John Scofield: Old and New Inspirations

News, From the Magazine, John Scofield, Miles Davis

By Ken Micallef I Dec. 10, 2018

For his latest album, *Combo 66*, guitarist John Scofield enlisted drummer Bill Stewart, pianist/organist Gerald Clayton and bassist Vicente Archer.
(Photo: Nick Suttle)

When asked about day-to-day life on the road with Davis, Scofield said, “Miles was an amazing human being. He liked to talk about music all the time and the way to approach this art form and how to psych yourself into doing some good shit—not settling for the easy shit that just comes out, like licks. He would be complementary of me one day and then really, really critical the next day. He would put himself down, too. Miles was a cultural icon. But when you played in Miles’ band, you were a member of a special club and he made you feel like that. Like, ‘Now you’re on the inside,’ and that was cool.”

Thirty-six years later, Scofield is a revered guitarist and composer, one of the most restless and endlessly creative musicians to emerge from Davis’ innovative groups. Along with his friends and fellow guitarists Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny, Scofield’s recorded legacy looms large, debatably unchallenged by younger guitarists determined to plant their own flags on the jazz corpus.

“Pat and Bill and I all learned to play bebop in the rock era—that has something to do with our [influence],” Scofield explained. “I’m obsessed with modern jazz; when I say ‘modern’ I mean ‘How High The Moon,’ and playing on standards. But there’s so much other music that’s interesting to me, and I try to do stuff that feels good. If it doesn’t have that instinctual feeling, or it’s too intellectual, I don’t do it. And with any luck, my music has gotten better and simpler.”

Scofield’s 50-something albums include many confirmed classics, from his first fusion foray, the majestic Still Warm, to other blistering ’80s work (including Blue Matter, Loud Jazz and Pick Hits Live), to perfectly timed early ’90s hard-bop blowouts, such as Time On My Hands and Meant To Be. His oeuvre also includes some tremendous collaborations, such as 54 (with Vince Mendoza and Metropole Orkest), Saudades (by Trio Beyond, featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette and organist Larry Goldings) and A Go Go (the 1998 disc that was the first of his collaborations with Medeski Martin & Wood).

More recently, Scofield’s all-star tour with DeJohnette, John Medeski (keyboards) and Larry Grenadier (bass) in support of their collective 2017 release, Hudson (Motéma), drew enthusiastic crowds. Scofield perpetually pushes himself and his trusty Ibanez AS200 guitar forward, drawing from a seemingly bottomless well of inspiration.

“I’ve been lucky to play with really great musicians, because [my success] would not have happened if it wasn’t for the guys that I played with,” Scofield said. “But [now], I do understand how this is supposed to go—and I wasn’t always like that. Something [Thelonious] Monk said, which I thought was great: ‘Everybody has to love the song. If somebody in the band doesn’t love the song, it’s not going to sound good.’ I really believe that. You have to create this situation where everybody really wants to be playing; you can’t bum people out. Don Cherry said, ‘Music is a celebration.’ And along those same lines Charlie Haden said, ‘I’m in church when I’m playing.’ So, you just do what is necessary to make everybody feel great.”

Scofield owns up to ambition, to working hard and searching long—forever a student.

“I’m following in the footsteps of the great jazz composers: Wayne Shorter and Monk, people like that,” he said. “As I get older, I learn more songs in the Great American Songbook. I’ve studied Richard Rodgers and George Gershwin and Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin, and this stuff sort of seeps into you. I’ve got a bunch of fake books. I like The Beatles. I like Steely Dan. I like country music a lot. I like The Carter Family, those Appalachian melodies.

“More than making the right decisions, I’ve played the cards I was dealt, and I haven’t blown it,” Scofield replied when asked about his enduring success. “Playing with Billy Cobham and George Duke when I started out, and then a couple years later joining Miles’ thing—those were big audiences that would eventually listen to my Blue Matter and Still Warm records. On my own, I might have just stayed in my apartment practicing ‘Billie’s Bounce’ forever, which is my natural tendency. But I got into this other kind of music and it was exciting and new at the time.”

Stewart—who began collaborating with Scofield on the 1991 Blue Note album Meant To Be—has observed his friend’s artistic development. “I think John plays better now than he’s ever played,” Steward said. “His guitar sound has evolved a little bit over the years. What he goes for sound-wise—some things that he’s been doing in recent years with bending notes—has increased. And I hear an increased vocal quality in his playing. His sound was different in the ’90s than it is now.”

Scofield almost makes success look easy. So, can any hardworking musician find his or her way in the world?

“I think they can achieve something,” Scofield replied. “I think none of us can do what others have done. The world always changes so much, so you can’t say, ‘I want what that guy had.’ It’s not going to be that; it’s going to be something else. It might be more, it might be less, whatever. But the thing about anything is, if you put the work in—you will see the results.” DB