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John Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer. His music blends jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, Soul music and Rock music. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis.
He has been nominated for nine Grammy awards and won three. He was also awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
He has toured and recorded with jazz saxophonists Eddie Harris, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, and Joe Lovano; keyboardists George Duke, Joey DeFrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Larry Goldings, and Robert Glasper; fellow guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Pat Martino, and Bill Frisell; bassists Marc Johnson and Jaco Pastorius; and drummers Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, and Dennis Chambers. Outside the world of jazz, he has collaborated with Phil Lesh, Mavis Staples, John Mayer, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Gov't Mule.
In 1976, Scofield signed with Enja Records, 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.Kelman, John (2011). Interview. AllAboutJazz. Retrieved August 10, 2013. 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.Cf. credits on album.
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 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 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 music on the 2009 album Piety Street with Jon Cleary and George Porter Jr.
On September 18, 2007, EmArcy Records 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.
| Trio (JP) | 1977–08 | Recorded in Tokyo | |
| Enja Records | 1977–11 | Live in Munich | |
| Enja | 1978–11 | ||
| Novus Records | 1979 | Re-released 1990 with the four originals from Bar Talk as bonus tracks | |
| Arista Novus | 1980–08 | ||
| Enja | 1981–12 | Live in Munich | |
| Enja | 1981–12 | Live recording from the same concert venue as Shinola | |
| Palo Alto | 1982–05, 1983–12 | ||
| Gramavision | 1984–04 – 1984–05 | Scofield plays also bass and Oberheim DMX drum machine | |
| Gramavision | 1985–06 | ||
| Gramavision | 1986–09 | ||
| Gramavision | 1987–12 | ||
| Gramavision | 1987–10 | Live in Tokyo | |
| Gramavision | 1988–12 | ||
| Blue Note | 1989–11 | ||
| Blue Note | 1990–12 | ||
| Blue Note | 1991–12 | Frisell and Scofield had previously partnered in Marc Johnson's Bass Desires | |
| Blue Note | 1992–05 | ||
| 1994 | Blue Note | 1993–12 | |
| 1994 | Blue Note | 1993–10 | |
| Blue Note | 1995 | ||
| Verve | 1996–04 | Scofield plays exclusively acoustic guitar, focus on arrangements, some light jazz waltzing and bossa nova, appropriate title | |
| Verve | 1998? | First collaboration with avant-jazz-jazz-funk organ trio | |
| West Wind | 1993–04 | Conceptual compilation of equally dealt four leaders with Kenny Garrett, Michael Brecker and David Friesen | |
| 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 | |
| Verve | 2000–01 | Contemporary post-bop line-up and repertoire | |
| Verve | 2001–07, 2001–08, 2001–09 | With more effects, reaching into dub reggae, Jungle music, Rapping and samples | |
| Blue Note | 2002–07 | ||
| Verve | 2002–12, 2003–01 | ||
| Deutsche Grammophon | 2002–09 | ||
| Verve | 2003–12 | Live in New York City | |
| Verve | 2004–12 | ||
| ECM Records | 2004–11 | One-time Tony Williams tribute band | |
| Indirecto | 2006–01 | First recording of Medeski, Scofield Martin & Wood partnership with co-equal contributions from Scofield and Medeski Martin & Wood | |
| EmArcy Records | 2006–09 – 2007–04 | ||
| EmArcy | 2009? | ||
| 2011 | EmArcy | 2011? | |
| 2011 | EmArcy | 2011? | 2CD Live |
| EmArcy | 2013–01 | Follow-up to Überjam (2002) and Up All Night (2003) | |
| Indirecto | 2014? | ||
| Impulse! | 2015–03 | ||
| Impulse! | 2016–04 | ||
| Motéma | 2017–01 | ||
| Verve | 2018–04 | ||
| ECM | 2019–03 | ||
| ECM | 2021–08 | ||
| ECM | 2022–08 | 2CD | |
| ECM | 2024–08 |
| Released in 1975 |
| Released in 1989 |
| Released in 1978 |
| 2 tracks |
| Released in 1979 |
| Released in 1979 |
| Released in 1980 |
| Released in 1980 |
| Released in 1981 |
| 2 tracks |
| Released in 1984 |
| Three further tracks of this 1983 session in New York were released by the Finnish Rytmi magazine |
| Scofield on seven of the 20CD box set released in 2002 |
| released in 1986 |
| Part of the 1986 concert series Jazzvisions: Made in America in Los Angeles |
| released in 1987 |
| 2 tracks |
| Released in 1991 and reissued in 2014 on Jazzline |
| Released in 1990 |
| Released in 1992 |
| Released in 1992 |
| Released in 2018 |
| Released in 1993 |
| Released in 1993 |
| Released in 1994 |
| Released in 1996 |
| Released in 1997 |
| 2 tracks |
| Released in 2000 |
| Released in 2015 |
| 2 tracks |
| Charity tribute album for Phish and The Mockingbird Foundation. Guitar on "Cars Trucks Buses". |
| 1 track. Released in 2003. |
| Released in 2005 |
| 2DVD-Video |
| Released in 2007 |
| 1 track |
| Released in 2010 |
| Released in 2010 |
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