Scofield's bridge picking is one of the (Many!) things that really gets me. I love classic Jazz guitar tone but his plunge into full on nasty is ace. It's particularly refreshing to hear on straight ahead standards.

Scofield is really a jazz-rock-funk fusion guitarist. He’s a top notch improvisor.

"Expression is mostly in the right hand." In Jazz more than some other genres, but so much of Scofield's sound is in his left hand, all those little microtonal bends that make everything sound greasy. One my favorite players. Saw him in a tiny club in California, sitting a few feet from him, and got high with his bass player afterwards. Good night.

I totally agree with you. I saw Scofield when he was with Miles. I had never heard anything like it in my life.

Originally playing stock models, Sco and Pat got signature Ibanez guitars as did George and Lee. Following this pattern there must be a "Jens" model Ibanez coming soon!

Scofield is just the greatest. His playing is always personal, always fresh.

Sco is the man! Always delivers. Blue Matter & Loud Jazz are my faves.

Scofield is beyond compare. Probably my most listened jazz artist ever

One of my favorite players. I saw him twice in a small venue. Live his phrasing, dynamics

Timing, on my way to see SCO this evening. I'm stoked.

Sco always gets it down right! A musician's musician! Cheers for this one

Your enthusiasm is infectious Jens, clear and with great examples of Sco's playing..I want you to reach 500,000 subs soon!

Would you say that Scofield and Metheny are genre-defining for Jazz as a style? A Genius Chord Melody Approach: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iLupfbR6uciclXk.html

Wonderful deep dive on one of the greatest ever. Yeah I’ve loved Scofield since I first heard him with Miles in the early eighties.

Thank you for the lesson. I'm going to start listening to Scofield after seeing this video.

JS Bach hey, I wondered what the JS stood for. Love scofield. I saw him live in the late 90s and his playing was magical.

Miles always picked the greatest players including Scofield. One thing I've noticed when encountering some of these musicians in person is that they are extremely sharp and intelligent people. In 2019 I attended a public sound check/ Q&A session with John Scofield and I was very impressed. He also had a beautiful guitar sound during the show. He never seems to run out of ideas when soloing. And of course he's written dozens and dozens of great tunes over the years. A true master!

I have loved Scofield since first hearing the Blue Matter album in the late 80s. He puts his stamp on everything he does. A complete original.

I've always gravitated more towards funk / soul / blues, but Sco was the first guitar player that made me want to get into jazz. When I heard Groove Elation and A Go Go, they blew my mind. Great video!

Thank you Mr. Larsen for one of your best breakdowns to date (your harmonic analysis has always been illuminating, but your production values on these vids is getting better & better!). As a player, I'm steeped in the rock/blues world, but I've always loved jazz guitar, and here you really nail the things I appreciate about Scofield's playing that I couldn't articulate anywhere near as well. Speaking of polarizing players (in some quarters anyway), I'd love to know how you feel about Allan Holdswoth's music sometime? His approach to harmony was so idiosyncratic/eccentric.

That's just what the Horn Industrial Complex wants you to think. Guitarists are the taste makers of jazz!

A genius admires a genius. Huge respect Jens.

Grappig! Ik ben deze video met John Scofield sinds vorige week herhaaldelijk aan het beluisteren om Alone Together weer opnieuw te leren spelen :-).

my opinion on scofield: 35 years ago, if he had taken a final master's degree exam, his mark would have been 100%. everything perfect and theoricaly correct has you describe. today he is well beyond that. he reached a level of freedom , his own language. 3 days ago saw him live in a small theater. I think it is the highest level of musicianship i will ever see.

Great video as always. More Scofield in the future please!

Jens, every word you say here is true!

My favorite musicians defy genre. Saying John Scofield is jazz is like saying Thelonious Monk is jazz, Less Claypool is funk, Hendrix is rock, Robert Fripp is prog... Duke Ellington has often pointed out that he doesn't know what "jazz" is supposed to mean and that he doesn't even call his work "playing the piano", he calls it "dreaming". After hearing Scofield live a couple of years ago I can safely say that he is my favorite musician I've ever heard. He can make a Bob Dylan song sound like a jazz standard and make any jazz standard sound like anything other than jazz. But all of them share the same quality. They all have the sound I can only refer to as the "John Scofield" sound. And just like Thelonious Monk puts it - a genius is the one most like himself. John Scofield is inexcusably most like himself in every single note he plays.

Pick Hits Live was my first introduction to jazz. Have seen Scofield many times in the Netherlands as he plays here quiet regularly. Great player, always sounds like him no matter what amp or guitar he uses (I've seen him with the AC30 and a Telecaster too). He has an interesting style of writing too. Some of his tunes are kind of easy groove and lick based jams (the stuff with Medeski Martin Wood for example) but some others are really angular and complex (see his tunes on Works for me). It is why I find the record with Metheny so interesting because the two playing AND writing styles are contrasted so nicely on that record. Hearing them interpret the same written melody just from the perspective of the beat is so interesting (take The Red One for example). He also never really seems to want to look back and refer to his older stuff. He plays the current thing most of the time. The reunion with Beard/Grainger/Chambers was a one off oddity in that sense. I do think Metheny is the one of those two with the long lasting wide impact because Metheny's impact goes beyond his playing. It's his sounds, his use of technology and making it mainstream acceptable within jazz, his compositional mindset and the results that delivers, his introduction of all kinds of non-jazz related styles within the jazz and improvisational idiom (pop music, Americana, folk, minimalism, etc.) and his ability to be very melodic and lyrical (his tunes are in the Real Book basically since inception of his work, that's not really the case with Sco's). In the end, Metheny is the one with the diversity in his music because Metheny is the composer of the two in addition to just being a very good player and improviser. Who else is going to give you Wichita Falls, Song X, Question and Answer, Letter from Home, Secret Story, Imaginary Day, Zero Tolerance for silence, Electric Counterpoint, Tap, and the Sign of 4?

Thank you for the wonderful lesson !!!

One example of a jazz guitarist that was a genre defining artist, in my opinion was John McLaughlin for fusion. Birds on Fire by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and his work with world music are iconic! But I know not everyone loves fusion as much as me 😂

Serious and copious analysis by top masters, thank you.

great way of explaining this,,, a master on a master!

I used to find it difficult to listen to early Scofield because of the chorused guitar sound but since he’s moved away from that I’ve enjoyed his playing much more. I think he does excellent arrangements of simple songs with interesting re harmonisation too like ‘House of Rising Sun’. The first album of his that I’d highly recommend to guitarists getting into jazz is his tribute to Ray Charles ‘That’s What I Say’ because he adds his unique improvisational style to some pretty amazing well known songs

I like that you mention Frisell in the context of Scofield - the Bass Desires records, and Sco’s Grace Under Pressure shows two very unique voices blending together to create a whole that is more than the sum of it’s parts - Sco using more bop and post bop language, Frisell using more orchestral and avant-garde lower East side language, not to mention the different but extremely complimentary tones they use. Both of them have had an influence on me and my thinking, as far as having a personal vocabulary informed by others (guitarists and other instrumentalists, from all periods) being much more interesting (to me) than being a textbook bop (or whatever) player. Very well done (loved the “typical Danish rehearsal space”, makes me want to visit…) - it does seem, from replies I got to a compliment I left you on another video, that you do have some commenters that are carrying pitchforks, so enjoy whatever fun they have with your opinions! It is my understanding that having an Igor around is how mad scientists escape those crowds, so you might consider having one around when needed. I appreciate your work.

Thank you very much for this excellent video, Jens. I completely agree that there are very few jazz guitarist that have changed the course of the genre, but I didn't think about it that way. Metheny and Scofield are among the very few making a clear imprint. I would add Holsworth to that shortlist of guitarists whose music may have influenced musicians playing other instruments.

So I am predominantly a bass player, no matter what you end up seeing on my yt channel. I’m also a huge fan of Scofield across his whole catalog. If I were a better guitar player I would emulate him.

While I completely agree that there's no household-name jazz guitar record, "Undercurrent" by Bill Evans/Jim Hall should be one, though it's definitely more focused on Evans (and rightly so). That being said, Jim Hall's playing in 1962 was a game changer.

wow!

He was my first teacher at the new school in New York city in 1973

Jens, excellent solo and analysis. I never really liked Scofield before this - I may have to reconsider. I hate the processed Berklee sound. Metheny sometimes sounds like he’s playing through a wall from a different room

Always great stuff Jens! Thank you

It's Scofield and Carlton for me that fits this super well!!

Correct analysis in my opinion.

Like Wes, Scofield has a great tone and sensibilities that appeal widely. As a few of my musical friends say, "actually listenable jazz". A bit harsh but they aren't wrong!

Scofield's playing is deep. One of the greats.

Great video Jens!

What is your take on Scofield playing with Medeski, Martin & Wood?

Sco is the best in my book!

verey very nice video man

Sco is the man.

I just learned that solo haha it’s really great

Hi Jens, I love this track! There is something I noticed and I wondered what your opinion was - at around 3:15 when you describe the chords moving up Gm, I think he is actually playing the Barry Harris 6th diminished scale alternating between inversions of the drop2 Gm7(Bb6) and F#dim(D7b9) which is why it sounds so cool. That also implies you might have one note wrong - the E on the 2nd chord should be an Eb in bebop world. Do you agree? I only noticed this as I am currently immersing myself in the genius of Barry Harris. Thanks again!

Wondering what you think of Ronald langestraat. He is a Dutch jazz artist. You might have heard of him.

Hi Jens! Please consider doing a piece on Philip Catherine. Love your work!

Charlie Christian was pretty influencial to Lester Young and other horn players Scofield is also a great inspiration to me Don't you think that his simpler style on this standard is because he is relying more on his ears now than playing his signature licks Everything he plays is so melodic, even pentatonics sound like a melodic development

Something about the music staff in this video changed. It looks so much better now compared to just pasting the screenshot of Musescore/Guitar Pro (or whatever you're using, anyway, what do you use?) in your past videos.

To my ears, Sco's harmonic concept comes out of Dave Leibman. If you listen to the album he did with Leibman you'll see. Also you can't leave out Abercrombie and Mick Goodrick.

No doubt Scofield can play! Jens, I have a question for you. Which do you think is more important to playing a good, really good solo, The notes the player chooses to play, or the rhythms used to play them? I'm kind of thinking of a player playing a bit outside the harmony, but rhythmically tying his lines back to chord tones. I can't think of an example right now, but recall hearing players play some rather odd, outside lines, but the lines sounded great because the player knew how to rhythmically tie his lines together and it all sounded great and made perfect sense. What are your thoughts on rhythm vs. note choices?

Jazz is training your ear to accept that out of tune notes are cool as well as naming those out of tune notes!

Another Great Video Jens. Although in my humble opinion, with Scofield in particular or Guitar in General, Expressiveness can come from both the Articulation, Dynamics and Techniques, of the Picking Hand and, the Hammer Ons, Pull Offs, Slides, Bends and Vibrato of the Fretting Hand. Melodies that have a lot of Long Notes and Rests lend themselves to Melodic Embellishments. Although some Melodies are so Beautiful that in my opinion they should be played Straight at least the First Time in the Form. My favorite Scofield album is Still Warm. It's Scofield at his most Scofieldian. Is that a word. For anyone that's interested in more information about Sparce Voicings, check out Three Note Voicings and Beyond by Randy Vincent. Thanks.

If we are talking about guitarists that stepped outside of the sounds of what one might call "conventional" jazz guitar, I think Pat Martino has to be in that club too.

6:26 contrary motion, interesting.

Jjens, I didn't know you were Vietnamese 😊

“They call me the Scofield kid”. “Why, you from Scofield?” - name the movie

Ive never heard a thing he has played that I liked...😂 Oh well...😊

Thanks for your videos. Do you have a book or recommend a book how to learn jazz?

Sco is God!!!

Listen to the 2nd song (Slinky) of scofield's live at marciac ft. mulgrew miller. His solo is quite legendary.

Hi Jens. Hope you can answer my primative based question: I'm not really a jazzer but I like some ideas. So if I had a dissonant melody I wanted to harmonize (put chords to) is there an easy/preferred method? I kinda want to focus on playing than TOO much theory if possible? Thanks!

Hi ! Do you know Mike longo 's work on syncopation? Hal Garper mentioned him in One of his videos. Thanks

I believe you forget the huge influence of Charlie Christian on bebop. Also fusion jazz is a part of jazz, not separate. The influence of players like Coryell and McLaughlin were huge and still being felt today.

I like to play a little of each instrument on Guitar as opposed to just focusing on the Guitarist.

Joe pass made a big change in jazz guitar, with his chord melody,no one played bass lines with chords they way he did, all the possibilities he showed guitar players they had never thought off till Joe Pass,he change the way people looked at there guitars, not to take anything away from John, but he's no Joe! John said that

SCO

I wonder who's Ibby sounds better??

No Dutch Bread ?? ☹

Bebop?

Django definitely influenced Jazz , don't you think ?

His earlier albums would be easier to listen to if he would ditch those pedals that he used.

Scofield is probably the best guitar player alive, along with Scott Henderson.

I'd say more or less less is more...

I stopped listening to Scofield because my take is that his articulation is usually weak or muddy. I can't hear well enough what he is playing.

12:36 'and isnt that what's it's really all about' no, not for me. not at all, in fact. the bebop police laughed and mocked me and i cant make a single cent from my music! sad world really. the well to do mock the poor! wonderful. im done with 'the tradition', it can eat my...

And he bent strings

Less isn’t more, and more isn’t more either

ok scof is great but i'm surprised that you can listen to an entire album from him lol ! i cannot ! oula ! even metheny i cannot ! i must say that a cannot listen to a guitar album ! sorry for my english ! just a guitar 1 hour . aie aie aie !

Sco rules!

I'd certainly say Django Reinhardt created a new style of Jazz