JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
Rating: 
An unusually laid back date, even by the standards of mid 90s Scofield, Groove Elation is a festival of Crescent City grooves.
Of course, Scofield has been mining these rhythms at least since 1987’s Loud Jazz, and his admiration for the Meters is no big secret, but I can’t recall another release of his which is so dedicated to exploring various aspects of the Creole sound.
His instrumental approach is very interesting, too. While having organ player Larry Goldings carefully place accents here and there, Scofield chooses to play steel string acoustic guitar more often than not, playing behind the rhythm, slying bending up into the notes and using other similarly evasive tactics. He also uses a horn section liberally. He appears particularly fond of the sonorities of the tuba.
Scofield would put this instrumental combination, minus the organ, to a quite different use in the more pensive Quiet the following year.
But for Groove Elation, his final Blue Note release (for now), Scofield is in a happy, relaxed mood, injecting his solos and arrangements with characteristic good humor and intelligence.
If you found this post helpful, share it by clicking on one of these icons!
Related posts:
- Hand Jive - John Scofield
- Outbreak - Dennis Chambers
- Grace Under Pressure - John Scofield
- Sustained Bursts of Creativity
- The New Standard - Herbie Hancock