This Meets That finds guitarist
John Scofield looking both backward and forward. It's his first recording for the
Emarcy label, but for the occasion
Scofield resurrected the trio he'd used on several previous albums, most recently 2004's
EnRoute: bassist Steve Swallow and drummer
Bill Stewart. Never one to rest on his laurels,
Scofield has throughout his career applied his virtuosity to several different streams of jazz, ranging from fusion-esque to orchestral to straight bop.
This Meets That is something of a mixed bag. The opening track, the
Scofield-penned "The Low Road," is a swinging funk jam that's one of several tunes on the record to employ a four-piece horn section. It's a smoker of a track, with
Scofield often teasing with distortion but never straying so far away that it might be called unmelodic. In addition to the
Scofield originals, three left-field cover songs demonstrate
Scofield's ability to apply his technique and imaginative thinking to just about anything he chooses. Perhaps one shouldn't be surprised that a musician always looking to expand his reach would try his hand at squeezing a classic country hit into a jazz framework, but that's what
Scofield does on the old
Charlie Rich ballad "Behind Closed Doors." It's a sweet, bluesy take and
Scofield maintains a pure, clear, non-ironic tone as he explores the song's nuances. The album-closing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," from
the Rolling Stones' songbook, is treated much the way
Otis Redding once did, as a forceful soul stomper (albeit with brilliant soloing), and "House of the Rising Sun," a traditional blues recorded by dozens of diverse artists, but perhaps best known from
the Animals' 1964 hit, veers far from its familiar melody as
Scofield plays tag with guest guitarist
Bill Frisell and
Stewart and Swallow race around each other and the two stringsmen. "Heck of a Job," its title an obvious reference to President Bush's much-ridiculed "heck of a job, Brownie" statement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, does use as its foundation a rhythmic base that could have come from New Orleans'
Meters, while "Strangeness in the Night" isn't that strange at all, with its stop-and-go rhythm and punchy interplay. "Pretty Out," however, is pretty out there, not quite anarchic but open-ended and frisky.
This Meets That, as its title implies, is less of a thematic album than some of
Scofield's more recent endeavors, but it's one that reminds listeners that both his chops and sense of adventure are not only intact but still growing. ~ Jeff Tamarkin, Rovi
