The jazz just could not be stopped this weekend, though there isn't a whole lot in common between this album and the previous day's selection from McCoy Tyner. Here there be electric instruments and avant-garde tendencies. Well, not a whole lot I would consider avant-garde outside of the last track, "Deadzy". Most of the songs here aren't too wild, which is interesting considering that Medeski, Martin & Wood back up Scofield on all tracks. However this is first and foremost a John Scofield album, so his supporting trio's increasing experimentation (they were on the eve of releasing Combustication and had already shown a willingness to break with tradition on 1996's Shack-man) is kept largely in check. Perhaps I'm going out on a limb by saying that MMW wasn't essential to the album's overall sound, but they did push the needle from making this a decent album to one of his best. In fact, it just wasn't practical to submerge the entire trio underneath him after this point and on future endeavors they would all share the billing as "Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood" (even though they would all support Scofield as individuals here and there on his albums).
Overall, this is a fairly mellow album. Perhaps conscious of coming across as a rock guitarist playing jazz, Scofield never blows out the amps and shreds like a maniac. He is a little more adventurous than your standard Wes Montgomery style of electric guitar (you can't deny the evolution of the instrument!) in that he doesn't shy away from adding effects to his playing. Meanwhile, MMW are largely held to classic "organ trio" roles, which generally keeps Scofield dominant in the mix, though he trades licks with Medeski on most of the tracks.
Scofield continues to release albums across the musical spectrum with surprising frequency. His third collaboration with MMW (the second to be credited to all four) is due out this September - should be interesting!
No comments:
Post a Comment