like Still Warm. The Bass Desires albums on ECM are

excellent too! Scofield and Frisell sound great together. And yes, I love Grace Under

Pressure too.

A also like Peter Erskine's Sweet Soul, w/ Sco, Lovano, Kenny Werner, Marc Johnson

Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer.

I don't believe What We Do is a step down, as someone mentioned. All three albums

he did with Lovano in the early 90s are classics, imo.

[mjzee]

Just saw this hard-to-find album on eMusic; originally issued on the Omnisound label. 3 tracks are a trio of Scofield/Swallow/Goodwin, the other 4 tracks are a quartet of Scofield/Dobbins/Gilmore/Goodwin. If you like this stage of Sco's career (1979-1980), you'll love this album.

[mjzee]

Release date July 2:

[mjzee]

Sco and John Medeski will be playing some dates as part of Phil Lesh and Friends:

Lesh.net

[Guy Berger]

I picked up Meant to Be and Time on My Hands a few years ago - my first JS discs except for a few sideman appearances - and they're outstanding. (Though I believe Allen Lowe's comments about the terrible sound that many contemporary jazz guitarists have applies in spades.) Highly recommended.

[Hot Ptah]

I saw him live in May, 2014--about two months ago. He was great. The first half was more straight-ahead jazz. The second set was more rock oriented, and got the crowd all excited. It was really, really good rock oriented music.

[xybert]

Saw Scofield live five years ago or so with Joe Lovano and Matt Wilson... he was excellent live. Don't own any of his albums, but i'm looking forward to getting my copy of Blue Matter from Japan in the next couple of days!

[7/4]

Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez and John Scofield

Montclair Jazz Festival 2014

August 16, 2014

I saw him live in May, 2014--about two months ago. He was great. The first half was more straight-ahead jazz. The second set was more rock oriented, and got the crowd all excited. It was really, really good rock oriented music.

That's how the show yesterday went. The vibe changed when Christian McBride switched to a bass guitar. They spent the rest of the set playing a 12 bar Scofield blues and Freedom Jazz Dance.

[mjzee]

Release date September 16: