By Mike Brannon
JS: Anyway, I'm trying to think of my influences. I could talk about this
all day - go ahead (laughs).
AAJ: I was going to say, going back a bit, what was your Berklee experience
like?
JS: It was great. I came from a small town in Connecticut; went to Berklee;
met all these Jazz musicians. It was 1970. It was still very Jazz oriented.
And I was at the time in my life where I was ready to really start
practicing. And be around serious Jazz players all the time. And then Gary
Burton came to teach in my second year and I met him and I really lucked out.
I lived with a bass player and a drummer. Chip Jackson (w/ Elvin Jones,
Horace Silver) the bassist and Ted Seeds, a great drummer, who is still
around down in Arkansas, but at that time was like the best drummer in
school. And somehow I just moved in with these guys and then Gary said, "hey,
there's a rhythm section I can jam with every day after school" while he was
waiting for the traffic. 'Cause his last lesson would be over at five, but
traffic would be bad until like 7 o'clock. And he was single at the time. He
was just hangin'. So he came over and would play with us every day. For two
hours we would jam with him. I learned to play from him bringing over his
charts and talking about music and I was so lucky. So Berklee was great. I
met Steve Swallow around that same time, who came to Berklee, just for a
semester, to teach; when he realized that he hated teaching (laughs). We
became buddies. He is and was a real mentor to me and best friend. Joe Lovano
was in school. Pat Metheny came up (from Miami) as a guitar teacher, but he
was like 18. It was amazing.
AAJ: I know it. That was an incredible time. And then you went off to Europe
and were doing those trio albums, "Who's Who" and "Bar Talk" and that stuff?
JS: Yeah, yeah. Well, I was living in New York. A lot of that stuff was
done for European labels or live in Europe. You know, I'd go over there and
play a lot. And actually I left Boston when I got a gig with Billy Cobham -
the Cobham/ Duke band - which was a steady band. We were on the road for like
two years straight.
AAJ: If I could ask you about some of your other projects, and just have you
comment on them-working with Mingus - that experience.
JS: I just played one record date with Mingus. It was a couple days in the
studio; some rehearsing. And people have asked me over and over again. I can
hardly remember it but I just remember he was there. Danny Richmond was
there. George Adams was there. George Coleman was there.
AAJ: Damn.
JS: You know, the greats of Jazz were all there and I was trying to play
along (laughs).
AAJ: So how'd you feel about that?
JS: I don't go back and listen to it, but Sadik Hakim, the great -
actually, I don't know if he's great - he's a piano player that played with
Bird, and stuff. He was hangin' out and he told me, "Man, Mingus digs you,
Mingus digs you". That's about all (laughs). Mingus just was sorta nice to me
but we didn't have a relationship.
AAJ: How about working with Joe Henderson on "Quiet Now" and "So Near, So
Far"?
JS: That was a much closer thing. I was lucky to get to play with Joe. I
was on a couple of his albums and we did quite a few gigs together and I love
Joe. He was always one of my idols. I mean, I tried to play his lines, to
learn his lines. I just loved his stuff, man. I'm a fan. And gettin' to play
with him was great. I was lucky. I would play with him a week here and
festival there.
AAJ: How about doing Herbie's "A New Standard"?
JS: Yeah. Another thing. You know, Herbie...God. A genius. And New
Standards was an incredible band. I hope I get to do more with him, but I
feel the same way as I do about getting to play with Joe and all these guys,
and Herbie is such a wonderful guy and just such an inspiration.
AAJ: You almost make it sound as if you're not up there. I think a lot of
people feel differently.
JS: Yeah, I know, but from my perspective, when I played with Joe Henderson
or Herbie, I'm still the fan/kid (laughs).
AAJ: You played electric sitar on that record.
JS: Yeah. (laughs) I don't even remember doing that either. I mean I rented
one when they said, "We need electric sitar" (laughs) and I just picked it up
and...(makes sound).
AAJ: (laughs) Right.
JS: It was impossible to play, too. The action was really high.
MB- How about the "Bass Desires" projects?
JS: Yeah. Now you're talkin'. Those were my contemporaries.
AAJ: Those are some of my favorite records..."Bass Desires" and "Second
Sight".
JS: Yeah, you know, for me that stuff really worked, you know. Frisell is a
giant and so is Marc Johnson and Peter Erskine. All of them. And I think
playing with them and being part of that band was...I learned a lot and just
loved it. Just loved those musicians.
AAJ: Do you think there's any chance that something like that might occur
again?
JS: I'd like to do it. Maybe you can initiate it, go ahead and call 'em up.
I'll be there
(laughs).
AAJ: I talked to Bill last year.
JS: Oh yeah?
AAJ: But I didn't have that information, so...(laughs).
JS: Next time you talk to him see what he says (laughs)
AAJ: I certainly will. How about another favorite record: "I Can See Your
House From Here" with Pat.
JS: Mmhm. Well you know, Pat, like Frisell; I knew him early but Pat I
really knew early. When he was like 18 and I was 21 or something. Remember
that song? (sings) "He was 18 and I was twenty one...papa woulda shot him if
he knew what he'd done". Cher! Cher sang that. So, you know, Pat was
somebody, the first time I heard him, I said, "Man, this guy has got it", you
know, and he sounded great when he was a teenager and it was great to hook up
with him and make a record and that, twenty years after, or whatever it was.
But he's always been really supportive. He got out there and got real famous
and I wasn't so famous and he would get press where he would talk about me
and I will never forget how generous he was with that.
AAJ: That helps. How about "A Go Go"; those sessions?
JS: I just heard those guys (Medeski, Martin & Wood) and I was a fan. You
know they had this groove and feeling to their fusion that was like my
fusion, you know? The New Orleans, or whatever you wanna call it, funk to it.
And I knew we could play. It got me real excited about playing that kind of
music when I heard especially their record, oh what's it called, the one they
made in Hawaii, "Shackman". And I just heard it and I said this is really
timely for me and not only that but it's keyboard, bass and drums. I could
really fit in with them. I called them up and they said yes. I think that
they're a visionary group and they've gotten some shit from some jazz
traditionalists and some jazz musicians and some friends of mine (laughs).
And I think that actually that they're some of the best improvisers. As a
group, I think they are.
AAJ: I think they've got the longevity to keep coming up with new things.
JS: Yeah, and they've worked it out as a unit which is rare. They don't
need anybody else. That what they do as a group is so special. And there are
so many good groups around but groups, a lot of times, don't have a chance to
live and these guys have done it.
AAJ: For sure. How about Stern's previous one, "Play", that you were on?
JS: Oh, I love Mike, too. I just think he's a phenomenal guitarist and I'm
always anxious to hear what he's playing. It was just great to get with him.
AAJ: So you guys didn't do any live stuff?
JS: No, not yet. Maybe someday.
AAJ: How about the 80's records--your fusion group recordings: 'Electric
Outlet", "Blue Matter", "Still Warm"...
JS: Yeah. You know I think that that was an outgrowth of playing with Miles
and really helped me to pursue the electric kind of funky jazz. On my own, I
probably would've been playing standards and continuing in that course, but
Miles and that music, his music, made me realize I really had that other
stuff in me. And when I played with Gary Grainger at first, I said, "This
guy's incredible". He's playing in R&B bands in the Maryland area and he
said, "Hey, I got this friend of mine I grew up with who's the drummer in
P-Funk". Let's try playing with him. And we played with Dennis Chambers and
that combination and the way they played just changed me, you know, and it
worked so well with what I did. I love those guys and it was a good group and
I hope we get a chance to play sometime. But like all these things, I've been
lucky. I've been a part of a lot of different groups.
AAJ: Had you heard of Dennis up to that point?
JS: Darryl Jones, bassist (w/ Miles), played me a tape of a P-Funk gig and
said, "Listen to this guy. This drummer is amazing". So the word was out, you
know, on Dennis. I by no means discovered him. He was in George Clinton's
P-Funk.
AAJ: So I guess this all kind of leads to your experience with Miles. I know
you've been asked that a million times. Any light you can shed on that
experience? He heard you on another gig?
JS: He heard me playing with Dave Liebman, who is really another mentor to
me that I don't talk about as much, and I'd like to talk about him more. I
got to be in his band between '79 and '81. I played all the time in his band.
We made a couple of albums and Dave was really what I needed at the time. I
wanted to learn about Coltrane style tenor saxophone and that era and how
that music was constructed. And Dave was the guy who showed me this. And he's
an incredible musician and was very generous with me and really, I consider
him one of my teachers. And I was playing when Miles came in. Dave had played
with Miles so he introduced me to Miles and the rest is whatever it is. But
Miles said one thing to me, I was just telling somebody else, and I realized
he said this one really cool thing to me. He goes, "Music is always work".
No, "Music is always hard", he said. He just said it's always hard and here
was this guy who had done so many great things and he was back at point A
trying to figure out what to do to make the music work with this band. And
what he meant to me was not that it's always hard, that it's difficult, that
it's not fun, or anything like that, but you know, you can't ever give up.
You can't rest on your laurels. You always have to find something to make it
be decent. It's always hard. It's never easy. It's not about being easy, you
know.
AAJ: You've got to discover a new angle.
JS: You've got to. And that was really important to hear.
AAJ: Did he really kind of help you to feel confident about being a leader?
JS: Well, he just made me feel confident that I could play. That I could
play at all.
That I was saying something. And he made me feel really good about myself
and it was really important because I held him in such high esteem....there
are a lot of guys who didn't play with Miles and they're ok (laughs).
AAJ: (laughs) How did you develop you compositional styles and how do you go
about writing new material?
JS: I develop it just by doing it. Don't forget: it's never easy. It's
always work (laughs).
AAJ: I actually don't need to be reminded of that.
JS: Yeah, you know, you're a musician. And I basically compose any old way
I can. I sit down with the guitar and just write with music paper. Sometimes
I'll make a tape with a cassette. Sometimes I'll just use a 4-track. I have a
little keyboard that has a sequencer in it that I can put sounds in and
record stuff that way. But primarily it's just writing on the guitar with a
notebook. I go back to the notebook and see melodies and rhythms and stuff
that I've written years ago, occasionally, and use some from a couple of
years ago and it comes out different, I guess.
AAJ: Why don't you let me know about upcoming projects and the rest of the
tour
and whatever's going on?
JS: We've got this huge tour with the Uberjam band and that's my main
project is seeing where I can take the band and where the band takes me. And
seeing how that music's going to develop. Also, I'm involved with a piece of
music written by classical composer, Mark Anthony Turnage, from England who's
a phenomenal, orchestral, modern music composer. He's like 40 years old and
he's one of the best European new guys on that classical scene. And also, he
loves Jazz. So he took a bunch of my tunes, my little heads from over the
years and put then into an orchestral setting, and re-wrote them, I mean, you
know, wrote additional parts to go with. And it's phenomenal. We just had a
basic rehearsal and we're going to do that with the Frankfurt Symphony
Orchestra in September with Peter Erskine and John Pattitucci as the rhythm
section. And so I'm really looking forward to that.
AAJ: Is this getting recorded?
JS: Well, we're going to record it for the radio and then we'll see, maybe
we can make a CD out of it. I'd like to.
AAJ: I'd like to hear that.
JS: Yeah. It's pretty out there (laughs).
AAJ: I guess I will let you go. You've got another one.
JS: Yeah, I got one at three. Hey, but thanks. It was great talking to you.
And good luck with your guitar playing and it was great talking to a real...a
bretheren in the world of lines.
AAJ: For sure. I'll have to get you some of our CD's or something.
JS: Man, yeah, yeah. Let me know what's going on.
AAJ: Yeah, we're actually working on one with Harvie and Paul Wertico.
JS: Ah. Ok. Well, give Harvie my best and Paul, too.
AAJ: I sure will.
JS: Alright man, I'll be looking forward to hearing your stuff. Take care.
AAJ: Thanks.
For more info on tours, releases etc visit - www.johnscofield.com - and look
for the bus.
Mike Brannon is guitarist/writer for the Synergy Group. The latest release is
"Barcodes" w/ Trey Gunn of King Crimson and Jeff Coffin of the Grammy-winning
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Synergy's followup, "Later", w/ special
guests, Harvie Swartz, Paul Wertico and others will be released in late '02.
