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*** John Scofield ***


Aggie87

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Following up on Walker's comment above, I just noticed on Sco's website that the trio (w/Swallow & Stewart) are appearing Dec 9-14 at the Blue Note, and that they will be making a live recording set for release in May 04. Schmokin!

Also on the tour front, he'll be at the same place in a duo setting with Charlie Haden on Jan 22/23, for anyone interested (Haden's apparently doing some guitar duet thing there that week - w/Bill Frisell on 20/21st, and with Jim Hall on 24/25th).

I have heard several broadcasts by the Sco/Swallow/Stewart band, and HELL, FINALLY they make an album! This migth be my favorite Sco line up. Not a festival thing, but a truly smokin' trio! Swallow's my favorite electric bass player of recent years, he has such a cool sound, and his playing is totally melodic. Stewart is one of the best drummers around, in my opinion.

I recently found both the Blue Note album with Frisell and ScoLoHoFo for very reasonable prizes in some sales bin. Only had a chance to play some of ScoLoHoFo, and I did really love what I heard. Beautifully recorded, beautiful booklet, all slightly retro, but I like it very much. And that story about the recording in Downbeat some months ago was very nice, too.

ubu

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Bringing this thread back up because no one's mentioned WORKS FOR ME yet. I recently checked this out (after discovering Billy Higgins is on it), and I have to say that--me not being all that familiar with Sco's music--this sucker blew me away!!! Higgins is awesome, of course, but the rest of that band: this is my first real exposure not only to Sco, but also Brad Mehldau as well!

(Edit: after further searching, I discovered that not a lot of people liked this record. Wonder why? It wouldn't be the first time I'm in the minority where music is concerned, but I really dug this album!)

I will have to give this yet another chance. After hearing ScoLoHoFo, maybe.

I'll report back...

ubu

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  • 1 month later...

Picked up Franco Ambrosetti's "Movies, Too" today, finally. Been looking for this and volume one for a while now. Very nice 1988 release, featuring Sco, Greg Osby, and Geri Allen.

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Also, does anyone have Bennie Wallace's 1985 BN release, "Twilight Time"? This one includes Scofield as well, and none other than Stevie Ray Vaughan. I'm assuming this is SRV's only time on a Blue Note release (?). AMG calls this a classic. Gonna have to keep an eye out for it as well.

Scofield has so many sideman appearances, I'm not sure I'll ever finish my collection...

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There's another new Scofield disc coming out on 13 January, which I've mentioned previously, but just saw the artwork to recently, courtesy of alankin:

B0000CGP4N.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

This is an unusual title, it's a classical work co-composed by Scofield and British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. It is performed by the Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra, alongside the jazz trio of Scofield, John Patitucci, and Peter Erskine. The orchestral work is apparently written "around" a number of existing Scofield compositions.

Also, I'd still like to hear a review of the Bennie Wallace disc I mentioned above, if anyone's got it, or at least heard it. Really got my curiousity up, and I'm wondering if Sco and SRV played together on any of the tracks.

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En Route is due out next Tuesday, finally... I"m really looking forward to this live trio date, as it's been a long time since Sco's released a live album!

It got 4 stars from All Music, and a pretty good write-up:

AMG REVIEW: Following a series of coruscating servings of progressive uber funk for Verve, Scofield stripped down to a trio for this live session at New York's Blue Note club in December 2003. He hooked up with a pair of old friends, the terrific loose-limbed drummer Bill Stewart, and the tense, nimble bassist Steve Swallow, and the three go after each other in some often-furiously busy, driving, tangled interplay, defying the frigid New York weather of that period. Denzil Best's "Wee" gets a scorching, asymmetrical workout to start, and Swallow's "Name That Tune" promptly goes into super overdrive, with Scofield darting all over the place in his idiosyncratic way. "Hammock Soliloquy" varies between another of Scofield's irresistible, laid-back, country tunes and more combustible high-speed interplay, while "Bag" ain't nothin' but the blues with a volatile groove. A highly-convoluted trip through "It Is Written" precedes — and partially pre-echoes — a quiet ballad-tempo rendition of the Bacharach/David tune "Alfie." The closest thing to the jazz/funk jams of Scofield's recent past is an 11-minute closing workout called "Over Big Top" — a paraphrase of "Bigtop" from his Groove Elation album — churning and driving relentlessly. Leaning more toward Scofield's jazz side per se, this high-energy outing should pass the time quite agreeably until he unleashes another of his jazz/funk groove-a-thons. — Richard S. Ginell

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've listened to EnRoute two times all the way through now, and am VERY impressed. It's a great, no-frills trio recording, and all three musicians - Sco, Swallow, & Stewart are in fine form. I would love to see the trio in concert - you can tell they are a working band, and mesh together very well.

For those of you who got off the Sco bandwagon after his BN recordings, or don't care so much for his funkier recordings, you may want to check this one out!

Also, from Sco's website, Jack DeJohnette may organize a recording of the "Celebrating Tony Williams" group - Sco, DeJohnette, and Larry Goldings. They're planning to tour Europe in the November timeframe, for those lucky enough to be on that side of the pond. So a "ScoDeJoGo" recording may see the light of the day at some point. :g

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I have always liked Sco's trio albums on Enja with Swallow and Adam Nussbaum. How does the new album compare with these?

It's gotta be interesting to hear how both Sco and Swallow have evolved over 20+ years. And Bill Stewart is an absolute monster. I saw him play with Sco and Larry Goldings on organ a few years back. Blew me away. Really looking forward to hearing this.

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Hey Ian -

I like the early trio stuff on Enja as well, alot. The new one is as good as those, I think. It's got a more modern sound to it, and Sco's obviously played in alot of different settings over the past 20 years, so his style has evolved a bit, but it is still every bit a solid trio recording. If you liked the early stuff, don't hesitate to grab this one. And let me know what you think of it, once you've digested it.

-Erik

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  • 1 month later...

I picked up "Enroute" at Walmart of all places (what a find!) for $11.88. I'm not a huge Sco fan, only other album I have is "I Can See Your House From Here" but "Enroute" is nice. I especially like Sco on "Wee" and "Hammock Soliloquy" and definitely Sco and Bill make for a great hook up, much smoother than Bill in Pat Metheny's trio, tho he smoked there too.

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I finally got a chance to hear "Enroute" this weekend. This is the John Scofield of old. It reminds me of his Enja days, specifically John Scofield Trio's "Live '81" (Enja 1005).

I also took the opportunity to listen again to his first recording as a leader, John Scofield's self-titled "John Scofield"(MTCJ 2536). There is a lot of growth between "John Scofield" and "Enroute" but the basic Scofield sound was there in 1977.

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