Tag Archives: johnscofield
Essential 1980s Jazz/Rock Albums (Part 2)
Continuing our look at some of the finest jazz/rock albums of the 1980s. You can find part 1 here. Jaco Pastorius: Twins (1982) A classic double album (an edited version was released as Invitation) recorded live in Japan just after the bass pioneer left Weather Report. Jaco’s brand of fusion took in jazz, Cuban, soul […]
Essential 1980s Jazz/Rock Albums (Part 1)
1980s jazz/rock generally gets the side-eye these days. But it wasn’t all the Chick Corea Elektric Band prancing around the stage in tracksuits or pitiful WAVE-style smooth jazz. The 1970s fusion pioneers were mostly going strong and, if some were too tempted by synths and drum machines, the best music was made by sticking pretty […]
The John Scofield Interview: Sco in the 1980s, from Miles to Blue Matter
You could put forward a pretty good case that John Scofield was THE guitarist of the 1980s. Probably best known for his incendiary playing in Miles Davis’s band between 1982 and 1985, he also enjoyed a distinguished solo career. Whilst focusing on straightahead jazz during the early part of the decade, his stellar ‘fusion’ period […]
Miles Davis: The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 1982-1985
The heart always beats a little faster when there’s news of a ‘previously unreleased’ Miles project. And if it’s from the 1980s, even better. The era is still one the least understood/lauded periods of Miles’s work, despite the stellar efforts of George Cole. It also has not been served well posthumously, particularly by his final […]
Ben Sidran: Talking Jazz (An Oral History)
They say that if you want to understand why an instrumentalist plays the way he or she plays, listen to them speak. That makes total sense when hearing Wayne Shorter or Ornette Coleman being interviewed. And now, courtesy of Ben Sidran, there’s never been a better chance to hear other examples of this. Sidran is […]
When Wayne Met Allan
Allan Holdsworth and Wayne Shorter: two of my all-time favourite musicians who, on the face of it, don’t seem to have much in common. But on further inspection, maybe they do – independence, innovation, integrity. Also neither were much given to making guest appearances on other artists’ albums, at least in the second half of […]
Rescued From The Vaults: That’s The Way I Feel Now
Most jazz players don’t really seem to ‘get’ the music of Thelonious Monk. Decent cover versions are hard to come by, of course with some notable exceptions (Steve Khan, Kenny Kirkland, Lynne Arriale, Paul Motian and probably a few more). During the centenary of the genius’s birth, it seems as good a time as any to […]
Dennis Chambers: Five Of The Best
The November 2015 issue of JazzTimes magazine featured a long-overdue interview with master-drummer Dennis Chambers. I’ll never forget first hearing his playing on the title track of John Scofield’s brilliant Blue Matter album as a highly-impressionable 15-year-old. I had never heard anyone play a kick drum like that. His grooves were tasty, funky and solid, […]
Sounds Of Surprise 