John Scofield – Flat Out (1988) and EnRoute (2003)
Hi, my name is Marc from JazzGuitarLessons.net and you're listening to Album Deep Dives.
In this episode we’ll be focusing our attention on one of the “Big Three” of modern jazz guitar, that is, the great John Scofield (as a quick sidenote the other two of these “big three” are considered to be Pat Metheny and Bill Frisel, which you can also check out their respective album deep dive episodes here found in your Jazz Guitar Mastery program). Today we’ll explore two slightly different sides of Scofield’s recorded materials. That is, first, we’ll dive into one of his great studio albums of his post-Miles era: that is “Flat Out”, a really interesting record. And later on, we’ll analyze one of his best live albums titled “EnRoute”. Let’s dig in.
To gain a bit of perspective here, let’s discuss John Scofield’s trajectory for a bit. John Scofield was born on December 26, 1951 in Dayton, Ohio; and however, he was raised in Wilton, Connecticut, and he first picked up the guitar at age 11. As most guitarists do, he started playing blues and rock, you know, with B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf being his musical heroes. At 17 he became obsessed with bebop, which led him to eventually attend Berklee College of Music, in Boston. While living in Boston, Scofield was recommended by Mick Goodrick (of course, a respected local guitarist, now international teacher) to play an important gig at Carnegie Hall that reunited Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker in 1974. As a result of this performance, Scofield was hired to play in the Billy Cobham/ George Duke fusion group which John mentions in an interview for All About Jazz, that it was his big break, basically. Cobham and Duke’s group was very active (and quite famous) at that time, so Scofield had the opportunity to play big venues, and even tour Europe for the first time. In 1977, Sco, as we like to call him, left this group and played with the Charles Mingus band for a while, until he joined Gary Burton’s band the following year (replacing none other, as you might now, than Pat Metheny). As if this wasn’t enough for an early career, Scofield was then hired to play with the Miles Davis band from 1982-1985. Apart from the invaluable lessons that he learned, you know, while playing with Miles’ band, Scofield’s public persona grew exponentially and he began to gain recognition all around the world. It was this recognition that led him to quit Miles’ band and take advantage of the accumulated momentum to propel his own projects. Throughout his career, we know that John Scofield has worked with the biggest names in jazz and funk, moving seamlessly between the two genres. Personalities like Joe Lovano, Larry goldings, Brian Blade, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, and of course from the funk world, “Medeski, Martin, and Wood”, and members of Sex Mob and The Meters.
[music clip “Cissy Strut” 00:00 – 00:45]
Now let’s begin our journey by discussing John Scofield’s sixth and last release on Gramavision Records “Flat Out”. This album was released in 1989, and it features Terri Lyne Carrington and Johnny Vidacovich on drums, Anthony Cox on bass, Don Grolnick on organ. This record came out, you know, a short time after Scofield’s time with Miles Davis, and after several funk-oriented releases. It’s a return to a post bop music for the most part, and it’s the first time Scofield would experiment with the New Orleans’ particular R&B grooves. The combination of these two styles on one album could appear as, we could say unfocused, but it’s totally not the case here. The album is eclectic indeed, but it pairs extraordinarily well with Scofield’s vision.
“Cissy Strut” opens the album, and it works brilliantly as an introduction. It’s a short, light groove tune originally written by “The Meters” featuring Scofield’s tasteful rock/blues tone and vocabulary, and the rhythm section’s amazing interpretation of New Orleans R&B grooves.
Right after this, we have the only two jazz standards on the record. The group plays “Secret Love” at a slow tempo with what could only be described as a modern calypso groove, if you will. And then Scofield’s solo on that tune is extremely lyrical, using the tune’s melody as the anchor, and it maintains a certain R&B sound throughout. He makes use of tons of resources such as motivic development, double stops, rhythmic displacement, etc. But I will focus on a couple of resources that are a tell of Scofield’s unique sound.
As you might know, John Scofield’s sound is very much informed by the blues. Although he uses a lot of blues vocabulary, there are certain subtleties that are not as “obvious” to notice, but that add a greatly, impactful blues sound in his “Scofield” sound. So, in the following excerpt we can hear a clear example of one of these subtleties. Scofield slightly bends a lot of his notes, particularly at the tail-end of the more static notes in his phrases. This gives the guitar a much more vocal sound and creates a certain elasticity that the instrument we would say, the guitar “lacks”. You know, wind instruments often shape notes in this way because it is intrinsic to the sound producing nature of their instruments, which is, you know, the breathing. But it is rare to have such conscious control over this sort of “micro-phrasing” with a fretted instrument like the guitar. Let’s just listen for a little bit.
[music clip “Secret Love” 01:33 – 02:08]
Another one of John Scofield’s signature resources is the use of dissonant intervals played simultaneously. He often plays like major 7ths to add some dissonance to what would normally be a very simple and consonant sound. Even more interestingly, he has a very particular way of playing octaves. Often, he slightly bends one of the two notes to have it sound just a little bit off, just a little bit out of tune, right? Which in combination with his use of chorus and distortion effects in his guitar tone, creates this really cool and organic effect. It’s almost as if he is making the guitar have a personality by creating or accentuating imperfections in this sound. Let’s listen again.
[music clip “Secret Love” 2:36 – 03:03]
We can find another excellent example of using these devices in his music, as well as the use of modern post-bop vocabulary in combination with his impressive control over the legato technique during the next solo on the next track on this album called “All The Things You Are”, of course, the great standard. Let’s listen.
[music clip “All The Things You Are” 03:25 – 03:55]
Now, apart from this group’s dynamic interpretation of these well-known standards, we’ll find a different kind of beast on this record. Continuing the vibe set by the first track on the album, which was of course “Cissy Strut”, now we have “In the Cracks”, that’s coming. It’s sort of an R&B tune composed by Scofield that shows just how genuinely and originally he can play popular music. His solo on this track is short and extremely effective, which is an impressive feat in and of itself. It lets us understand how he’s been able to seamlessly shift (of course, and often even blur the lines) between different genres throughout his career.
You’ll notice that all the elements we have talked thus far are still present, but now it’s sort of in a different context. There is no doubt that Jazz is informing Scofield’s playing on the tune, but just listen how he is following and outlining the changes, but I don’t get the feeling that he is combining both genres. He is staying true and “pure” to an R&B sound, sounding like this is his specialty after all, while at the same time he is staying true to his personal approach and sound to the guitar. It is so rare to find a guitarist that can sound genuine and creative across different musical styles, so please enjoy John Scofield’s solo on this tune. Let’s just listen for a little bit.
[music clip “In the Cracks” 02:50 – 03:39]
As a kind of counter-response, or an answer to the heavy R&B presence permeating “In the Cracks”, perhaps the tune that swings the most on this record is the title track of the album “Flat Out”. It is also a Scofield original, and it features a rhythm changes form, which is of course the famous, “I Got Rhythm”. So, John Scofield’s mastery of the bebop vocabulary is evident during this track, and it is extremely interesting to hear how such a rigid 32 bar form such as a rhythm changes can be an excellent medium for what can only be described as a type “stream of consciousness” form of originality we hear. John Scofield’s lines are endlessly flowing during the solo, creating a web that is perfectly supported by the rhythm section. Listen to how he solos over the pedal point created by the bass.
And Scofield uses a combination of simple, memorable melodies (which is very idiosyncratic of rhythm changes of course, idiomatic) and more pattern-based playing, using symmetric scales like whole tone and diminished; and then taking full advantage of the harmonic ambiguity at the pedal points where the bass player maintains one note. There is so much raw post-bob energy in this performance, it’s crazy, and somehow it doesn’t feel out of place when we think about the rest of the tracks on the album. Let’s listen to “Flat Out” now.
[music clip “Flat Out” 1:47 – 2:14]
Now that we’ve analyzed the key features of the studio album “Flat Out”, let’s continue by discussing John Scofield’s live record “EnRoute”. This album was recorded on December 2003 at the Blue Note in NYC and it is a reunion of Scofield’s longstanding acclaimed trio with Steve Swallow on bass and of course, Bill Stewart on drums. It’s also a return to the swing based music, we would say, as this record came after a long stream of more funk-oriented releases. Apart from the big difference of being, you know, a live vs a studio record, John Scofield’s tone is quite distinct from what we previously heard on “Flat Out”. He is not using almost any pedals for most of the performance, leaving room to appreciate better the dynamic control that we hear in his playing.
But perhaps the most important factor at play in this record really, is the strong musical relationship this trio nurtured throughout the years, which soaks this performance with incredible musicality. Let’s listen to “Wee”.
[music clip “Wee” 00:00 – 00:35]
There are quite a few differences between a studio and a live album, but if there is one that stands out among the rest is the magic that happens when a tune takes an unexpected turn. So, the next track of the album here is called “Toogs”. It’s not only a beautiful original composition by John in 5/4, but it is living proof of this type of unexpected metamorphosis. The tune has a gentle swing feel that gets developed throughout Steve Swallow and Scofield’s solos (so, the bass and the guitar solos). John’s phrasing is particularly impressive due to its effortless feel we would say. He has a way of playing something that sort of blurs that 5/4 feel, and allows us to get very immersed in his melodies, as opposed to be constantly, you know, reminded of the odd time signature, like 1,2,3,4,5. Let’s just listen to a bit of that.
[music clip “Toogs” 02:39 – 03:08]
After the head out, the band goes into sort of a vamp, right? And the tune slowly transforms from a light swing to a much heavier backbeat-oriented groove. The interplay here between the drums and guitar is special. They solo together in a way that expresses their individuality and at the same time it supports each other’s playing. It’s fun to listen to, so let’s enjoy this sample that’s at the end of “Toogs” just now.
[music clip “Toogs” 05:26 – 06:01]
Now, even though we’ve discussed John’s blues influence and heard some examples of his personal adaptation of this music into his own playing, we haven’t actually heard him play the blues. Well, hold on, hold on to your seats now because we are about to listen to an example of Sco’s playing over “Bag”, it is a 12-bar blues, and is the 5th track of the album “EnRoute”. John’s solo begins with a short bluesy melody, leaving a lot of space between the phrases. Then his playing gradually becomes busier, and one of the most memorable parts starts around the 2:16 mark (check this out if you have this record, or go over to Spotify or something).
Here, you hear John experimenting with a repeated note motif, and he moves it around in different ways for a good minute or perhaps a bit more in his improv. It is not uncommon for Scofield to use motivic development during his solos, but this particular example is very exciting because of how percussive it is, and the setting that is found in, it’s just a 12-bar blues. You know, blues is a very motivic music in its nature, and it is often based on the repetition or development of a melodic idea through, you know, maybe 2/3rds of the form, and then it is resolved during the last 4 bars if you will.
So, Scofield is subtly challenging this by repeating this motif at irregular places in the form, and by building the tension across 2 choruses of his playing. However, he is also, in a way, maintaining the traditional blues sound by resolving all this built-up tension during the last 4 bars of the second chorus. Let’s just listen to that part.
[music clip “Bag” 2:16 -2:57]
To finish off our analysis of the album, let’s talk about another characteristic that makes John Scofield playing the playing of such a jazz guitar giant. There is no doubt that Scofield can play bebop and funk for hours, you know, filling the room with intensity and intricate melodic patterns. But an important part of his immense musicality comes from his awareness and control of dynamics. The only standard tune featured on this album, “EnRoute”, is Hal David’s famous ballad “Alfie”, and it’s a fantastic setlist choice that truly rounds up the album.
The melody of this classic ballad is an excellent fit to feature John’s dynamic and expressive mastery. His highlighting of the melody is brilliant, and he achieves this by producing a different sound for his harmonic (chords) vs his melodic playing. But not only does he lowers the volume of his chord in the accompaniment so that the melody really stand out, John goes a step further and takes extreme care of how he shapes the phrases inside the melody. Scofield uses his particular approach to the instrument to really make the guitar sing. Using light bends, slurs, and you know, heavier or lighter attacks, and it gives the melody a whole other dimension. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I’m gonna say that’s chord melody in a modern jazz setting at its finest. Let’s listen.
[music clip “Alfie” 00:23 – 1:02]
Now, as you might expect, John Scofield has a vast discography filled with Funk, Jazz, Fusion, and everything in between. So, a few of the albums I would recommend you to check out are “A Go Go” (1998), that’s his debut album with what is now a longstanding collaboration with funk masters Medeski, Martin & Wood. Another great album within the same funky realm is the 2002 release “Überjam”. And for his jazzier side, I would encourage you to check out “A Moment’s Peace” (2011) with Brian Blade on drums, and “Works For Me” (2000) with the stellar lineup of course, of Brad Mehldau on piano, Christian McBride, Kenny Garrett on sax, and Billy Higgins on drums.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Album Deep Dives. John Scofield is such an iconic character of jazz guitar, so I hope you got to know him a little bit better with our discussion. He is still going strong by the way, so be on the lookout for his future releases and concerts. I’ll talk to you soon.
