John Scofield's Electrospective at the Newman Center

John Scofield's Electrospective
Newman Center
Denver, Colorado
November 7, 2026

It's not often that the bassist plays more notes than the front man/guitar hero, but that happened quite often during John Scofield's Electrospective concert Saturday night at the Newman Center in Denver.

Scofield is on tour with a new quartet playing some of his old music—funky music, groovy and loud, hence the name. He has been revisiting tunes he composed in the '80s, '90s and early 21st Century. He drew some of the material from his Uberjam era and other songs from his work with Medeski Martin & Wood, and he picked musicians who operate at the highest levels to perform it with him.

His musical compadres for Saturday night were Larry Goldings on keyboards, Adam Deitch on drums and Oteil Burbridge on bass. Deitch is a veteran of some of the Electrospective's material, having drummed with the Uberjam band. In the intervening 20 or years, he has been a busy guy. Most notably, he is the drummer for the funk band Lettuce. His activities don't stop there. He is a producer and member of the band Break Science. Based in the Denver area, he seems to pop up at a local club about once a month with a new band, often including several Colorado artists. Saturday night, with Scofield, Deitch laid down a continual and infinite stream of rhythms and percussion sounds, whether he was soloing or not.

Burbridge is another player with an impressive resume. He was the bassist in the final incarnation of the Allman Brothers Band, holding that position for 17 years. He was also the first bassist in the Tedeschi Trucks Band. He then spent 10 years touring with Dead & Company. Lately, he has been leading his own ensemble, Otiel and Friends. On stage with Scofield and his friends, Burbridge loosened a fusillade of low end, often firing a steady stream of 16th notes. He and Deitch worked together to create a frenzied undercurrent which Scofield and Goldings surfed most of the evening.

Goldings bounced between a Rhodes electric piano, a Hammond B-3 organ and some generic synthesizers. He proved a worthy foil for Scofield, sometimes doubling the leader's lines and sometimes laying down his own funky improvised solos. Goldings, too, is a veteran of many different bands and bandmates. He is often found in an organ trio context and he's honed his funk chops with the likes of Maceo Parker. On the other end of the musical spectrum, Goldings has recorded and toured with singer-songwriter James Taylor for over a quarter of a century.

Although he didn't smile quite as often as his bandmates (who did so frequently), it was clear that Scofield was having a good time. He was an amiable host, introducing all the songs and sometimes relating stories about them. His playing and guitar tone have been distinctive over many years. It's obvious that he picked up some tricks from his early boss, Miles Davis, with whom he worked for about three and a half years. Saturday night, he felt no need to overwhelm the audience with an onslaught of notes, preferring instead to create melodic phrases with pauses in between. Davis often spoke about the importance of space between notes and Scofield has followed that advice.

The band has been on tour for a few weeks and the communication and empathy between the players were obvious all evening. Frequently, two or three of the musicians came together to play parts in unison. Burbridge and Deitch had developed some telepathy in weaving in and out of each other to keep the churning intensity of the rhythm flowing in many different and sometimes unexpected directions.

The tunes the band played on Saturday night may have been decades old, but this group made them sound fresh. The funky-jazz genre has a deep and enthusiastic audience as evidenced by the sell-out crowd on Saturday night as well as the continued popularity of bands like Lettuce.

Set List

Pick Hits; I Get the Picture/Techno; Thikhathali; Chank; Still Warm; Boogie Stupid; Jungle Fiction; Trim; Encore; Best Western