John Scofield Shifts to New Musical Style

Author: Kate DeForest

John Scofield has been an innovator throughout his career. As one who has played with some of the best jazz performers of the last century, performers noted for their inventiveness and eclecticism, Scofield has deeply rooted musical references and a densely packed library of song from which he borrows and adapts. At his latest stopover at the Higher Ground in Winooski, Vt., last Thursday, however, he seemed to have strayed from his former path, moving from experiment to novelty and novelty to gimmick, in what amounted to be a less than impressive stage show.

Scofield's latest album, Uberjam (Verve 2002), represents a divergence from his more straightforward progressive jazz beginnings (he toured with Miles Davis for over three years in the early 1980s, and before that had played with Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, among others).

Scofield has settled on a style that could be called "rock-jazz." Scofield's evolution towards this style is evident in his work with Medeski, Martin and Wood (MMW). His earlier albums have shown a tendency towards soul, funk and rock, but have always been held together by their underlying jazz foundation.

Uberjam, while it has its moments (here I think of Avi Bortnick's sweetly melodic, slow-moving tune "Tomorrowland"), is for the most part extremely repetitive, and it wears on the listener's patience. Now touring to support the album, the live show was accordingly comparable with the album in quality and interest.

Scofield's touring band, including Bortnick on rhythm guitar, Jesse Murphy on bass, Adam Deitch on drums and Scofield on lead guitar, is composed of some very talented musicians. They played well together and seemed comfortable letting Scofield take — and keep — center stage. However, having the rest of the band so much in the background caused the solos to seem placed and unnatural. One bass solo in particular seemed more as if everyone else had simply stopped playing, rather than focusing the spotlight on Murphy.

I can't help but wonder if the new album was a reaction to popular demand. Scofield seems to have gone much more commercial, as if he were not satisfied with the niche he had carved out for himself in high quality, heavily jazz-influenced music. Last year's tour, which stopped over at Johnson State College, north of Burlington, was composed mainly of the sort of songs Scofield had been playing on Works for Me (Verve 2001), A Go Go (Verve 1997) and Bump (Verve 1999). However, the audience seemed to want the type of "funk-rock" he had delved into during his collaboration with MMW. He explained to the audience then that he wasn't playing that type of music on that particular tour, but it seemed as though he has since rescinded his statement, catering to the type of audience who wanted to dance more than to listen.

Thankfully, he played some old crowd pleasers like "She's So Lucky" and "Jeep On 35." Although he must have been tempted to gloss over it — having played the song for so long and so often — he nonetheless offered up an energetic and sustained rendition of "Boozer."

The most glaring departure from his past style was the use of sampling, both on stage and throughout the album.

When it works, sampling can add dimension and bring the listener a greater awareness of the structure of a piece, a musical version of collage. Repetition of themes and phrases can be reinforced, and a song can be given character unique to sampling. However, the sampling Scofield tried was the musical equivalent of taking a magazine cut-out of Pamela Anderson and sticking it into a Van Gogh landscape: sure it was flashy and conspicuous, but it also didn't benefit the music. It just obscured the view.

One of the logistical problems created by the on-stage sampling was that both Bortnick and Murphy alternately took control of the samples (Bortnick mainly), which symptomatically diverted their attention from their own instruments.

When your rhythm guitar is sampling, the music tends to sag a bit, having lost a third of its support. The sampling had a gimmicky effect and undermined the quality of the melody.

Hopefully, with his next effort, Scofield will trade novelty for quality and focus more on the strength of his talent than the retail value of his trade.