John Scofield already has a pretty impressive resume under his belt, from collaborations with progressive jazz giants Medeski, Martin, and Wood for his last record, A Go Go, to early 80’s work with legend Miles Davis. Scofield’s new record, Bump, searches for new boundaries in terms of jazz music to create an organic and defining sound clearly all his own. A successful jazz musician is different from your average rock band/artist because jazz musicians truly have to focus on creating pieces of music that define their sound, and this sound must be clearly distinct from the rest. This sets the standard for separating a great jazz player from the average musician. Listening to Bump is like attending a fancy cocktail hour at a high-class bar on some weird drug. The vibe on this record is mellow, with laid back rhythms that are pleasant to groove with, but many of the tracks have this very distinctive guitar sound that shows up here and there. The sound is just plain weird; it goes from clear to weird without notice.
For this record, Scofield put together a team of young jazz players who are getting a chance to work with one of the finest creators in modern jazz. The most popular names are Eric Kalb and Johnny Durkin of Deep Banana Blackout, who fill in for drums and percussion. Mark De Gli Antoni, formerly of Soul Coughing, brings along his keyboard abilities and sampler wits to make for a fuller overall sound. The alternating bass work supplied by Tony Scherr, David Livolsi, and Chris Wood are great contributions as well. “Chichon” illustrates my cocktail hour description. The track starts with his tremendous laid back groove, then train wrecks into an out of tune wall of noise. The guitar played by John Scofield is solid throughout, but be aware of the altering transition. Again, if you can survive the bad part of a tune, the songs are magnificently orchestrated. “Groan Man” is one of two seven-minute slabs of music full of Latin percussion rhythms and Scofield’s innovative style of playing. The rhythm section on this record is steady, consistently feeding the beast in the music. Without the percussion work done by Johnny Almendra on “Fez” and “Swinganova”, the songs would be as stagnant as pond water. Almendra adds soft salsa percussion to the songs, giving them a much-needed lift.
If you’re one of those arty types who’s really hip to the jazz circuit, Scofield’s new album might give you goose bumps. For others, you may find this record floating around in the used section at your favorite record store.
+ larry sarzyniak
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