He has dabbled in everything from the blues, funk and country to jazz and classical music. Over the years, Scofield has attracted a diverse following of jazz aficionados and those who are part of a relatively new jamband scene.
Scofield's breadth of work attests to his constant state of evolution not only as a musician, but also as a music lover. He's jammed and grooved with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and B.B. King.
Wy talked with Scofield about his latest album, his band and the world of music.
Wy: While listening to your latest work 'Up All Night,' I could hear nuances of world music. I'm wondering if you were into some stuff from other countries around the time that you recorded the album?
Scofield: I think it's something that's just around and jazz music has drawn on all kinds of world music in the last 30 or 40 years anyway. I'm not a world music guy in that I'm some kind of expert of it at all, but I love African music and Afro-Cuban music. It's stuff that's really related to jazz and it's part of the same tree. There's a song on the record "Thikhathali" that's really an Afro-rhythm kind of thing and that song was really more inspired by our other guitarist Avi Bortnick. He's really done a lot of Afro-beat music. He's played with a band of all Nigerian guys. But as far as world music in general, it's not my expertise, but my background is varied. I think everybody in a way is kind of varied nowadays. I'm aware of other stuff out there. It's not what I do, but it comes through in our music just by osmosis almost.
The vibe I got with this record was, 'Let's just jam and see what happens, then we can go back over it and pick out melodies we like, and then turn them into songs.' How were these songs written?
Yeah, you're right. I picked the guys because of the way they play and then I try to let them express themselves. I'm always searching for like-minded people who can work well together in a group. This kind of music is not about me writing out every note for them to play. We all contribute in this band because everybody wrote half the tunes. They are these kind of free jams that we've evolved. Over the last few years, my band has played a lot of gigs and we have sound checks so we just start jamming and we come up with stuff we like that way. We'll improvise, and we'll tape it and say, "Oh that was good, let's keep that and make a song out of it."
It has a similar improvised vibe to that of the 'A Go Go' album where it's based on some really strong musical connections that seem to jump out at you from the recording.
Yeah, every group that you're with, every mixture of people playing will bring out different things in each other. If somebody is into one area or plays a certain way that brings something out in you and I guess with musicians like this, we are sort of the sum total of all of our musical experiences, so weird stuff is coming out whatever out little interests are.
In terms of guitar effects, there are loops and pedal tricks used on this album by both you and Bortnick. But, it also sometimes sounds like there's a person on turntables.
Yeah, that's me. I've been trying to do that on my guitar by getting into a lot of pedals that alter the sound. So there is some stuff that I'm proud to say doesn't sound like a guitar, but that is me. It's been really a lot of fun in the last few years getting my sound augmentation devices, experimenting with them and coming up with different stuff. It seems to fit the overall sonic thing we are doing.
How long did it take you to really get all of your effects down before you actually knew what you're doing, and felt comfortable to record and play live?
I think it's a work in progress. I still have a long way to go because now they're making stuff that's really got so many possibilities to it with all of those pedals out there. The thing is, I've practiced guitar my whole life, but it's just the guitar. Since "A Go Go," I've been working a whole lot in these funk-type situations where there are static vamps. The chords don't change a lot so when you're soloing, you have to come up with new sounds in order to make good ideas rather than just playing licks or lines. So, it's forced me to find new sonic sounds and I feel like there's always more stuff to find. When you're playing with an electric band with all of your stuff plugged in, you can come up with new stuff on the job.
I'm always curious as to how the bandleader forms bands. How did you find these guys?
Well, I found out about them all separately. I'm just on the lookout for like-minded musicians who can play well, who can be in my band and commit to making it a full-time thing. I feel like this unit that I've found is really one of the best that I've ever had and I got them one at a time. I really find most of my band members through word of mouth, through other musicians whom I know. With Avi, my friend (eight-string guitarist) Charlie Hunter told me about him. The way I found out about (drummer) Adam Deitch was through Eric Krasno, who's the guitarist in Soulive. All these guys are younger than I am and they're sort of on a different scene, but I'm in that jamband scene now too. So, I just ask people and they say, 'Hey I know this guy who plays great.' It was the same thing with Andy Hess, the bass player. We had another bass player, Jesse Murphy, but he left. He didn't want to be on the road so much. He said, 'This is nuts, traveling around like this all the time.' So he recommended Andy.
Speaking of the jamband scene, you've really attracted a fan base which is into the music of Phish and Medeski, Martin and Wood. Do you attribute such a following to the 'A Go Go' album?
Yeah, the "A Go Go" album started it. But for me, I've always really liked that kind of rootsy funk. I was into that before there was any jamband scene that I knew about anyway. I was into New Orleans funk and R&B, and mixing it with jazz. So, when I heard what MMW was doing, I said, "Well, that's really similar to what I love. It's right up my alley." All of a sudden there was this scene where I could play this kind of funky jazz, which is one aspect of what I do. I also really like straight-ahead jazz and I do that too. So, it just worked out for me because there is a big audience of young people who like the "A Go Go" stuff but don't necessarily like (alto saxophonist) Charlie Parker and (tenor saxophonist) John Coltrane, unfortunately, and that kind of jazz. But maybe they're headed in that direction. You've got to start out with whatever, and I think we all get led to different places, gradually.
On the first track, 'Philiopety,' you're sampling the work of (composer and virtuoso on various horn and reed instruments) Yusef Lateef. How did this idea develop?
Yusef is a fantastic jazz musician, who's actually still alive. He's about 80 years old. I love all of his records. The way that happened is with Avi, who programmed the samples for our band. We were improvising. That song is just the band completely jamming. Avi has pedals that he can step on to stop and start samples so he can play guitar at the same time. We were playing and he just threw that in. He knew it would work with the song's time. So if you hear a little bit of flute, that's a sample of Yusef. But there is also a flute a part of an overdubbed horn section so it's hard to tell. Yusef is one of the most beautiful musicians. He's one of the greats.
Since you're one of those musicians who can probably put on a record and know exactly what's going on musically, do you listen to albums for the visceral experience alone?
Sure, I listen to music intellectually, but I also listen to music emotionally, too, for things that just get me and sometimes it'll just be a simple song like folk music. I really like songs and that whole aspect, not just the technical end of it. But there's so much music out there. It's great, you can go your whole life and still not hear most of it. I think we all do that and that's cool because it means music is not boring.
I like this album because it's an effects album without trying to be one. It contains a healthy balance of acoustic and electronic sounds. It's all about very clever yet subtle things in some rather subtle music. Like all good albums, it's nice to put on this record and hear something new you didn't hear the last time you put it on.
I'm trying to use a lot of colors and electronic gives you a lot of possible colors in the music. But when it's just the sound of whatever you're using and it's not the actual music that takes over, then it's not right. Hopefully the music is there to begin with. That's the great thing about music. I don't think there's a record I've heard the first time that's still the same after listening to it a few times where it doesn't reveal itself to me. This includes records that I've listened to for 40 years. I think if it was just the same every time, that record would be so basic. But I think that's the great thing about music, you hear stuff at different times.
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