Jazziz Daily Brunch: John Scofield

[Music] you well hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the jazz is daily brunch I am your host Brian Zimmerman digital content editor for jazz magazine and thank you so much for joining me today we are well into may at this point a weekend I guess I am just letting the corona whiskers grill I didn't plan on it it was not a coronavirus beard kind of deal but this is just the state of things in Zimmerman household right now it is May and I just want to mention before we get into our show that our May digital issue is available now to subscribers and Jeff you want to go ahead and pull this up chock-full of good content wide-ranging interview with Bob James keyboardist Bob James you know a smooth and contemporary jazz progenitor is the future story but we've got a lot of stuff in here you know most of it is for subscribers only but there are pieces in there that you can certainly read if you'd like to become a subscriber and get great access to all this content just do so on our home page jazz is calm we're offering a very special offer right now we're for just 99 cents per month per month for 3 months you can unlock all this digital access excuse me access plus you're enrolled in to receive our next print issue which is coming out in June so yeah this issue will be in subscribers inboxes this Friday but they can already start taking a peek at it online it's really cool issue we're very proud of it and if you're not a subscriber go ahead and become one if you want to just sign up for our newsletter so you can get these digital issue alerts you can do that on our homepage as well um there it is try three months for just 99 cents per month thanks Jeff I'm very excited to be talking to our guest today he is really a hero of mine when it comes to jazz guitar and you can't mention you know modern jazz guitar without mentioning his name he's John Scofield okay and he's played with everybody from Miles Davis Billy Cobham he has put out some excellent leader albums of his own pairing with musicians like Pat Metheny and Larry Coryell John Abercrombie he's had some long-standing partnerships with Joe Lovano including a slew of really superb albums on the Blue Note label he is about to release his debut leader as an album for ECM it's called swallowtails and it's coming out on June 5th and it is a tribute to his friend and longtime colleague Steve swallow on the base so we're gonna talk to be talking to him about the new album about all those career highlights in just a minute here but first I want to take a minute to thank some of this episode's sponsors they include Concord jazz their new album is ello 100 live at the Apollo it's available now for streaming and purchase and this is a live recording from 2016 featuring performances by the likes of Android a Ledisi Liz Wright Cassandra Wilson and Monica Mancini not to mention the absolutely swing and Count Basie Jazz Orchestra led by Scotty Barnhart it was hosted by Grammy award-winner Patti Austin and Tony Award nominated actor david alan grier and it is available now streaming pick it up for yourself at Concord dot-com thanks also to Blu sound audio so Blu sound is an award-winning wireless high-res sound system that lets you play music in any and every room throughout your home you just choose music from your favorite streaming service or from a music library connected to your home network control we're at what volume and when the music plays with a free blue OS app for your smartphone tablet or desktop computer and that's it getting the kind of crisp and detailed sound that only an audiophile grade system can deliver has never been easier that is how you live hi-5 folks you can learn more at Blu sound calm or by checking out our website jazz is calm we have put together a blue sound buyer's guide it'll also be in our summer 2020 issue anyway without further ado that does it for sponsors that does it for my little intro let's go ahead and bring our very special guest to the brunch mr. John Schofield hey John good man how you doing very good yes yeah as bad as good as we can during these times how you been holding up how you been keeping busy I good staying sane I don't think I've been home this long since 1974 but it's been great to be home in that way despite the awful awful situation and I'm okay but I feel bad about the people that are you know I made they were I play guitar all the time and was it's nice but you know I feel guilty about even saying that when I know so many others hurting so bad yeah and our good vibes our thoughts go out to them but you're right the silver lining in this for a lot of us in this industry you know for musicians who are traveling all over places we get to be home you know I get to be with my daughter I have watched frozen - God knows how many times but exactly man exactly so John the new album is great man swallowtails I've been spending it a lot and it was cool to me you know so often when we think of tribute albums or albums you know Dedic from one artist dedicated to another it's from an artist of another generation long past it must've been really cool to put together an you know a tribute album for your friend and your longtime band mate Steve swallow yeah it just seemed really natural to do it because I love the songs I played with Steve and known him yeah as long as I've known almost anybody since 72 I guess when I met him when I was 20 and he was you know an old man at thirty-one I thought he and so anyway we you know to do it was easy because I knew the tunes I've been studying his tunes and learning them just like everybody right right since then and you know thinking of another way to play with the trio why not just do all Steve's music ya know and it says a lot about your you know character and your generosity as a musician because this is your ECM leader debut we should mention yeah so how did Steve react when he says hey I'm debut you know you say I'm doing on ECM I want to do all your tunes man well um he said don't do that or just you know sort of thing like really do that but I really wanted to do it because you know even in our trio which has played for many years now and Bill Stewart the Stewart on drum set you know gigs we would play his tunes and we hadn't recorded them they'd all been recorded by other artists over the years so yeah and we didn't know it was gonna be on ECM I just I just booked some studio time and we went in and just did it and then like the way it came out and I went to Senate - Manfred Eicher and he said okay I'll do it nice and you called it old-school recording just in there few takes I assume just playing and get the Mustang was we knew the music right we knew there are a couple of tunes that build the drummer hadn't played but he's so quick it was easy and the studio that we used we none of us really liked the way the playback sounded in that studio so for that reason and also because we didn't need to we didn't listen to play backs we made a couple it takes of each tune the whole thing was over in four hours we had engineer Tyler McDermott who is wonderful and he said you know yeah it's coming through alright you know and and we'll be able to use it to work with this so we it it in four hours played all the tunes then Tyler took at home and mixed it in and sent it to me and I was pretty good more than pretty good job man you captured some magic there for sure we should mention for people who may not be as familiar with Steve swallow this was a bass player who was a very early adopter of the electric bass one of the first a transition for playing acoustic to electric this would have been what the 60s late 60s young playing electric bass it was a prejack old world rap right it really was and a lot of ways he was an innovator on that instrument did you ever I'm sure you've talked about why he decided to go full electric and really hasn't looked back I know he does a lot of acoustic study he was one of the best and most popular and busy upright jazz bass players in New York you know and he saw electric bass as the music of the future it was the very beginning of fusion music he started based in the late 60s with the Gary Burton quartet so it's very beginning of people who sort of put in rock stuff and and he liked you know like like everybody with ears he liked the Beatles and what was happening in rock and roll and was aware of that I mean but Steve had been one of the best upright players with art farmer and stereos and and and and Jim Hall and and Paul Bley and you know made all these were it was one of the very best guys and at around 1970 I guess he decided to just play electric bass he thought it was the instrument of the future and lest you think that Steve swallows electric playing is all tinny and electric it is absolutely not he has a gorgeous tone on this instrument approaches it differently from anybody and when I say post Jaco you know I see that as the developing line you know of the instrument how yeah and he put his style together and got on his in his direction before that right with a pick he plays an acoustic instrument now that it has pickups in it you know it's an electric bass but it's really resonating you know archtop bass guitar right does play you've played with some very fine acoustic players does playing with an electric player of you know Steve's caliber obviously changed the way you interact from a you know touristic a really good jazz player you know electric bass players god bless them don't spend a whole lot of time swinging you know and I play with a lot of electric players that are just great in another genre of music you know and we play that music but we don't try and play standards and stuff you know and then I play with other guys who play both electric and upright you know right which can upright for the Jazz stuff but Steve went another way he said I'm just gonna play one instrument because I want to concentrate on that he won't play the upright bass one time we had a gig recently and I finally there was an upright bass backstage we're hanging a dress when I finally got him to really play like who's with me it's our and it was sounded great and I said Steve and then he said nope never again yeah now Steve can just swing and play all his jazz stuff on the electric bass he brought his acoustic bass playing to the electric bass and never looked back right on and you are also very well known for your tone you play the Ibanez still on the Ibanez right that is modeled after a 335 yeah very cool 335 the Japanese companies especially Ibanez in the 70s into the 80s were copying Gibson's and fenders which great instruments so I went for early 80 82 they gave me my first guitar I have played your art what is the artistic model it's a that's exactly our core yeah mine is the AAS 200 that's the one I play but there's a John Schofield model right for the last ten years that is based on the old Ibanez that I play and grant Greene famously played a 335 right 33 or 330 such a unique tone I'm just trying to get at tone here you know where they're players you grew up listening to who you idolized just for their tone mm-hmm my first big Idol was BB King alright and you know I had solid body guitar as a kid trying to play like that and then I got into jazz and I got an arch top and had a 175 you know and right when that trying to play modern jazz and I loved you mom I still do but then I got the king with Billie comms band it's my first really big time steady gig in 1975 I joined his group and so I thought well I'll buy a BB King kind of guitar you know and so I brought a 330 actually I didn't know the difference and went to the first rehearsal that didn't work it was just the music was too loud so I started playing a solid body with that bad and then when I went back to play more acoustic jazz I I thought the in-between thing would be the you know semi-hollow guitar yeah 35 and so I started to play those that it worked out because I from rock-and-roll and whenever that guitar sound is I like the distortion right overdrive a little bit you know so you can get more of a vocal sound it seemed like that kind of guitar could do that it is the perfect medium and it really shines you know on the new album you know especially in Steve swallows composition I love what you said about Steve swallows compositions in the press materials you said the changes are always interesting but not too interesting you know as in the complexity yes right I call that practice room jazz because it only sounds good as a practice yeah and it's I love what you said it's the complexity you know and these songs are really nuanced complex but it does not distract from the song itself you know the melody the real real songs right right you hear a lot of tunes written odd meters weird chord progressions almost just like people wanted to put a puppet puzzle together so it's really hard to write something that's interesting and somewhat playable yeah and and and Steve students do it great titles - I love awful coffee that's uh I think I may be one of my favorite tunes on the disc well let Steve know yeah yeah yeah you know we mentioned it is your ECM leader debut you had been on ECM before when we talked about ECM there's definitely you know a sound an aesthetic and a lot of that has to do with Manfred Eicher you know the founder and chief engineer over there I'm curious you know listening back in your own listening history what were some favorite ECM albums for you well I like all the classics like everybody and you know when I when I first before I first met Steve I went to the Berklee School of Music and in 1971 in the fall Gary Burton came to teach there and I was lucky because the guys I wound with were much better than me the drummer and the bass player and we had an apartment that had a set of vibes there because the drummer had vibes - so Gary befriended us he said there's a rhythm section I can go jam with because when he would be done teaching traffic would be so bad in Boston he weighed a couple of hours before he hit the road he'd come jam with us like all the time it was amazing I could hardly play but I got to play with Gary a lot then and one day he brought over a test pressing of crystal silence which was already said I made this record for this German record company that nobody had heard of at the time I hadn't they were very you know under the radar yeah in 1972 70 grand then 72 and and he had just made this record which is one of my favorite ECM records crystal silence with Gary and Chick Corea in duet oh yeah they played falling grace Steve swallow soon and and he said and I've got these other records that the producer and in Germany gave me one is was facing you Keith Jarrett Eric yeah and these records yeah the sound was completely different it had I guess who would almost call it a classical music approach to the recording the way the piano sounded and and the reverb and yes and it was so incredible and I remember loving that and then Gary said oh that record producer is coming to town would you guys go pick him up at the airport in your student car and because I can't do it I'm teaching so we went we met Manfred Eicher in 1973 or something a lot of Boston we picked him up he came over to our little student place we listened to records waiting for Garry to stop teaching I'll never forget it and then I didn't see Manfred until the 80s you know again but he is I can't think of anybody else who's who's really promoted some really great music and recorded it in a way nobody else had very unique sonic footprint Oh producer Jeffrey getting some echo there they might beat me or maybe that's just me there goes that that's what ECM is all about that's it was the ECM gods shining down on us yeah I've heard the best thing I've heard is you plug in your headphones and it's like listening to a cloud you know it's just so misty and spacious and yeah man it's great to see you on the label as we mentioned we'll say it again is out June 5th it's called swallowtails it's you Steve swallow Bill Stewart there it is oh we got product man very nice very nice I believe one or two singles are out at the moment too so you can hear one song right I think only one has come out and another one's gonna come out next week or something and then the record comes out June 5th right now man well we are going to take a quick break to thank some sponsors and then I'd love to get into you know some career Highlands highlights take it back to the beginning for you John but let me just quickly say thank you to Mack Avenue records they have been putting us on the road to great music for more than 20 years now you can start spending some of their stuff right now check out the latest album by saxophonist Jimmy Green it is called while looking up really good music really inspiring or maybe if you're into it hey check out the new Tower of Power album step-up they are both available now to stream to order for more info check out Mack Avenue calm thanks also to smoke sessions Wreckers a great label based out of Manhattan their latest album is the intangible in-between from in Evans and the captain black big man or in Evans is the pianist and the latest member of the Bad Plus so this is his signature big band it's a great record to hear it for yourself check out smoke sessions records dot-com and programming reminder tomorrow at 11 a.m. we will be joined by Ilan Miller founder of nouvelle records this is a premium subscription based vinyl service that curates I guess you call them seasons of these amazing vinyl box sets showcasing some really creative jazz musicians basically how it works is you become a subscriber to nouvelle and every month they send you a premium 180 gram LP to add to your box that I happen to have one right here let's see if he can this is their Murray live from Switzerland box set and they send me you know new LPS every month it's pretty cool that one is by Gilad heck Suleman a very fine young guitarist but anyway he's gonna be on the show tomorrow to talk about what's coming up in their latest season and by the way starting Monday May 11th we are gonna be moving to a new timeslot so I guess the brunch was gonna become the happy hour or something like that we're gonna start at 5 p.m. or want to see how that feels people watching if that's still kind of an awkward time just getting off work trying to put you into dinner together let us know we may move it even later final last call or something like that but anyway that'll do it for the sponsors in that little programming update John man I'd love to take it back to the beginning with you if that's ok coming right out of Berkeley as you mentioned because you kind of walked into an interesting period with that first group you joined Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan you appeared on one of my favorite records actually the the Carnegie Hall record because it has this beautiful bow this is a total sign know it has a beautiful ballad on it song for Strayhorn which I almost got married to by the way but that's neither here nor there I was living in Boston and just playing around and I dropped out of Berkeley in order to practice and one of the teachers they are the great Alan Dawson a great drummer you know I had played with him a little bit and Jerry was friends with with him and Jerry was coming to town to play at the Jazz workshop he wanted to augment his existing quartet with vibes and guitar so he got me in Dave Samuels the late Dave Samuels who was a really good vibraphonist and but we were kids you know we got to know Jerry and Jerry went for a we played six nights at the club and and then I was like okay kids see you later and a month later I got a call from a producer in New York City that there was a concert at Carnegie Hall that Jerry wanted me to come play on with him and it was the Jerry Mulligan Chet Baker reunion right ha and and me and Dave Samuels got to go Jerry got us on this thing so I drove borrowed a car drove to New York City at to Carnegie Hall you know we actually had rehearsal day before so it's I can only imagine you know a young patio that set like yourself sitting in with this group and what was so interesting about this time period for Jerry Mulligan and Chet Baker you know obviously icons of cool jazz and bebop coming from that school you could tell that they were just starting to dip their toe like what's this fusion sound everyone's talking about and so I'm wondering I mean were they when looking to the young cats like you because I'm trying to gear on that album I think they brought Michael Brecker in for another session with the what was that the um I was later two years after that but no it was just the concert was Jerry and Chet reunion and he Korean Chet had been a big thing they with cool jazz in the 50s you know so this was the first time they were getting back together and Bob James was the musical director its we could have yeah I'm the great Bob James and Ron Carter on bass and Harvey Mason on drums which was kind of I think the CTI rhythm section for exactly yeah and Stan Getz also played at the con sir but because of his contract with another record company he wasn't on the CDs yeah it was it was and it was cool to kind of see them oh test the boundaries okay what's this fusion thing will do a funky thing about right that's what I was gonna ask how'd they take to that you know doing these funk arrangements of love for sale and stuff no that was on chats right now okay yeah yeah but on the live with the one we saw on for Strayhorn that yeah now for trance record was he looking to you young cats who grew up listening to Hendrix and clapping and hey what do I do here no from the old way of making records this was a in the style of CTI the record label was on it was a a.m. they were making records with a producer John Schneider who had worked had been Creed Taylor's assistant and he was making records very much in the same thing and he got you know it was arranged by what's-his-name the great arranger man who did did all the dates for CTI and and Wes Montgomery and everything no maybe well I'm having Ayutthaya with you I came all the chat just showed up oh wow read the music like everybody you know was his date yeah but it was really put together by Don sobieski there it is there it is Tony Williams Ron Carter right Richie buyer I play keyboards Mike Brecker yeah young Mike Brecker you know playing with Chet I imagine things worked a little bit differently for those Miles Davis recording dates yeah miles is banned yeah we were in miles this group yeah man and he went in the studio whenever he wanted to and tried a couple of tunes and stuff what was interesting about your stint with Miles - it was also kind of a transition a transitional period because you know star people still kind of had that [ __ ] brew flavor of like the you know power fusion that wild child you get seven hundred drummers out there and then you switch to decoy you know and it's different vibe you know Cynthia but the drum program drums although al foster I think was playing on that record with both program drums and write which I'll didn't like right right was you know again I imagine for those recording sessions it was much more miles was just telling everybody you know this is how it's gonna happen ran the show my I was ran the show was he as intimidating a figure as you know the stories may suggest do you remember the first time meeting him yeah yeah I was playing with Dave Liebman at a club called 7th Avenue South and miles came in the club and you know here we are with our kind of you know modern jazz group you know I know Liebman you know incredible player and I think we were playing one of those gigs to like 20 people and then comes miles in this fur coat with an entourage with these beautiful women who looked like fashion models right three of them you know and a couple of guys who were like bodyguards Mouse's were out stuff you know yeah man he was in his retirement period and he came and he sat in the back and Dave after the set said I'm going to introduce you to miles and he went up two miles with me and he said miles because David played miles has been earlier in the bed and he said here's my guitar player John and then Miles said I said Oh miles that's so great thank you so much I'm Mike Randall I've really been and couple years later I don't even know if you membered me but Bill Evans the saxophonist got me in the band and miles was very intimidating but also really forthcoming with this ideas about music and would share it with us and and was really supportive of musicians that he liked you know really had Thornton and was harsh on himself too like I couldn't play [ __ ] tonight I you know trying to get my stuff together cuz he was the real deal yeah absolutely and one of my favorite meeting Myles stories comes from Sammy Figueroa the percussionist I think was with to to and speaking of Sammy and I think Sammy was into boxing or something like that and Miles obviously it was a big boxing fan so you know one rehearsal or something or when they're about to meet at my house call hey Sammy come over here Sammy walks over miles just socks him in the stomach just Wow right yeah as Sammy hit him back whoo you know he has a pretty good right hook so after that miles like okay well you did pretty good regardless all right exactly right exactly right I am also very interested in your two guitar leader groups because it's a setting you thrive in but I imagine I imagine there's a very mild Xion response there just done hi there you go I imagine it's a tricky situation you know because sonically guitar takes up a lot of space and you're doing your best to leave room for the other player you don't want to step on any toes and you do it so well you know come to think of it one of my favorite double leader albums of the same instrument together is Sonny me talk you know this one with Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins oh yeah oh man it is because it's Sonny Rollins for people don't know it's Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins you know Sonny it was recorded in the 60s so Sonny was in his prime you know the top of the game Coleman Hawkins you know again the ideas were there but it was toward the end of his life so the traps may not have been you know hogs greatest day exactly but what's so fascinating as you can hear Sony's calculation of alright if I just play like Sonny Rollins right now I'm gonna smother Hawk who's my hero I'm gonna totally so he decides to go this totally avant-garde out in left field and kind of you know it gets weird for Sonny I've never heard him that out that oven are that free trance period it's funny yeah and it's cuz I think it was out of respect for hawk like I've got to do something so different so Hawk can really do this thing and shine yeah and probably did want to sound different from different right didn't want to sound like he was coming out of hock exactly exactly so I thought that was just a real cool way to approach it you know it takes me immediately you know to your album with Pat Metheny because you know again two very individualized styles so I want to ask you to do something in pot which may be impossible here but can you describe Pat style and how you kind of approach working with it on that out dissimilar as we are we also just kind of came up in the same period definitely yeah we should mention the album is I can see your house from here that was the alley and no but Pat I met back in in the Berkeley days and in Boston he came up there too and and we used to play some together and talk about jazz and what we liked and about guitar playing and everything and so we stayed in touch and you know he made it big and and and I was out there playing and making records and stuff and I always wanted to try a to beat our thing with him and you know our similarity is even that you know I was making records like with Dennis Chambers and funky records and Pat was the Pat Metheny group which is sound you know yeah and but our actually modern jazz guitar playing we both were digging the same stuff and we like free jazz and we like swinging and and and trying to play tunes and adventurous you know jazz we like sunny you know and we shared that so we were able to find a way to play together on that record there was no problem you know and we're actually finding similar ways and the thing is that's a great musician and just wants to make it the group sound good you know the idea of a cutting contest you know you can be like that wanting to play as good as you can and to come out the winner but you also realize what good music needs is supporting each other right and that's why we were you know and right and that communication that support it's also thrown into high relief on the stuff that you did with John Abercrombie where a lot of that stuff is you and him just the duo oh yeah we did that and yeah we wanted to do some duets because we rented John's place John was very great to me when I first came to New York he was so nice you know and maybe you've met him but he was the sweet sweetest man and and he you know he had already been on the scene and making records and playing with all this great stuff yeah and he was so nice to me and we used to play at his house and and just the two of us so we made that record we thought we could do some of the tunes like that so Laurie yeah that's fascinating listen just to hear how you know again everything fits together you know and I imagine it must have been instinctive you know Brian I think two guitars works great together yeah for me with piano sometimes it's like the Timbers are so similar yeah they cancel each other out you know can actually waste the guitar which in a live situation you just turn your amp up but I mean for you know if you listen to our recording but two guitars if it's sensitive players what's worked so well together totally you know and especially because you can convey a lot of tone through the guitar you know whether it's just there's there's tone that just comes through the fingers you can't do anything about it that's just way your hands sound and then there's personal taste with you know obviously amplifier settings and you and John had you just well great match for each other and I like I say this instinctive conversation of there no over-talking when you know he went down to the base you kind of took it up high it's it's not that Alma's soul are right yeah yeah and I should mention before we carry on any farther I want to kind of wrap talking about some recent stuff from yours but if anybody's watching out there our Facebook if you have a question for John feel free to ask away we will might be able to get to it on air or just say hello here's uh I like this username Jaco Scofield five one five oh he says hello John thanks for everything you do have you ever played the chaco and chills crime you know I met Jocko way back in the 70s and play much together there's one thing that keeps coming up on YouTube of us playing with kenwood Denard but I knew him man Wow and yeah play with him a little bit but you know he was a superstar before I knew it you know I met him and then all of a sudden yeah hmm his career just kind of took off yeah man I so I kind of want to ask about your recent stuff country for old men which was an album that I loved and really a testament to your love of country you know in order to use a to use a Blues Brothers term both kinds of music country and western what's your history with country have you been listening to that you know in this period when I kind of hippy period you know people were into all kinds of music you got to remember you know in your record collection you know like my sister was older than me and went to college and was in that period you know in 1966 she would have a Coltrane record and a Ravi Shankar record and and country was part of that you know bluegrass and roots music you know and and and and the kind of Appalachian old news and then there was Merle Travis I mean we're all hangar to the strangers Merle Travis you know bands like that that were kind of more current electric Buck Owens and the buckaroos were incredible you know but they played with they were current in this life and it to be a guitar player you couldn't be at least aware of that which is sort of where I was out I might have started off with folk and everything in country was kind of part of that so that were you were you surprised at all for the Grammy wind around yeah we took country tunes and mostly turned them into jazz exactly cues we played kind of straight country exactly which is you know there's a lot of really great overlap Kent that can spring from where country meets jazz I think a lot of people poopoo it you know they they don't want to have anything to do with country but there's a lot of fascinating things that can come from that and I believe Merle Haggard if I'm not mistaken when the few country artists to grace the cover of downbeat magazine back in the day so you know you know there's this country swing thing the Chet Atkins thing yeah they were doing swing music but they were it was stolen country sorry but these guys we've bought solos it sounded like you know Count Basie or whatever right there's always been a crossover in America with and the political thing is something else but you know what it crosses over we all cross over into our music and from the very beginning of all this music everybody is affected each other you know totally and it was it's cool to see love reciprocated from the other side like your stuff with government mule they're not a country band per se but you know those are members of the Allman Brothers Band yeah I can imagine how did that collaboration partners okay who had been in the Allman Brothers I met him years ago and Warren it's just a real eclectic musician he loves all kinds of music and he dug me and went as friends and then after knowing him for a while he asked me to do some gigs a record with them that was that was you guys made musical magic too there because you have the Allman Brothers who just musically we're an awesome group such energy you know and then ASCO Sola will come on and it's just funky with the wah pedal it's a great listen to man another one of my favorite records of yours and and we'll end with this is the kind of star-studded tribute to Ray Charles tell me about his influence on your music for me I it's I'm almost feel guilty when I forget about how good he was and I go back and listen I say I should be listening to his stuff every day because it's just that good well you know Ray Charles I think he just kind of wrote the book oh yeah you know the musicians when I started to plan when I was really young you know just little rock bands the older guys so like Here I am and like when I'm 13 and stuff if some kid is 18 they were around learning how to play in the 50s when Ray Charles was it was the whole thing for musicians you know and this was rhythm and blues music that was mixed with jazz and then he stuck country whether he was the guy who did the fusion of country-western and rme and yeah there's just so much great music and and his playing - you know I mean nobody played piano like that the way you could play the blues his singing is absolutely I don't know how to describe it but anybody who likes music will love Ray Charles that's just the way it is like you said before if you have ears you're gonna like Ray Charles yeah and then album you know John Mayer you got in there Aaron Neville I think you know that must've been a fun project for everybody yeah the great drummer sure yeah Mayer trio stuff right and so Steve got got Mayer in there guy didn't know him and Steve really helped me put that together he's a great artist in his own right Steve Jordan were you surprised by John Mayer's playing like wow man he's got serious guitar chops yeah yeah very cool well John we're about to wrap up here I believe there is a question out there from Internet land ok Daniel wants to know one of my favorite days is blood on the floor by the great Mark Anthony Church what was it like working in that world where jazz meets contemporary music Daniel I'm so glad that you've heard that record I think people aren't aware of that Marc Anthony Turnage is a great contemporary orchestral whatever you call a classical composer from London and he heard me somewhere back in the 90s got in touch with me he said I'm doing this piece with Orchestra and I'd like to include a jazz rhythm section and you as a soloist and it's this piece blood on the floor and he sent me junior addict which was just a rehearsal of that part of the piece it's called junior Anakin and I'm just blown away and it was one of the most beautiful piece of music I'd her and very much something that I can relate to musically and then I got to record with that and he sent me the music and that was so hard I had to practice it forever man I've never you know played that difficult and to work with a conductor and we did it with the ensemble modern this incredible group and Cologne Germany in Frankfurt Germany sorry and was one of the great experiences that and Mark and I have been friends ever since we did a record course called scorched where Mark took all my pieces and rearranged him for Orchestra and I played along with that and that was a great highlight for me and he's written some new music that we're gonna get to that uses me as a improviser along with Orchestra I would I'm so glad that you mentioned Marc Anthony turn and she's a great great musical mind absolutely and that's a great question to kind of end on is you know what have you been working on anything in works during this period anything listeners can keep an ear out for sure what my next thing that do so many things you know practice on guitar learning writing all that stuff and I hope to put a band together and play a bunch of kind of Americana music and come out on the road when it opens up you know and and we call it Yankee go home you know different I mean the setlist that we put together is really varied with you know rock tunes basically from my youth but we jazz them up and and got some great great musicians John Cowart is going to play keyboards awesome descente Archer on acoustic bass great drummer Tony Leoni who played with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Phil Lesh and friends and things like that and and I'm looking forward to taking that music and arranging it see what we can do with it that's two men you know and hopefully sooner than later but John hey man it was great talking to you we should mention again the album swallowtails is coming out june 5th there it is on ECM records you can stream a single now go buy a copy you know it's really really good and I certainly vouch for it John we appreciate it hey if people wanted to follow along you know trying to check in on you see what's going on what's the best place to do that John Schofield John Schofield comm right on man John I know you're a busy man got things to do screens to chat with but we appreciate you taking a minute to come join us for brunch man this was awesome thank you so much you're very welcome see you later John cheers to you be well bye all right Wow always a treat to talk with the amazing John Schofield again that album is swallowtails coming out on ECM records June 5th go listen to the tunes that are out there on Spotify iTunes Amazon music right now and then go buy the album when it comes out it is really really good so a programming note again tomorrow we're gonna be with Nouvel records Ilan mailer about this very cool subscription vinyl service and then Friday May 8th we're gonna be wrapping up the week with Jay bekenstein of spirogyra and just to remind you come May 11th that Monday we're gonna be moving into our later timeslot trying things out there and we're gonna be kicking off that week with with Nick and Chris from gogo penguin a little later in the week walls we'll be talking to Eric Alexander Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos is gonna be joining us on Wednesday the 13th not only is he great actor but he's a huge jazz fan that's where it's be talking to him about that Ricky Riccardi who is the curator of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens he's gonna be walking us through this new virtual exhibit that they've got going on if you like you're just skin is crawling to get out of the house why not take a virtual tour of Louis Armstrong House Museum and then wrapping up next week the 15th with Kent and mid since so and we might be talking to Bobby Watson that day as well anyway you're gonna want to tune in for that in the meantime check out jazz is calm for all of the greats content we've got out for you right now as I mentioned our May 20 2008 interview zhim they're like with the aforementioned Bob James and boney James how about that - James for the price of one right now you can subscribe to jazz is to unlock all of this digital content for just 99 cents per month for 3 months that will get you unlimited online access to read all these great stories for subscribers only plus will enroll you to receive our print issue when it comes out in June 2020 that's our summer issue it is dedicated to fusion got a nice long interview with Chick Corea in there so you sign up for 99 cents for 3 months and get a complimentary print issue hey your jazz is member what's not to love also independent artists or friends of independent artists check out our inside track program people ask me all the time hey how can I get my album reviewed by jazz as editors what do I do I send a physical copy you guys even check in the mail anymore the best thing you could do is upload it to the inside track program this is a very easy to program to use you just send us all the info about your album the album cover the personnel the track listening you could send us a link to band camp or SoundCloud comes directly to my inbox it comes to other editors inboxes we listen to everyone and you never know you could wind up on a song of the day post on our home page in a weekly discover playlist in the pages of jazz's magazine or on this very podcast you never know but the first step is to submit via that inside track program alright that'll do it for me today I hope you enjoyed the conversation with John Schofield all of these conversations are archived on our website and on our youtube page and occasionally we release them as podcasts which you can listen to on Spotify Apple music wherever you listen to your podcast check them out there i'm bryan durman digital content editor of jazz's magazine I'll see you tomorrow morning at 11 with Elon Miller so long folks [Music]

Channel: Jazziz Magazine

Views: 799

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Length: 49min 18sec (2958 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020

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A multi-GRAMMY-winning artist, Scofield has played with many of the jazz greats throughout his career – including Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny, to name but a few. On June 5, he will release Swallow Tales, his debut album as a leader for ECM and a tribute to one of his heroes, bass legend Steve Swallow.

https://www.jazziz.com/jazziz-daily-brunch-john-scofield/