Überjam

Like his most famous employer, Miles Davis, John Scofield has had his own classic band eras. With Bill Stewart, Marc Johnson, and Joe Lovano he used his distinctive playing and compositional skills to bring a freshness to the sound of the straight-ahead jazz quartet; and on his 1987 Pick Hits Live, he and cohorts Dennis Chambers, Gary Grainger, and Robert Aries used a piercing intelligence to temper fusion's athletics. His more recent funk efforts have suffered; some from the sensitive but "grease"-deficient work of Larry Goldings and some from a general excess of politeness. Bump was an interesting, if tepid, foray into modern hip-hop grooves, but hitting the road in front of the Phish/MMW crowd has forged that sound and his road band into something to be reckoned with. It is no accident that Uberjam is credited to the John Scofield Band; the title tune was created by the members over three years of road dates. Far from being a pastiche, it demonstrates the cohesive unit that this group has become. Whether it is rhythm-guitar wiz Avi Bortnick adding Indian samples to Jesse Murphy's dub bass on "Acidhead," or former Average White Band drummer Adam Deitch laying in the phat-ist of phat grooves, it is apparent that Scofield has come up with another classic ensemble--one well equipped to take jazz into the 21st century. --Michael Ross