Did I tell you I met John
Scofield once, at the bar in what is now the Northern Playhouse after a gig at
a Newcastle Jazz Festival, probably in the early nineties? My mate Ian pointed
out, after we had both shaken hands with Scofield, that that hand had probably
shaken hands with Miles Davis. Thus, was our tenuous link to jazz history
established.
I didn’t realise how many
John Scofield albums I had until I started rummaging. As well as a couple of
his own in my collection I also have him on albums with Joe Lovano, Dave
Holland and Al Foster (as ScoLoHoFo), Marc Johnson, The Allman Brothers Band,
Pat Metheny, Medeski, Martin and Wood and a very good tribute to Tony Williams
Lifetime with Larry Goldings and Jack DeJohnette. Of course his profile was
raised enormously by being part of Miles Davis’ group in the mid-80s, though he
had been recording prolifically for over 10 years before that. Safe to say he
gets around. So much so that the last place I saw his albums up for sale was
the Drift Café on Druridge Bay
This album is another
classic lockdown album on which Scofield, on his own and with loops, revives a
few of his tunes and those of friends, adds a few covers that he has a soft
spot for and chucks in a couple of ‘Trad. Arrs’ for good measure. He recorded it in a studio in the hamlet of Katona in upstate New York. If it
sounds like the noodlings of a happy man, then that’s no bother and the
pressure is off the listener. It’s a collection of pastoral sketches from
simpler times, of Norman Rockwell farmers and trains that whistle in the
distance.
Coral
slides out of the speakers and we’re up and ambling rather than running. A
gentle (looped?) strum overlaid with some of those spiky, pointed notes that
Scofield specialises in. It’s a Keith Jarrett song from the days when we all
had big hair and Scofield says in his sleeve notes that he learnt it from Gary
Burton whilst at Berklee. Honest I Do is
one of Scofield’s from 1991. Stripped back, as here, it floats by and the words
wistful and melancholic come to mind.
Jimmy Van Heusen’s It Could happen To You is a gently
swinging toe-tapper as previously performed by Kenny Dorham and by old boss
Miles Davis.
Danny
Boy, one of the ‘Trad. Arr’ tunes is all wide open spaces.
A song for open prairies or big Northumberland skies. Scofield at his most
reflective. He plays the melody and then sets up a drone over which he layers
longer, rounder notes with a touch of the Indian ragas to it.
The gentle, elegant Mrs Scofield’s Waltz is a homesteader’s turn around the garden,
whist Junco Partner retains the Cajun
swing from performances by Dr John and, surprisingly, The Clash. It’s one to
dip your head into and shuffle your feet to.
Not
Fade Away is, of course, the Buddy Holly/ Rolling Stones classic
built on a shuffling Bo Diddley riff i.e. ‘Shave and a haircut, two bits’.
Scofield’s version is less Buddy Holly and more Grateful Dead who covered Not Fade Away a few thousand times live.
Scofield’s sleeve notes mention his friendship with Phil Lesh from The Dead and
playing this tune live with him. He sets up the riff and calls over it as the
riff responds.
Not an album that will
blow the doors off, but one that will open the windows on a warm day and let a
little air in. Nobody is going to put it forward as their album of the year for
2022 until they realise how often they have played it because it’s just a
little bit different and just fits when the mood is right.
The CD is available now on ECM from all reasonable suppliers with a vinyl release scheduled for the autumn - Dave Sayer
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