John Scofield

Biography John Scofield was born in Dayton, Ohio and his family moved to Wilton, Connecticut. Educated at the Berklee College of Music, Scofield left school to record with Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. He joined the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band soon afterwards and played, recorded, and toured with them for two years. He recorded with Charles Mingus in 1976 and replaced Pat Metheny in Gary Burton's quartet.

In 1976, Scofield signed with Enja, which released his first album, John Scofield, in 1977. He recorded with pianist Hal Galper on Rough House in 1978 and then on Galper's album Ivory Forest (1980), where he played a solo rendition of "Monk's Mood" by Thelonious Monk. In 1979 he formed a trio with his mentor Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum which, with drummer Bill Stewart replacing Nussbaum, became the signature group of Scofield's career.

In 1982, he joined Miles Davis, with whom he remained for three and a half years. He contributed tunes and guitar to three of Davis's albums, Star People, Decoy, and You're Under Arrest. After he left Davis, he released Electric Outlet (1984) and Still Warm (1985)

He began his Blue Matter Band with Dennis Chambers on drums, Gary Grainger on bass, and Mitchel Forman, Robert Aries, or Jim Beard on keyboards. The band released the albums Blue Matter, Loud Jazz and Pick Hits Live. Marc Johnson formed Bass Desires with Peter Erskine, Bill Frisell, and Scofield. They recorded two albums, Bass Desires (1986) and Second Sight (1987).

At the beginning of the 1990s, Scofield formed a quartet which included Joe Lovano with whom he recorded several albums for Blue Note. Time on My Hands (1990), with Joe Lovano, Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette, showcased Scofield's guitar and Charles Mingus-influenced writing. Bill Stewart became the group's drummer and played on Meant to Be (1991) and What We Do (1993). In 1992, Scofield released Grace Under Pressure, featuring guitarist Bill Frisell, with Charlie Haden on bass and Joey Baron on drums. Stewart rejoined Scofield and Steve Swallow for I Can See Your House from Here, a collaboration with Pat Metheny.

Near the end of the period when he was recording for Blue Note, Scofield returned to a sound which included more funk and soul jazz. In 1994 and 1995, he formed a group with organist/pianist Larry Goldings, bassist Dennis Irwin, and alternating drummers, Bill Stewart and Idris Muhammad. The group toured extensively, and the albums Hand Jive and Groove Elation feature this funk/groove/soul-jazz dimension in Scofield's music with tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris, percussionist Don Alias, and trumpeter Randy Brecker. He recorded the 1997 album A Go Go with Medeski, Martin & Wood.

Also during that time he began to work with British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. He appeared as a soloist on Turnage's Blood on the Floor: Elegy for Andy. They collaborated on Scorched, an album of Turnage's orchestrations of Scofield's compositions, largely from the Blue Matter period. John Patitucci and Peter Erskine performed at the live premiere of Scorched at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt in September 2002 with the Radio-Symphony-Orchestra Frankfurt and the hr-Bigband. The performance was recorded and released by Deutsche Grammophon.

Scofield released Überjam in 2002 and Up All Night in 2003, two albums on which he experimented with drum and bass. He recorded in Europe with the Bugge Wesseltoft New Conception of Jazz in 2001–2002 and 2006. In 2004 EnRoute: John Scofield Trio LIVE was released with Steve Swallow on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. It was recorded live at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City in December 2003. That was followed the next year by That's What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music of Ray Charles which led to performances with Mavis Staples, Gary Versace on organ, John Benitez on bass, and Steve Hass on drums. After sitting in for two engagements in December 2005 with Phil Lesh and Friends, Scofield has played numerous shows with the band.

On September 26, 2006, he released Out Louder, his second collaboration with Medeski, Martin & Wood. The group, known collectively as MSMW, toured worldwide in 2006 and 2007. Scofield performed in a duo with John Medeski named The Johns and in a trio with Medeski and drummer Adam Deitch (Deitch is also a producer). He recorded music inspired by gospel on the 2009 album Piety Street with Jon Cleary and George Porter Jr.

On September 18, 2007, EmArcy released This Meets That, an album recorded with Steve Swallow, Bill Stewart, and a horn trio. In 2011 EmArcy released A Moment's Peace, recorded with pianist Larry Goldings, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade. Scofield's 2010 album 54 had its origin in the 1990s when Vince Mendoza asked him to play on Mendoza's first album. As director of the Metropole Orchestra, Mendoza collaborated with Scofield on arrangements of Scofield's compositions that were performed by the orchestra.

Scofield has been an adjunct faculty member in the Jazz Department in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. Inside Scofield, a film by Joerg Steineck, a feature-length documentary about Scofield, was released in 2022.

Guitars Scofield's first electric guitar was a Hagstrom; his "workhorse" is an Ibanez AS200 from 1982. He endorses Ibanez and the company has a line of semi-hollow bodied guitars named for him. Steve Vai uses one on the road, for one of the songs from Inviolate.

Awards and honors 1997: Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee 1998: Miles Davis Award, Montreal International Jazz Festival 2002: Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Album: Überjam 2004: Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Album: Scorched, and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for "Wee" 2016: Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Past Present, and nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo: "Past Present" 2017: Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Country for Old Men 2017: Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"

Discography As leader/co-leader Year released Album title Line-up Label Recording date Notes 1978 John Scofield Also released as East Meets West (Black Hawk, 1987) Trio plus Terumasa Hino on two tracks Trio (JP) 1977–08 Recorded in Tokyo 1978 John Scofield Live Quartet Enja 1977–11 Live in Munich 1979 Rough House Quartet as John Scofield Quartet Enja 1978–11 1979 Who's Who? Quintet and two quartet tracks Arista Novus 1979 Re-released 1990 with the four originals from Bar Talk as bonus tracks 1980 Bar Talk Trio w/ Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum Arista Novus 1980–08 1982 Shinola Trio w/ Swallow and Nussbaum Enja 1981–12 Live in Munich 1983 Out Like a Light Trio w/ Swallow and Nussbaum Enja 1981–12 Live recording from the same concert venue as Shinola 1984 Solar with John Abercrombie, duos and three quartet tracks Palo Alto 1982–05, 1983–12 1984 Electric Outlet Quintet w/ David Sanborn and Ray Anderson Gramavision 1984–04 – 1984–05 Scofield plays also bass and DMX drum machine 1986 Still Warm Quartet Gramavision 1985–06 1987 Blue Matter Quintet and sextet, first w/ Gary Grainger and Dennis Chambers Gramavision 1986–09 1988 Loud Jazz Quintet Gramavision 1987–12 1988 Pick Hits Live Quartet Gramavision 1987–10 Live in Tokyo 1989 Flat Out Quintet Gramavision 1988–12 1990 Time on My Hands Quartet w/ Joe Lovano. Acoustic jazz supergroup featuring Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette. Blue Note 1989–11 1991 Meant to Be Quartet w/ Joe Lovano, Marc Johnson, and Bill Stewart Blue Note 1990–12 1992 Grace Under Pressure Quartet w/ Bill Frisell plus horn section on half of the tracks Blue Note 1991–12 Frisell and Scofield had previously partnered in Marc Johnson's Bass Desires 1993 What We Do Quartet w/ Joe Lovano, Dennis Irwin, and Bill Stewart Blue Note 1992–05 1994 I Can See Your House from Here with Pat Metheny, quartet Blue Note 1993–12 1994 Hand Jive Sextet. Soul jazz session featuring saxophonist Eddie Harris two years before Harris's death. Blue Note 1993–10 1995 Groove Elation Quartet plus horn section and percussion. Soul jazz session featuring the New Orleans style drumming of Idris Muhammad and organ by Larry Goldings. Blue Note 1995 1996 Quiet Trio plus horn section, feat. Wayne Shorter on three tracks Verve 1996–04 Scofield plays exclusively acoustic guitar, focus on arrangements, some light jazz waltzing and bossa nova, appropriate title 1998 A Go Go with Medeski Martin & Wood Verve 1998? First collaboration with avant-jazz-funk organ trio 1999 Old Folks Duo with David Friesen West Wind 1993–04 Conceptual compilation of equally dealt four leaders with Kenny Garrett, Michael Brecker and David Friesen 2000 Bump Duo to quintet in altering constellations Verve 1999 Scofield plays acoustic guitar on some tracks and adds more sound effects, opens further up to (slightly) younger musicians like Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen and Mark De Gli Antoni introducing electronica 2001 Works for Me Quintet w/ Kenny Garrett and Brad Mehldau Verve 2000–01 Contemporary post-bop line-up and repertoire 2002 Überjam Überjam quartet up to sextet as The John Scofield Band, first time with Avi Bortnick and Adam Deitch plus John Medeski Verve 2001–07, 2001–08, 2001–09 With more effects, reaching into dub reggae, jungle grooves, rap and samples 2003 Oh! Acoustic jazz quartet as ScoLoHoFo w/ Joe Lovano, Dave Holland and Al Foster Blue Note 2002–07 2003 Up All Night Überjam quartet plus horns as The John Scofield Band with Andy Hess, bass guitar Verve 2002–12, 2003–01 2004 Scorched with Mark-Anthony Turnage Deutsche Grammophon 2002–09 2004 John Scofield Trio LIVE EnRoute Trio w/ Swallow and Bill Stewart Verve 2003–12 Live in New York City 2005 That's What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music of Ray Charles Verve 2004–12 2006 Saudades as Trio Beyond w/ Larry Goldings and Jack DeJohnette ECM 2004–11 One-time Tony Williams tribute band 2006 Out Louder as Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood Indirecto 2006–01 First recording of Medeski, Scofield Martin & Wood partnership with co-equal contributions from Scofield and Medeski Martin & Wood 2007 This Meets That Trio w/ Swallow and Bill Stewart plus horn section EmArcy 2006–09 – 2007–04 2009 Piety Street Quartet feat. vocals EmArcy 2009? 2011 A Moment's Peace Quartet EmArcy 2011? 2011 MSMW Live: In Case the World Changes Its Mind as Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood EmArcy 2011? [2CD] Live 2013 Überjam Deux Überjam EmArcy 2013–01 Follow-up to Überjam (2002) and Up All Night (2003) 2014 Juice as Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood Indirecto 2014? 2015 Past Present Quartet w/ Joe Lovano, Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart Impulse! 2015–03 2016 Country for Old Men Quartet w/ Larry Goldings, Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart Impulse! 2016–04 2017 Hudson Quartet w/ Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier and John Medeski Motéma 2017–01 2018 Combo 66 Quartet w/ Gerald Clayton, Bill Stewart and Vicente Archer Verve 2018–04 2020 Swallow Tales Trio w/ Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart ECM 2019–03 2022 John Scofield Solo ECM 2021–08 2023 Uncle John's Band Trio w Vicente Archer and Bill Stewart ECM 2022–08 [2CD] 2025 Memories of Home Duo with Dave Holland ECM 2024–08

Compilations Slo Sco: The Best of the Ballads (Gramavision, 1990) Liquid Fire: The Best of John Scofield (Gramavision, 1994) Best of John Scofield (Blue Note, 1996) Steady Groovin': The Blue Note Groove Sides (Blue Note, 2000)

As a sideman Albums listed by year of release. (Links to artists and labels on first appearance.)