In the
jazz world, there are artists who are consistent but predictable and artists who are unpredictable but inconsistent.
John Scofield, meanwhile, is an impressive example of a jazzman who is both unpredictable and consistent. You never know what the risk-taking guitarist will do from one album to the next, but he rarely provides an album that is flat-out disappointing.
Ueberjam is a major departure from 2000's
Works for Me, the
Verve date that preceded it. While
Works for Me is essentially a straight-ahead
post-bop outing and employs acoustic-oriented players, like pianist
Brad Mehldau and bassist
Christian McBride,
Ueberjam is pure, unadulterated
fusion. This album always has a
jazz mentality --
Ueberjam is as spontaneous, free-spirited, and uninhibited as any
bop session that was recorded in
Rudy Van Gelder's studio in the '50s -- but on
Ueberjam, having a
jazz mentality doesn't mean excluding elements of
funk,
rock, and, at times,
hip-hop and club music. To those who fancy themselves
jazz purists, the phrase "pure, unadulterated
fusion" will sound like an oxymoron; if
jazz is fused, how can it be real, authentic
jazz? But then,
George Duke hit the nail on the head when he asserted that
jazz was always
fusion; even back in the days of
Jelly Roll Morton and
King Oliver,
jazz had a variety of influences. It simply became more fused when
Miles Davis recorded
Bitches Brew and
In a Silent Way in the late '60s. And speaking of
Davis, much of
Ueberjam reflects
Scofield's years with that restless trumpeter. Like many of
Davis'
fusion efforts,
Ueberjam has no problem being cerebral and funky at the same time. The material tends to be abstract and intellectual, but not at the expense of grit.
Ueberjam is yet another excellent album from an improviser who refuses to be predictable. ~ Alex Henderson
![The Very Best of Smooth Jazz Guitar [Shanachie]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0016351504326_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "The Very Best of Smooth Jazz Guitar [Shanachie]")
