Guitarist John Scofield is trading straight-ahead jazz for grease and groove this Halloween weekend, bringing his Electrospective project to the SFJAZZ Center for three nights starting Friday. The three-time Grammy Award-winning musician will lead an all-star quartet through a set built around his most electric, funk-driven material, with shows running October 30 through November 1.
The project, as SFJAZZ describes it, finds Scofield branching off from the straight-ahead path to get his funk on, pulling from the eras of 1987's Blue Matter, 1997's A GoGo and 2002's Überjam. The Bend Bulletin, however, lists Blue Matter as a 1986 release, a discrepancy the dossier does not resolve. Either way, the shows promise newly arranged versions of that groove-oriented songbook alongside fresh, similarly electric material, according to The Mercury News.
Joining Scofield onstage are keyboardist Larry Goldings, bassist Oteil Burbridge and drummer Adam Deitch — a lineup the guitarist has called stellar, saying every night on the tour has been fantastic and different, per the Mercury News report. Burbridge is well known for his work with Dead & Company, Tedeschi Trucks Band and the Allman Brothers, while Deitch is a Grammy winner for his playing with Lettuce. Goldings, a Grammy-nominated artist with more than two dozen albums as a bandleader, has collaborated with Scofield since the 1990s, a history that stretches back decades according to JamBase.
Where the Idea Came From
Scofield has said the whole concept started at home. Speaking with the Bend Bulletin, he explained it was actually his wife Susan's idea: “Why don't you get a really good, funky band and play your old tunes?” The suggestion tapped into something fans had been asking for all along. “People like it,” Scofield said of the older material. “They liked those records then and ever since, they've asked me to do it again,” he told the outlet.
The guitarist's aim isn't nostalgia for its own sake. The same JamBase report notes he wants to breathe fresh life into the compositions rather than replicate the originals, giving decades-old tunes new shape with this particular group of players. Deitch, notably, played on the original recording of “Thikhathali” during his time in Scofield's Überjam band and shares a writing credit on that composition.
A Tour Already Underway
San Francisco isn't the start of this run. Scofield launched the Electrospective Tour at Cincinnati's Ludlow Garage six days ago, on October 14, with Burbridge, Deitch and Goldings already in tow. That debut drew from his 1980s fusion recordings as well as collaborations with Medeski Martin & Wood and his earlier Überjam projects, the same JamBase account notes.
After the SFJAZZ run wraps, the tour keeps moving. Scofield and his Electrospective band are set to play Bend's Tower Theatre on November 4, and the itinerary extends all the way through November 21 in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to JamBase's tour coverage.
Show Details for the SFJAZZ Run
The San Francisco shows begin at 7:30 p.m. on October 30 and 31, and 7 p.m. on November 1, per the Mercury News. Tickets start at $50 and are available through sfjazz.org. Scofield, who has won three Grammy Awards over his career and once performed at the 48th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in 2005, continues to be defined by his willingness to wander from jazz orthodoxy into funkier terrain — and this Halloween weekend, San Francisco gets a front-row seat to that detour.
