JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
Rating: 
A rare opportunity to hear John Scofield on acoustic guitar, Quiet is also Scofield’s first attempt at scoring for brass, woodwinds, and acoustic guitar, and it’s a beaut. Sometimes the horns carry the melody, other times they comp like a rhythm instrument, and still other times they provide insinuating harmonies, but the most common feature of Scofield’s writing for horns and woodwinds is that the voicings are very close, with lots of 2nds, not at all what you would expect from a guitarist.
Although the music is indeed quieter than the usual Scofield date, he employs more musicians than usual: trumpet, two French horns, two woodwinds, a bass clarinet, and a tuba, plus a core trio consisting of himself, frequent collaborator Steve Swallow on bass, and either Bill Stewart or Duduka Fonseca on drums. Wayne Shorter appears on tenor sax on several cuts.
The music, all originals with the exception of one tune by bassist Steve Swallow, are about equally divided between wistful ballads and jaunty medium tempo numbers, which might lead you to believe that there is a lack of variety in the music, but that’s not really the case. The differences are subtle, but they are there.
Contrary to what others have said, Scofield’s voice is unmistakeable in the logic of his solos after a bar or two–he’s fabulous as usual. And we owe a great debt to Scofield for allowing us to hear Wayne Shorter solo in the context of this type of composition with a background of woodwinds and horns. The gentleness of the material brings out a plaintiveness in Shorter’s horn that is just magical, and his taste and his inventiveness have never been more apparent.
All in all, this is a fabulous session.
If you found this post helpful, share it by clicking on one of these icons!
Related posts:
- This Meets That - John Scofield
- I Can See Your House From Here - John Scofield/Pat Metheny
- Meant To Be - John Scofield
- Hand Jive - John Scofield
- Traveling Mercies - Chris Potter
