Well, we’ve hit the final month in the year of our “Guitar Greats” series and we find ourselves in a conundrum. We’ve been looking for a solid “D” (for December) guitar player and haven’t come across anyone of real note (haha). Yeah, there are lots of 2nd and 3rd tier guys who are really good (Denny Dias comes to mind, Dave Navarro is another) but we are talking about guitar greats here, and our list needs to be consistent. As such, we feel that there is at least one “great” guitarist left that really rounds out our list this year. He is the one, the only, the legendary John Scofield!

John Scofield or “Sco” (as he is often nicknamed) is probably the most ubiquitous jazz guitar name on the planet and likely the most well known by guitar players of any genre. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, John Scofield has really had a blessed life full of guitar and jazz. Shortly after leaving school he was already recording with Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. He also had the fortune of performing with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band for a few tours and later on replaced Pat Metheny in Gary Burton’s quartet.

In 1976, Sco released his first album, titled John Scofield. In the next couple years he put out some incredible work with pianist Hal Galper (check out Rough House) and eventually formed his “signature” trio with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart, which would become his main group at various times throughout his career. In 1982 he joined Miles Davis (yep, that Miles Davis) for about four years and is featured on the albums: Star People, Decoy and You’re Under Arrest.

After he left Miles, Sco really came into his own, imo. He released a couple albums in the early eighties–of note is Still Warm (which is an album I had the chance to explore when we covered it in my jazz group). It’s a really nice composite of Scofield at the time and the adept listener can really hear the brilliant juxtaposition of complex subject matter that is refined by very well written compositions. It’s really classic 80’s Sco. However, it was the “Blue Matter Band” (Dennis Chambers, Gary Granger, Mitchel Forman and Robert Aries) featured on the next few albums that really let John’s playing and compositional skills shine through. Blue Matter and Loud Jazz are a couple of my favorite Sco albums; I feel like these two albums are the apex of his guitar playing, live performance and songwriting. If you are curious at all as to where and when to tune into John Scofield during his career–look no further!

Unfortunately, like many Scofield projects, the Blue Matter Band was short lived, albeit some of the greatest live performances of that group still exist on the interwebs. In the early 90’s, John formed a new quartet with Joe Lavano, Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette, which released several albums over the next five years that featured a much more jazzy Sco vibe. During this time a few of the players shuffled around, but overall the musical output was less fusion and more modern jazz than the previous groups.

Sco’s direction changed once again in the middle 1990’s, where he followed a much more funky and soul influenced path. He teamed up with Larry Goldings on organ and bassist Dennis Irwin (with Bill Stewart also from time to time) to record the albums Hand Jive and Groove Elation. The touring group was pretty amazing, featuring Eddie Harris and Randy Brecker on tenor and trumpet, respectively. A couple years later he broke into the mainstream with his new funky sound when he teamed up with Medeski, Martin and Wood on the album A Go Go. This album was likely the one that turned on every jam band guitarist to John. It’s a great album; very subtle and laid back, yet tasty and groovy, almost retro feeling. Truth be told, I don’t think this is Sco’s best playing–his funk chops seem odd at times–but the overall vibe and collaboration would signal yet another new path for Sco in the coming years.

Sco released a couple pretty solid solo efforts after the first MMW experience, Uberjam and Up All Night. These albums are much more electronic sounding and feel more like modern fusion styled jazz. He rejoined MMW a few later to release another album, Out Louder. It was at this time that he became the 4th letter in the group, touring as MSMW. I’ve lost track of John since then, although he did release an album not too long ago titled Country For Old Men which is the most laid back of all his works. He again went back to the well with Bill Stewart on drums. I heard that the show was different, but still great.

I saw Sco at Telluride Jazzfest in 2007 and was thoroughly impressed. Even though it was raining considerably during his set, he sounded so good. The most notable aspect of Sco’s playing (imo) is his incredible fluidity. While many players gravitate to him because he is approachable technically, it is this amazing fluidity on the guitar that really stands out and is the hardest to emulate. There is an awesome combination of music theory and just the right notes that Sco accesses when he jams away, effortlessly. When he plays more jazzier compositions, even up tempo straight-ahead, he sounds like he is most at home with his axe. As great as a musician and writer that Sco is, it is his live performance that puts him over the top as such a sought after guitar player. It is these performances over the years, with all kinds of insane players and collaborations that etch Sco into the guitar hall of fame and gives us the pleasure to feature in the last month of our guitar greats series.

I sincerely hope that the reader has at least heard of John Scofield; better if there is an album or two in their collection. If you are unfamiliar with John Scofield as a guitarist, I hate to say it, but you’re behind the curve. Start listening to this guy and your phrasing/licks will improve overnight. The best part is that the technical angle is low, so most everything John does (although musically complicated theory-wise) is approachable, duplicatable and fairly easy to add to your lexicon of licks. I guarantee that adding him to the rotation will improve your playing!