John Scofield

[sgcim]

Sco is a great musician whose music does not speak to me in a special way.

[emanresu]

He played one insanely good solo. It was in some random youtube vid.. No luck finding it so far
As an artist - great. And completely cool person as well.

[Cunamara]

I really like some of Sco's stuff and not so much some other stuff. I've seen him life once- a show with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart. Jeez, that was just riveting. Amazing playing. Three monsters who listen closely and sublimate themselves to the music, just humbling to hear. So I think I'm with Marc on this- one of those musicians with whom the fire is hard to catch in the bottle in the studio.

I liked his playing with Phil & Friends.

[Hep To The Jive]

He's basically the only jazz guitarist I listen to for fun and buy music from because I truly enjoy it, as opposite to educational purposes. Mostly his tone, and his style of playing, but he is a great composer too.

My favorite bands of his are with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart. The chemistry they have is off the hook!

[guitarbuddy]

I met Sco at a jazz guitar summer camp I attended probably in '79 or '80. I'd already heard some recordings so was familiar a bit with his playing. Being still heavily invested in Pat Martino's approach I thought Sco's playing and teaching were cool, but as I told one of my students when I got back, "he's not going to be the next big thing." You probably don't want to take recommendations from me for which stocks to purchase. My revised opinion is Sco and Metheny are the two greatest jazz guitar players of their generation, 67 and 64 years old respectively. I give the edge overall to Metheny because he had already taken the world by storm as a bandleader when he was only 22 with Bright Size Life and has had a more varied and prolific career, but Sco is a very close second. I know these kinds of "contests" are somewhat pointless and liable to start debate, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.

[jbromusic]

Sco is my favorite living jazz guitar player. My favorite period of his were the albums that he recorded with Joe Lovano and Bill Stewart in the early to mid 90's and the live trio record (En Route) that he recorded with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart in 2004. His playing with Miles is also incredible. His recent recordings have been hit or miss for me but he ALWAYS kills it live, more-so than any other jazz guitar player. I remember not really feeling the first album he did with MMW called A Go Go. It was nice but the group never seemed to be really going for it. I was lucky enough to catch him at the Jazz Kitchen on that tour with Larry Goldings, Steve Logan and Bill Stewart and it was only then that the music REALLY came to life. They took it far beyond any performance on the CD. I would highly recommend catching him live if you haven't done so already!

[cosmic gumbo]

I hear he got hired to play a wizard in the new Lord of the Strings movie.

[newsense]

Like others who have already posted, Sco is my favourite player; the one I listen to most for enjoyment rather than study. Difficult to be bored, as his catalogue is so extensive and covers so may concepts and styles, but he always sounds like Sco. I've only seen him live once (Gateshead Jazz Festival) but he certainly didn't disappoint and the pre-concert chat was relaxed and informative. There are plenty of full length concert videos, covering his work work with Bill Stewart/Steve Swallow, or MMW or Arvi Bortnick......... He is a big influence on my playing, but my noodling along to a backing track of Drop and Roll hardly scratches the surface of Sco's harmonic world.

Here's one of my many favourites, a studio recording that does seem to capture his live energy. Lots of outside playing and I love how he brings the solo back inside around 4:36 before the percussion and "vocals" break .

[Tomcat]

Never been a huge fan of Sco, however appreciate his exceptionality of sound, timing and style. Recently I worked on that:

I'll prepare a pdf with note/tabs soon so let me know if you want to get it.

[grahambop]

A nice video of him playing a standard, just bass and guitar:

[pcsanwald]

This is a cool thread, particularly with regards to Sco's early work which I have not checked out at all. I have never been a big scofield fan, but the album of his that I really love is "Quiet".

[kris]

A nice video of him playing a standard, just bass and guitar:

Very nice solo of Scof.

[cosmic gumbo]

He is definitely one of the most iconic, successful and prolific musicians of his generation, and another in a long line of veteran sidemen of Miles.

He covers so much ground in his huge catalog that it's hard not to find something that speaks to you.

[TH]

...Sco and Metheny are the two greatest jazz guitar players of their generation, 67 and 64 years old respectively. I give the edge overall to Metheny because he had already taken the world by storm as a bandleader when he was only 22 with Bright Size Life and has had a more varied and prolific career, .

By that time Sco had played with Charlie Parker's employer Jay McShann, and played with Gerry Mulligan. As a very young player, he'd also played as a part of working bands led by Dave Liebman, been offered a gig to be a part of Weather Report and been leading a band of his own.
But a lot of this was under the mainstream radar because the public loved Pat Metheny. However when I think of the icons of historical jazz, Mingus, Jay McShann and his lineage with Charlie Parker, Miles, Ornette's band, West coast icons like Mulligan, Billy Cobham and Physh... they all sought Sco out. I don't know what your criteria for a varied and prolific career is but if John Scofield doesn't qualify, it's a good thing he just goes on doing what he does then.

David

[MeatyOcre]

This is so great. I would love to hear more of this style of playing. What albums of Scofield's would you say are closest to this type of playing? It still sounds like him and he sounds really good pared down like this. Thanks for your considerations. Dean

[Average Joe]

This is so great. I would love to hear more of this style of playing. What albums of Scofield's would you say are closest to this type of playing? It still sounds like him and he sounds really good pared down like this. Thanks for your considerations. Dean

He doesn't have an out and out standards album, but there are bits and pieces here and there

These shows have some standards

The album Works For Me is about as straight ahead as any album he ever released. A bit more laid back than the Lovano quartets. EnRoute is another fine disc in a standardish wein.

And then there's this - not a very pared down disc, but I personally love this performance

[P.J.]

Love Sco. His trio with Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum was awesome as was the band he had with Dennis Chambers. Also love his work with Frisell in Bass Desires and on his Grace Under Pressure cd. His band with Joe Lovano was also wonderful. I think the only stuff I don't care for that much was his funk band with Avi Bortnick.

[MarkRhodes]

The first Scofield record I bought was "Groove Elation". It remains a favorite.
Also love the tribute to Ray Charles.