John Scofield: Quiet New Beginnings

Veteran jazz guitarist John Scofield has moved to a new label and released an ambitious new album, Quiet (Verve), on which he plays nylon-stringed acoustic guitar (rather than his usual electric) accompanied by a six-piece horn section. It's also got guest soloist Wayne Shorter. In keeping with these new developments, Scofield brought a new quintet of young players to the Regattabar a week ago Thursday and Friday. Change has done him good. The album is among his best, and during the engaging first set by the new band on the 3rd, he was clearly enjoying himself.

On Quiet, Scofield has done more than use horns to flesh out his melodies; he's created fully-developed orchestral settings for his solos. The horn section, featuring two tenor players who double on flutes, lead trumpeter Randy Brecker, and either bass clarinet or baritone saxophone or tuba, is mellowed by two French horns; they provide shifting autumnal colors voiced in tight harmonies that give the arrangements a subdued inner tension. Gil Evans is clearly the model for the arrangements, but Scofield's pared-down ensemble distills the Evans sound to its essence, giving the music clarity, depth, and beauty without sacrificing power or expressive range.

Scofield works with the horns, rising over them or insinuating his lines into their shifting colors and harmonies, or working in call-and-response with them. Unplugged, his sound retains its sharp-edged sting -- penetrating and brilliant as light off a knife blade -- as well as its capacity for unexpected tenderness and supple grace. On "Away with Words" his solo bristles with emphatically percussive notes but softens into lightly articulated, gentle chords. On the Brazilian-flavored "Tulle" and on the waltzing "Hold That Thought," Scofield improvises lines that flow with seeming ease and inevitability over preposterously wide harmonic leaps, creating irregularly shaped phrases, cross-hatching against the beat, and making unexpected right-angle turns, sudden stops, and jackrabbit starts. That combination of tough-minded wit and vulnerability lets him express warm sentiments without sentimentality throughout the album, especially on tunes like "Rolf and the Gang" and "But for Love."

Wayne Shorter appears on three of the album's nine tracks. He's in good form, delivering a solo full of subtly displaced notes and off-center phrasing on "Away with Words" and a nicely shaped statement that balances short, jabbing riffs and smooth, lazy phrases on "Door #3."

At the Regattabar, Scofield arranged the album's horn charts for keyboardist Kevin Hays and tenor-saxophonist Seamus Blake while bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart took care of the rhythm chores. Scofield, who stuck to electric guitar with the exception of "Bedside Manner," was especially inspired in a call-and-response exchange with Hays and Blake on "Tulle." Blake has clearly listened to Wayne Shorter, and the thematic development of his solos betrayed a knowledge of Sonny Rollins, but no single influence dominates, and he shows every indication of developing into a strong musical personality. On synthesizer, Hays captured much of the delicate mystery of the album's arrangements, and his solos -- though they made less of an impression than Blake's -- also transcended imitation. This was only their third night together, but like Scofield's debut on Verve, it was a performance that bodes well for the future.

-- Ed Hazell