DownBeat February 2002 [antikvár]

ontheiDGBtThinking of buying musical equipment?rimimiUSince 1924, when Sam opened his first music store in ' Brooklyn, New York, musicians have come to rely on the^ Sam Ash family for the biggestselection, best service and guarant^ed lpwest prices! -Ji's 2001 and we're still rockin'!Call us at 1-800-4-SAMASH or shop online 24 hrs / 7 days @www.samash.comCall now for a FREEFull-Color Catalog!The Nation's Largest Selection at the Nation's Guaranteed Lowest Prices!All intereslin theme threads through ahiiost every John Scofield feature that has appeared in Down Beal over the years. Not one lo confine his music lo a small corner of Ihe improvised music world. Scofield has built a career around breaking boundaries. Because of this, he has been perpetually asked lo defend and explain his musical eclecticism (some have called it heresy) in these pages.In a January 1987 feature, relaying his thoughts on bop vs. fusion to Bill Milkowski, Scofield said, "I don't put this kind of music over here and that kind of music over there. Now I feel it all lives together and you can do whatever you want with it. At one point I thought all Ipeople think is not jazz, stuff that comes from either pop music, blues guitar playing, or maybe even classical music as filtered down through improvisers in the last 20 years. But I would never begin lo say what is jazz and what isn't I just like jazz. Improvisation is the music of the future."Since '96 Scofield has definitely moved forward. By tapping the trio Medeski Martin Wood to record with him on the 1998 album A Go Go, the guitarist found inroads into the young jam band audience, which has developed into the most promising and active audience for improvised music on the planet. Jim Macnie hooked up with See to discuss this albumDEFENDINQ His Musicreally wanted to play was bop or post-bop or whatever you call it. Now I feel like all my influences have come together, so I don't feel schizophrenic at all anymore."A couple of years later, Howard Mandel sat down with Scofield as he was moving toward a more acoustic sound (March 1989), and the guitarist explained how he plays the music he wants to play. "Right now I'm thinking about playing certain music, about how to get that together, and not about whether people will like it or not I'm doing it for musical reasons, for me, because I want to change."In April 1994, Scofield had just formed a new quartet with saxophonist Eddie Harris, and in speaking with Jim Ferguson, he said why he doesn't confine his music to a particular stream of jazz. "I'm not a pure jazz player. I don't see how anyone could be these days. The musical situations I've been thrown into that are more r&b, or whatever, have added new things to what I do. If I've improved, it's because I've been in a position to play with inspiring musicians, which has helped me find my own new stuff."Zan Stewart had Sco address the jazz purist issue head-on in his October 1996 feature: "I know I play other stuff somein April '98, and again this became a forum for Sco to discuss his adventurous streak. "I wanted to be a jazz guy and learn about swing. I sat around listening to Trane and Parker and knew they swung I had the fortune of commg up during the fusion erathat became a big part of my vocabulary. Figuring out a way to take it somewhere else has always been on my mind."Finally, in Sco's cover story in this issue (Page 20), Mitch Myers focuses on Scofield's excellent skills as a band leader, which come across beautifully on his new album, Uberjam. Toward the end of the story, Sco talks about his work with Eddie Harris: "Eddie was one of the few jazz guys that had commercial success. He was fiinky and intellectually stimulating at the same time. He was part of the movement in the '60s that brought soul music to the white public. He was a dedicated jazz musician and he took a lot of crap because he played rb. One time he told me, 'You know, you can always play bebop. But check it out, these people want to get into the music.'"And by having big ears and an open, artistic mind, Scofield has brought plenty of people into the music. That's enough of a defense for me.dbby jason koransky8 February 2002 DOWNBEAT