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John Scofield: Steady Groovin'
by AAJ Staff
By releasing Steady Groovin' , Blue Note is sending out a reminder. Steady Groovin' contains no new tracks. What it does contain, though, are 11 of John Scofield's funk-based compositions from his 6 Blue Note CD's, two of which are based solely on his recently recognized mastery of the jazz jam groove: Groove Elation and Hand Jive.The reminder?That John Scofield has been creating a consistent style for the decade he has been recording for ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: Bump
by Scott Morrow
John Scofield, who's played with everyone from Miles and Mingus to Medeski Martin and Wood, has finally gone and done released a classic of 21st century groove jazz. Not exactly the Hammond-style soul jazz of it's predecessor A Go Go, Bump -- one of those rare cases where the sequel surpasses the original -- attains pure groove nirvana, and pretty much straight-ahead gratis . Also, for the first time he really experiments with sonic possibilities, tweaking timbre with sparingly sprinkled ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: Bump
by C. Andrew Hovan
Ever since he signed with the Verve label a few years back, guitarist John Scofield has been on the upswing of the trendy movement we’ll call, for lack of a better term, the “Acid Jazz" scene. He scored really big with A Go Go, his critically-acclaimed 1998 collaboration with the supergroup Medeski, Martin, and Wood. Now Bump enters the ring and it becomes immediately evident from the opening strains of “Three Sisters" that this one’s going to be another knockout. ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: Bump
by David Adler
John Scofield continues to venture deeper into simple, stripped-down groove music — and farther away from jazz. Bump is practically a dance record. Mark De Bli Antoni’s keyboard sampler even appears on several tracks; on “Drop and Roll" it’s poorly integrated and sounds like filler. Don’t get me wrong: Boundary-smashing experimentation is good for jazz, and good for music in general. Scofield’s done some of his best work during his electric-fusion periods.But Bump just doesn’t come close to ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: A Go Go
by Christopher Hoard
For those of us who found ourselves swept away by the funk and soulful precision of early seventies releases like the Crusaders' Chain Reaction, John Scofield's latest offering will find a grateful audience too long spoon fed and spiritually starved on lush over-productions. A Go-Go gets down to business with no-nonsense production values and grooves. Scofield's strings sing through melodies laden with R&B hooks and southern fried blues, wailing, jibing, taunting, and preaching to us the gospel of urban funk. ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: A Go Go
by Ed Kopp
Speaking of funk, here's a match made in heaven: Medeski, Martin and Wood, one of the hottest young electric-jazz combos on the planet (both in popularity and skill), teamed with John Scofield, one of the baddest jazz guitarists ever. As you might expect, A Go Go is vamp-laden and very smart.Medeski, Martin and Wood are cool with the kids, so this one should make Sco a pile of dough. I caught MWW last year at a jazz fest, ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: Loud Jazz
by AAJ Staff
If I ever needed a title to categorize John Scofield releases from his Grammavision days, I couldn't find one more apt than Loud Jazz (Grammavision, 1988) This was the last of Sco's hot, electric funk fusion releases. He's still groovin' and in the pocket today, but not the electric, loud, in-your-face stuff evident on this album. Although I'm a fan of all of these early releases, and even some from the mid 70's, this is probably my favorite Scofield release. ...
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