Uberjam - John Scofield

Apr

29

Uberjam - John Scofield

≡ Category: 2000s, Essential, Fusion, Jazz Funk, Music Reviews, Post Bop |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Jazzbo Notes Essential Recording

Rating:

Frankly, I was underwhelmed by the last couple of Scofield releases, 2000’s Bump and 2001’s Works For Me. I was beginning to wonder, “Is this end of the party?” Up to that point, Scofield had had a remarkable career, changing up and tweaking his style constantly, but being very consistent in terms of quality. But Bump and Works For Me were that rarest of things for John Scofield — bland. So, I approached Uberjam with trepidation.

Within 20 seconds or so of the opening track, Acidhead, I knew Uberjam was going to blow me out of my socks. The Indian classical music vocal samples and hip hop rhythms all serve notice that Scofield isn’t fooling around. He improvises in a quasi Indian style, which I’ve never heard him do before. Avi Bortnick comes in with some chunky wah-wah rhythm guitar and with Jesse Murphy’s dub bass, they’ve got a serious groove going. But what really makes the track is guest John Medeski’s phenomenally twisty solo on Mellotron. Avi Bortnick follows up Medeski’s ideas by chopping up the vocal sample so that it doubles as percussion. The band takes it out, with Scofield experimenting with reverb and tonal attacks on a repeated melodic motif. A great track.

Ideofunk is a very simple tune, but it has a very warm feel and a hip-shaking groove, thanks to Avi Bortnick’s acoustic rhythm guitar, Medeski’s B3 organ, and Adam Deitch’s hip-hop feel. Karl Denson contributes a very nice overblown flute solo.

Things get even more hip hop oriented on Jungle Fiction, with a languid melody backed by a frantic rhythm played in double time. This time around, Bortnick uses his volume knob so that background chords ebb and flow through the composition. Then there’s a drum break and Scofied takes his solo at double time along with the drummer. There’s an extended drum and sample freakout before the band joins in to end the track.

The band develops another monster groove with the aptly named I Brake 4 Monster Booty. Drummer Adam Deitch contributes a rap and surprisingly, it’s not bad as white boy raps go. A helluva lot of fun.

The next standout track is Uberjam, which is exactly what it sounds like. Avi Bortnick lays down a deadly one chord chicka-chicka rhythm guitar part, leavened with a wah wah pedal. Deitch kills with a hip hop drum pattern. With this rhythmic colossus behind him, Scofield has a blast, going wherever his imagination leads him. On the break, Scofield runs through a cascade of turnarounds that build the tension to almost unbearable levels before it spills into the one chord groove again. At about the five minute mark, Scofield starts quoting from Blue Moon, of all things.

The whole thing is just too much fun. One of my all-time favorite Scofield records.