Uncle John's Band＜限定盤＞

昨年キャリア初のソロ・アルバムをリリースしたヴェテラン・ギタリスト、ジョン・スコフィールドの新トリオ・アルバム。スティーヴ・スワロウに変わりベースにはヴィセンテ・アーチャーを迎え、ドラムは旧友で安定のビル・スチュワートが担当。

昨年リリースのソロ作品から一転、バンドが大好きだというスコフィールドがアルバム全編自由奔放に演奏した2枚組アルバム。

ディランの「ミスター・タンバリン・マン」からニール・ヤングの「オールド・マン」、レナード・バーンスタイン『ウエストサイド物語』の「サムホエア」からマイルス・デイヴィスの名曲「バドゥ」まで、幅広いレパートリーに挑戦。さらに、「星へのきざはし)」や「レイズ・アイディア)」などのジャズ・スタンダードと、スウィング、ファンク、フォークなど様々なテイストを取り入れた7曲のスコフィールドのオリジナルが肩を並べ、最後を飾るのはアルバム・タイトルにもなっているグレイトフル・デッドの曲『アンクル・ジョンズ・バンド』。

作品を貫く赤い糸は、このトリオのインプロヴィゼーションの勢い。「私たちはどこへでも行けるような気がする」と、スコフィールドは、本トリオの多方面への多才さを語る。

ジャム・バンド・ファンにもジャズ・ファンにも幅広くアピールできるギター作品。

Despite being associated with ECM for decades as a collaborator and sideman, its surprising that Uncle Johns Band is only the third leader date for guitarist John Scofield. Over two discs and 14 tracks, Scofield and his longstanding trio -- double bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart -- reflect their performing persona rather than their recording one. Live, they let the music they play determine their direction, not a set list. Scofield penned half these tracks and theyre sequenced among cover versions of iconic folk, rock, jazz, and show tunes. A case for the latter is the set opener, a reading of Bob Dylans "Mr. Tambourine Man." Scofield kicks it off in droning Indian raga style, using his leads above modal chords as Stewarts cymbals and bells and Archers guiding bassline add ballast. "TV Band" a strutting, swaggering post-bop funk jam. The guitarist and bassist unfold the progression and follow the verse melody before opening a delicate, lyrical improvisation in the guitar solo. "How Deep" is a 32-bar bop tune that swings hard amid arpeggiated solos and fours traded among string players. "Back in Time" openly cross-references "Ghost Riders in the Sky," "Greensleeves," and "Scarborough Fair" amid its dark Americana tempered with blues. Miles Davis "Budo" (essentially a Bud Powell tune with a bridge) is rendered as modern bebop and swings like mad. "Nothing Is Forever" is introduced by Archer and Stewart before the guitarist layers silvery chord voicings in a syncopated progression that kisses blues, bossa, and post-bop atop the rhythm sections lithe groove. The disc closer is a fleet, rockist reading of Neil Youngs "Old Man." With the electric guitar taking the place of a human voice as the lyric instrument, Scofield makes limpid changes to harmony, color, texture, and tempo, moving the proceeding from pop song into exploratory, post-bop in his solo. The trio returns to swing out the melody in closing. Disc two offers truly moving readings of standards "Stairway to the Stars," a pop ballad from the late 1930s, and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheims West Side Story theme "Somewhere." There isnt a nostalgic note in the trios graceful presentations of these songs -- they offer sparse phrasing, lush, graceful lyricism, a spectral rhythmic pulse, and spacy atmospherics. "Mo Green," an original, sways and slips across NOLA-styled R&B (thanks to Stewarts canny drumming), soul-jazz, and Latin grooves. The title-track set closer is a cover of the iconic Grateful Dead tune that opened 1970s Workingmans Dead. Scofields fingerpicking of the simple melody is striking; it captures the softer side of Dead guitarist Jerry Garcias complex musical personality. The trio use the tunes melody to quote and weave in luminous threads from country, folk, bluegrass, and childrens nursery rhymes. They add rhythmic complexity to stretch parameters as Scofield traces then extends harmonic invention via modern jazz. Though Scofields recordings are always high quality, Uncle Johns Band captures this trios spontaneity, magic, and risk-taking in a recording studio for the very first time. ~ Thom Jurek