By Mike Brannon
"Uberjam". Literally: "over all jam", translates to 'groove above all' on
this true band effort, Scofield's latest recorded outing. You'll likely see
this title described as anything from
groove...techno...ambient...world...trance... to acid...and back again,
but like MMW, it's unique in that, It's danceable "but holds up as jazz", as
Sco puts it.
Recorded right after a 40 city tour, the band was more than ready to
document what
they'd been developing on the road (and are still). Augmenting the core
group of drummer Adam Deitch, bassist Jesse Murphy and Avi Bortnick/guitar
(plus loops, effects & samples) are B-3 phenom, John Medeski and
multi-reedist, Karl Denson
on various tracks.
"I have to say that of all the albums I've made, I think this is the one that
Miles would've enjoyed the most. Miles' spirit is in this music. He was
always looking to take jazz to a new place" Scofield surmises. And something
he passed on.
Like only a very few, Sco's led the guitarists version of a charmed life.
Having worked with a who's who of contemporary and classic jazz, including
Miles, Mingus, McCoy, Metheny, Henderson, Liebman, Cobham, Corea, Hall,
Stern, Frisell, Medeski and Abercrombie, and now a guitar icon himself, he
celebrates with a true party album, for both head and feet.
And not to worry, the sense of humor of jazz' king of pun and the double
entendre is still at work on the tune titles. The man with the corn who
brought you "Groan Man", "Farmacology", "I'll Take Les", "The Guiness Spot",
"Be Hear Now", "Nocturnal Mission" et al, adds to it, "Ideofunk" and "I Brake
for Monster Booty". Amen.
Seriously, this is a fun and happening record, with a difference, and just a
slice of what's evolving on the stages across America, with this band. Check
into it.
A 70 city, US rock-n-roll style bus tour starts March 1st at New York's
Irving Hall and continues across the country through June. Check
www.johnscofield.com for the
venues nearest you.
AAJ: Jennifer said you were just on vacation...how was it?
JS: Well, let's see...when was that, that was last week. I've been
working. I went on the road for a week. I had a nice vacation before that.
AAJ: You were just in Japan and Italy (and guested on one of Pat Martino's
gigs) earlier this year and going back on tour in the states now.
JS: Yeah. I'm just starting a tour that's my most extensive US tour I've
ever done, as far as, like, back to back gigs. I think we have 70 gigs
between now and June and two weeks in Europe on top of that, in May. So,
we're doing a coast to coast bus tour like a real rock and roll band.
AAJ: (laughs). That's cool. Just like the old days.
JS: Yeah. (laughs).
AAJ: How's the tour going?
JS: Going great. We did really well, these last two New England gigs. We
did two nights in Boston; Burlington, Vermont; Providence, Rhode Island;
Hartford, Connecticut. Thursday in Philly, Friday in New York, you know, it
just keeps going. It's been really great.
I mean, we've had a lot of people coming.
AAJ: Any favorite venues or cities?
JS: Oh yeah--I guess, New York, I have to say is my favorite place to play
- hometown gig and everything - and I just think it's just the greatest city
and all. But, you know, I mean, I'm lucky: I get to go to San Franscisco and
Rome and New Orleans or Montreal. You know, exotic places. So I'm really
looking forward to this tour. We're hitting some cool spots. I've played so
much in Europe that some of the places in America, like down south and in the
west, the American west - which still blows me away 'cause I really haven't
been out there that much. I spent years in a van driving around Europe, at
this point, and haven't in the states, so I really enjoy touring in the US.
AAJ: Yeah, we hope to catch you in Austin at the Mercury Lounge, I think it
is.
JS: Yeah. Austin is great. We played there a couple of times.
AAJ: "Uberjam" is kind of a real departure for you - aside from the groove
thing - the world and techno elements being in there. Is this a kind of sound
you've wanted to explore for some time--or it just happened?
JS: It just happens. Yeah, you know, over the last few years I've been
aware of techno music and ambient music and electronica in a way that I
wasn't 8 years ago. So it's been a slow interest for, me. I was always
interested in what was going on there, because when I started playing in
bands in the early 70's it was the beginning of this stuff. And then sampling
technology came in and I've been watching from a distance. And then hip-hop
and pop music and it fits in so well. I'm an eletcric musician myself so it
really fits in. It comes out of a speaker so I can relate, you know what I
mean (laughs)? It just seemed, just so natural to bring more of that in to
this kind of music.
AAJ: Yeah. That's an interesting point. I mean, did you recently just kind
of sense the improvisational possibilities or was that always apparent?
JS: Well the improvisational abilities are always there in any kind of
music, to tell you the truth. You just blow. I think that it's become easier
to use samples. And our band is different because we start a sample up and
then we play along in real time. It's not a layered thing. Some guys come to
a gig with computers and press some buttons and that's it. The samples are
part of a much bigger thing of us playing our guitars and drums and whacking
away, you know? So, the sample's not going to improvise by itself, but we
improvise along with it and also, when it gets turned on and off by Avi
Bortnick; which sample gets turned on; which effect he decides to use at that
moment - he's throwing that stuff in at the spur of the moment, you know. So,
it's great and I think, you know, Avi's gotten good at improvising with it;
just technically, kind of using that instrument. You know, he's got this
system of foot pedals (electronic effects units) and he plays guitar - at the
same time - so he can like, step on a foot pedal that's controlling a sample
and then throw it in and then speed it up or slow it down with another foot
pedal, all while he's playing guitar. So, he's gotten that so together that
it makes it possible for it to come into the music. The orchestration
possibilities with samples is so interesting.
AAJ: Do you find that you're getting different types of audiences, more
like what Medeski might be getting?
JS: Yeah. We're getting kids. College kids, primarily now and it's a cool
thing. And they're dancing and every time I go out and play it becomes, more
and more of this - this last leg - playing Boston, Providence, Burlington -
it was very young, and more people. And people just part of the scene, not
jazz aficionados, necessarily.
AAJ: Aside from Medeski how did you go about finding and choosing these
guys and what does each bring to the album/group?
JS: Well, Karl Denson is a well known saxophonist and I just love his
playing and I knew that he played this effect, similar to what Eddie Harris
used - the Varitone - and he's a great flute player and he could overblow a
la Rahsaan Roland Kirk and I just wanted to bring some of his sounds; little
dashes of that into the record, so he's a special guest, too. The rest of the
guys are in my touring band. We've been together for 2 years.
>{?
The drummer hasn't been there the whole time, but Jesse and Avi, the other
two guys, have been. And we worked this stuff out on the road. We composed a
lot of the music together. We're a working band, it's not just me, it's all
of us. And what they bring to it; I've looked far and wide to find the right
musicians and I think I have a really good match now. This drummer's
incredible: Adam Deitch. He's a funky drummer with a jazz sensibility. He's
25. Both his mom and his dad were drummers and when I played with him I knew
he had that sparky beat, that I love. And he was playing with the Average
White Band. He can throw down that kinda funky stuff. But he's a jazz
musician, too, so he's the greatest combination.
And I feel the same way about Jesse Murphy, the bass player. He has a really
great artistic sensibility to the bass guitar and one element people don't
know about him is that he's an incredible jazz musician on acoustic bass and
has really never probably been heard in that. I guess he's young enough so he
just hasn't been out there on the scene as much as some other guys but he's
one of my favorite acoustic jazz players, period. Of course, in this group,
he just plays electric bass with weird pedals and stuff. And he's no jazz
dilettante playing bass. He lives that kind of Ska-funky bass thing, you
know, he's really into it.
And Avi. I really looked long and hard to find the right other guitarist
because the last thing that I wanted to do was have a group with two battling
lead guitars, because that gets boring. So I wanted to find somebody who's a
real rhythm guitar player and I played with a whole bunch of guys and mainly
they were like me, you know, they were soloists, was their main interest and
Avi - although he is a great soloist - is an expert rhythm player and that's
what he likes to do, that's what he's into. And the whole sample element was
something that he's grown into. He's just the right type of personality to do
electronica. So, he's a sample, electro magician of the band. I wanted to
have a two guitar band for years and my wife, Susan, she always kept saying,
"Two guitars, that works with you". But I couldn't find the right guy. And
then Charlie Hunter told me about Avi, and it's cool.
AAJ: I'm surprised you haven't done something with Charlie.
JS: Well, I dig Charlie a lot. We'll probably do something someday.
AAJ: That brings to mind the Bass Desires groups...you and Frisell get
completely different textures.
JS: Right. And also Bill and I play so differently from each other that I
think it works.
You can have such different sounds on guitar, while two tenor saxophones:
different thing. You know, guitar is really an orchestra, when it's two
guitars. You can have acoustic guitar, you can have all various sounds on
electric.
AAJ: You've got a really distinctive tone and approach to the guitar, too.
Who were your main influences and how do you go about developing those
elements?
JS: Well, let's see. Started out as a kid, like anybody, just listening to
the music that was out there. When I was like 11 or 12 the Beatles had just
come out. And then I looked at the records and saw that these songs were
written by R&B guys and I listened to their records and that led me
eventually to the Blues. And when I was 14 I was a Blues snob and I listened
to BB King; that was it. I liked Howlin' Wolf, BB King, Little Walter, Muddy
Waters, Freddy King, Albert King. And then I got into Jazz and I've listened
to everybody. You know, there are a lot of great guitarists that I admire but
I wouldn't say they were influences. I think I've listened to everybody. But
I guess my biggest influence, at one point, was Jim Hall. And I certainly
admire Wes Montgomery and George Benson. I love their work. I couldn't copy
them though, it was too hard. Same with Pat Martino. But also early I
listened to Clapton and Hendrix but for me it was like trumpet and saxophone
and listening to all the great musicians, and I still do. Still checking out
people I just love to listen to people play Jazz on different instruments and
I draw from that, too.
AAJ: That was actually my next question: what are you listening to now?
JS: I listen to all kinds of stuff. I was just listening to George Benson,
"Breezin'". Man, he plays unbelievable on that album. Well, you know, it's a
smooth jazz album, but his guitar playing is--Ã
 he's unbelievable to me. He's
one of my real idols. And the way he plays on that album really kills me. But
as far as an influence, I can't do what he does, I don't understand what he
does, technically, on the guitar. But it swings so hard.
AAJ: Yeah, I don't know how he gets those blurring arpeggios across the
strings like that.
JS: Yeah. You must be a guitar player.
AAJ: Yeah, oh yeah.
JS: (laughs)
AAJ: Did the whole Berklee/Banacos thing.
JS: Oh wow. You and Mike Stern. That's some lines.
AAJ: Yeah. Did you ever hook up with Charlie?
JS: I've seen his stuff. I mean, this is like 1974. My girlfriend took
lessons from him and I used to look at her books and I did learn from that
and I think he's incredible. I'd like to. I know Mike has shown me some of
his stuff and there's a lot there. The lines keep goin'. I like the way he
organizes the stuff
AAJ: Yeah, he just beats things to death and gets everything you can get
out of stuff.
I'd be glad to send you stuff if you wanted.
JS: You know. I'd love to see it. You want to send me some stuff? And
here's the thing. I'm going on the road Friday. If I could have it before I
went on the road I could have something to look at. That would be wonderful.
AAJ: Sure.
On to Part 2...
