23 years ago, divine providence brought keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood together – obviously, the Great Spirits thought the world needed to dance more.
Getting the whole planet to shake its collective butt is no easy task; your music must know no beat borders or genre fences. What’s required is absolute free-range funk. World groove rooted in jazz. Multi-colored blues. Rhythms that come from the marrow. Musical exploration that can’t even begin until the map is thrown out the window.
Medeski Martin & Wood nailed all that from the beginning and have never looked back.
In the meantime, guitarist John Scofield has been on his own open-minded musical journey that dates back to the ‘70s. Conversant in everything from bebop to fusion; blues to funk; Saturday night roar to Sunday morning gospel, Scofield’s list of bandmates and collaborators over the years is beyond impressive – almost scary. There are jazz greats (including Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis); there are funkmasters such as George Porter Jr., Avi Bortnick, Jon Cleary, and Adam Deitch; there have been tie-dyed tours of duty with Phil Lesh’s Friends and out-there Überjam safaris.
And, because the Great Spirits know their stuff, there have been the times when Scofield’s orbits have intersected with Medeski Martin & Wood.
The MSMW powerhouse is a unique thing. Since the quartet’s first recorded collaboration – 1998’s A Go Go – years might go by without them sharing stage or studio. When they do, however, the results are magical: instant world groove that the quartet summons up from a place that only their combined hearts, souls and talents can find.
Juice is the latest studio offering from MSMW, a bowlful of funkiness infused with global beats and slathered in right now jams, captured in the moment with the tape rolling. John Scofield was kind enough to share his thoughts about Juice, recipes for magic, and some warm memories of Miles.
BR: John, how does it affect your playing to join forces with Medeski Martin Wood? Are there things that you might not do – or be more likely to do?
JS: Well, for one thing, I think we take it out more, you know? Those guys are pretty fearless and they’re coming from what was the avant-garde. Their training ground was that Knitting Factory scene in the Nineties; they really get into all this sonic weirdness and very surreal kind of … impressionistic kind of stuff – and I love that. They bring that out of me.
Also, they’re one of the funkiest bands around, which has made them so popular. As a group, we really don’t play straight-ahead jazz – that’s something we don’t do. Although I always tell people that the music I play with MMW – or any funk jazz groups – wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for bebop, you know?
For sure. Your originals on Juice : “North London”, “Stovetop” and “I Know You” – which is my newest favorite Sunday morning song, by the way …
Oh, thanks … that’s beautiful to hear.
Well … it is. (laughter) Were those tunes written specifically for this album?
Yeah, they were. We’d decided we were going to make the record and I was on tour with my own band in Japan. We stayed in the same hotel for, like, five days – and during that time, I wrote those three tunes, thinking of John, Billy and Chris. I’d work on them every day before I’d go to the gig, composing them with MMW in mind.
If you’re going to be on the road, it’s nice to be someplace for five days, isn’t it? It’s cool to be able to leave your shave kit and toothbrush in the same place, day after day.
Oh, yeah! If we were doing one-nighters, I would’ve been stuck in a van or a plane or whatever.
So how do you approach writing when you’re holed up in a hotel room like that? I imagine you with your trusty Ibanez in your lap, unplugged.
Exactly – I just write on the guitar. One thing: I like to record myself improvising – I just do it on my iPhone, you know? Maybe I’ll have a phrase that I like; I’ll write it out so I don’t forget it, then take it wherever I can and record it. Afterwards, I go back and listen; I’ll get a clue as to how the tune should go, you know?
So, knowing you were writing for these guys, how did you approach it differently than you might have for your own Überjam setting, let’s say?
I think about the way they play – especially the rhythms. The way Billy plays, for instance; he’s really great at Brazilian as well as funk and stuff like that … he’s got a special groove. The tune “North London” is what I’ve been told is a Brazilian boogaloo. And I knew he could play a beautiful bossa nova, so that’s the “I Know You” tune.
It’s how they groove. That’s really the basis for a lot of this stuff: the rhythmic elements; the feel of the song. It’s not just the changes and the melody – it’s how it feels rhythmically.
Billy Martin’s “Louis The Shoplifter” is a magnificent groove, but it’s a sweet melody as well.
Yeah – the drummer came up with a melody, you know? (laughter) That’s Billy: he’s so musical. He just taps the tunes on the piano with one hand, but he always comes up with a nice melody.
That’s one of those songs where, of all the different sounds John Medeski is capable creating with his keyboard setup, I love it when he simply digs into the grand piano.
And he had a real concept on that tune – the way he was approaching playing these kind of off-beats with the chords … it’s beautiful.
Absolutely. I think Chris’ “Helium” is as loose as things get on the album.
Oh, yeah. (laughs)
I have a vision of you and John facing each other, batting that jam back and forth.
Yeah, we were trading. He’s so much fun to play with – and we both kind of thrive on the interplay, you know? After you’ve been playing awhile, you get sick of just doing your own thing, you know? The magic comes when we all play together.
The core tracks on Juice are live, correct?
We didn’t overdub much at all … maybe a couple of the tunes when John might’ve overdubbed some organ – but you know, he often plays organ and piano together at the same time.
I didn’t change any of my stuff that I remember. There might’ve been a melody that I had to overdub that I blew – that’s definitely possible. (laughs) There are some percussion overdubs, where Billy came in and played cuíca or tambourine or something.
But other than that, it’s really just us live. We wanted to be interactive.
And it feels it. Everybody has a writing credit on “Juicy Lucy”. You know, the first time I spun that, I thought … “‘Louie Louie’?”
Well … (laughs) you’re absolutely right. I like to stick with the classics. (laughter)
We were like, “Okay, what are we going to do? Let’s get a groove going …” I started playing “Louie Louie” over it and that worked. Then we went into another section where John had some chords in another key … and we just put the two things together.
And it works.
Yeah! Why not (laughs)
John’s section that you mentioned is another example of great acoustic piano.
Oh, man – yeah, the whole record is full of these great rhythmic piano comps that John does. He can really get a groove going on the piano, you know? A lot of jazz piano players can blow all night … but they can’t play that kind of groove.
And then we have some covers, such as “Sham Time” – Eddie Harris! My wife turned me on to that great Eddie Harris/Les McCann live album years ago – Swiss Movement.
One of the greatest records of all time.
To me, “Sham Time” is a great example of Billy and Chris being fierce without being aggressive.
Uh-huh. It’s that kind of funk that’s coming out of jazz, really … it’s a certain kind of sophistication and those guys have that. Billy has a beautiful touch on the drums; he’s not just banging all the time. And Chris, too – these guys are sophisticated musicians.
Your cover of The Doors’ “Light My Fire” is about as straight-ahead rock as the album gets.
I know – it’s the only tune like that. Chris Wood brought that one in. He said, “I know this sounds off the wall, but I think we’d be able to play this.”
He’d written it out and everything; we’re reading a lead sheet on “Light My Fire”. (laughs) And everybody got it into it, so we said, “What the hell – why not?”
It’s cool the way you guys swap it around: you take the immediately-recognizable intro –
Right – which is the keyboard part on the original.
Uh-huh. And then you “sing” the verses with your Ibanez before John comes in on the organ. At that point, he definitely has some Ray Manzerek tone happening.
I know! John’s a rocker, man – in the finest sense.
Then there’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” – an iconic rock guitar song if there ever was one. But the way you guys approach it is almost like a dub arrangement: deconstruct and reconstruct.
Yeah – you got it. It wasn’t a planned thing – we were just jamming in-between takes and somebody started it. John started to play the guitar part on the organ – with two hands, you know. Totally displacing it; totally warped so that you can’t even tell what it is.
I actually can’t even tell you how we did it the way we did it. We just sort of played it a couple of times … and then we recorded it. With the big, abstract dub jam in the middle that probably goes on way too long, but I like it anyway. (laughs)
And then you wrap things up with “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. You took it from what originally was a young Bob Dylan’s warning to what feels like a slow headshake and a sigh.
A lament! (laughs)
Exactly.
“The damn internet … the times they are a-changin’!” (laughter)
I think what happened was, we were trying to find a mellow tune to have on the record and this one turned out to be it. When Bob did it originally, it definitely had more of an up beat, but we just sort of slowed it down … and it felt right.
It’s a great way to touch the album back down.
Thank you.
Next up for MSMW is some touring, I hear.
Yeah: touring Europe in November, followed by a US tour in December.
John, I have one more question that I’ve wanted to ask you for years, if we have time.
Sure!
There’s a YouTube video from when you were with Miles Davis – on stage in Tokyo, July of 1985, covering “Time After Time”. Miles holds down the fort in the beginning – and then, about the six minutes in, he turns the lead over to you … and as you start to play, he gently takes you by the elbow …
Yeah … (laughs)
And he leads you gently out towards the front of the stage. Man, it puts a frigging lump in my throat to watch it.
Oh, man … yeah. (sighs)
You know what? That was such a great experience to play with Miles. I mean, as well as being a musician, I’m a huge music fan. I love straight-ahead jazz as well as everything else we’ve talked about – and I was so lucky to get to know Miles and get to hear – and learn – about jazz from him.
He could be really nice to me like he was that day, you know? “Get up front …” (laughter)
Wow … I think about him all the time. I think about the way he played. I really tried to cop that. I’m not sure what … it’s not even the notes – it’s more like an attitude; a sense of pacing; a sense of being yourself.
There are times in your phrasing when I hear you taking “breaths” like a horn player would.
Thank you so much – that’s the greatest compliment you give me. Thank you, my friend.
*****
Brian Robbins sits and thinks about Miles Davis (among other things) over at www.brian-robbins.com
