John Scofield thinks he may have recorded the blend of funk and fusion he’s always aimed for. Uberjam, the new, ultramodern disc by the John Scofield Quartet, even includes a rap on “I Brake 4 Monster Booty.” It cooks from the jump, thanks to Scofield’s sexy, angular guitar, his white-hot rapport with rhythm guitarist/ sampler Avi Bortnick, the plummy bass of Jesse Murphy, and the livewire drums of Adam Deitch. This is the first time Scofield has recorded with his working band; he’s 50, and none of the other players is over 38.
“I have found a whole younger generation interested in the same kind of music I am, so in a way, it doesn’t matter what age they are,” says Scofield, who launches a tour of rock clubs, small theaters, and campuses in Cleveland on March 6. “These young guys I want to play with don’t mind going on eight-week tours,” he says.
For the past two years, Scofield has stressed funk, working with Medeski Martin & Wood and other up-to-the-minute players from the downtown New York scene. “There’s a tune on there called ‘Acid Head,’ and I thought some kids might actually take acid [because of it],” Scofield says. “It got to me, because I stopped doing all drugs, so I just put that in there. People can take that for what it means. It means I’m not getting high. Doesn’t mean you can’t. It means that I’m not.”
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2002.