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Music CD - John Scofield: Works for Me
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Music CD: Works for Me
Artist: John Scofield
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $9.42
Your Save: $ 5.56 ( 37% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. I'll Catch You
2. Not You Again
3. Big J
4. Loose Canon
5. Love You Long Time
6. Hive
7. Heel To Toe
8. Do I Crazy?
9. Mrs. Scofield's
10. Six And Eight
11. Freepie
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0731454928120
Label: Polygram Records
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Polygram Records
Release Date: 2001-01-30
Studio: Polygram Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: John Scofield continues to amaze me
Comment: If you like jazz guitar you'll love the music on this cd. I love his tones and his melodic vocabulary seems to be endless. He's also an extremely dynamic player with big ears.
Cheers,
Matt
Customer Rating:
Summary: Works Wonders For Me
Comment: Talking with John Scofield after his JS Band set at the 2001 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, the guitarist acknowledged how great it was to have finally made some sessions with drum hero Billy Higgins just before Hig left us too soon (May 3, 2001). The resulting album is one of the finest in either one of their formidable catalogs, and it keeps bubbling up to the top of this pile of Blue Notes and Ornette discs that I keep handy for remembering Billy with. The rest of the crew here is none too shabby either, namely Kenny Garrett, Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride. OK
It's always a different line-up for each album when you're at the top of the jazz free-agency game, as Scofield is, but his adaptable songwriting remains *crucial* every time out, with something good for every mood. You want to kick back to a finger-snappin' groove - there's "Big J". You want to slink around to some fat bootie-shakin' stuff - go with "Loose Canon". You want driving, up-tempo propulsion - try "Do I Crazy?". You want to mess around with a swarm of bees - there's "Hive". You want to go out for a walk - pick "Heel To Toe". You want to have a quiet evening with the little lady - put "Love You Long Time" and "Mrs. Sco's Waltz" into a repeat loop. You'll get tired of it, but she won't. You want to harmonize parts with a Kenny Garrett solo? I can't resist *every* time at the end of his turn on "Six And Eight". It's like he's setting it up for you! There's even a thinly disguised version of the standard "There Will Never Be Another You" called "Not You Again" (in true Lee Konitz fashion). Everybody looks handsome!
Whether it's a jam band like the one he brought to A2, or this straight-ahead studio gem band, all that matters for the audience is: one, two.. Sco knows what to do. At 70+ minutes, this disc was my hands-down pick for the DownBeat Readers Poll Jazz Album of the Year, 2001. Now if we could just get Billy Higgins into the DB Hall of Fame, where there's been a special place of honor waiting for him for quite some time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Scofield's masterpiece?
Comment: I often feel as if John Scofield hasn't released a proper album since this one in 2000. I'm not suggesting he hasn't been very busy. There have been a couple of albums from The John Scofield Band (2002, 2003) and while these we both very good, they were also very experimental; I've got one by The John Scofield Trio (2003) but that was a live album, and the "Trio Beyond/Saudades" project (recorded in 2004, released in 2006) was again a live album and JS was headlining with Jack DeJohnette and Larry Goldings; there was the fantastic ScoHoLoFo project (2002) with Dave Holland, Joe Lovano and Al Foster and then the "Out Louder" album (2006) was with Medeski, Martin & Wood.
And there's more: There was the BeatleJazz project (2005); and the Ray Charles tribute album, "That's What I Say" (also 2005 and my least favourite of the bunch) and apparently, he's featured on many other artists' albums (like Roy Hanes' 2002 album "Love Letters" for instance, which I do have), some of which I haven't even come across yet.
So while JS has given us a good deal of good music in the last seven years, for me, essentially, this was the last proper John Scofield album. 'Proper' as in with him playing straight-ahead jazz.
And what an album it was too. It was via this album that I learned about Brad Mehldau and I swiftly went out and got every album of his I could find. He is joined on here by the wonderful Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone, the brilliant Christian McBride on bass and the very incredible Billy Higgins on drums. It's a joyride from beginning to end though once again - and I'm beginning to feel like I might possibly be a hopeless romantic trapped in a hardened cynic's body - it's the ballads I really love: "Big J" always makes me smile. I've played "Love You Long Time" so many times I can practically hum along to Garrett's beautiful solo note for note. And as for "Mrs. Scofield's Waltz", well, I'm just lost for words. And of course there's the winding and mysterious "Six And Eight".
In my view this is Scofield's best work in recent years. He gels with his guest artists here like they've been playing together for years. I don't know if he took these guys out on the road or not but if he did, those who saw them play live would've had a great time.
I sincerely hope he'll hurry up and bring out another 'proper' John Scofield album.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Big Bill's #26 of 2001
Comment: Excellent Jazz masterpiece. Claims it to be a "one only dream only". Might be my dream album as well. This is the jazz disc I've been looking for. Straight up with excellent musicians. No electronics and no sonic freak-outs. Recommened for anyone who enjoys good music. On par with "A Love Supreme".
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sco is great!
Comment: Sco is great. Along with George Benson and Rodney Jones he is one of the funkiest guitarists playing today. I love the way that he does the organ groove thing. This record is one of his best in terms of the groove and straight up funk. My suggestion, get Works For Me, Doing Something by Soulive and Soul Manifesto by Rodney Jones and have a couple of hours to kill. You will be grooved to death!Doctor Jazz
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Editorial Reviews:
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During his illustrious career, John Scofield has cleverly kept abreast of trends, lending his serpentine blues-'n'-jazz riffs to volcanic fusion blowouts, grits and gravy funk, even whisper-soft big-band projects. His chameleon approach has shone on such albums as Bump, his seminal fusion recordings Still Warm and Blue Matter, and his bop band workouts with Joe Lovano and Bill Stewart. At his core, Sco is a jazz master, and we long to hear him interact with other giants of the genre. Works for Me answers this expectation generously. What's so compelling about hearing Sco with Billy Higgins, Kenny Garrett, Brad Mehldau, and Christian McBride is the accumulation of the fiery solos each man plays and the mood of each collective note. Higgins is the balloon the band rides here, and Mehldau has never sounded better. Garrett's dense logic is the perfect foil for Sco's charred leads; the intimately crafted songs find each man going deep with each improv. The band's overall crystalline perfection is so relaxing that it's almost mystical. And for all that, they trade fours and eights, a rarity in the pressured world of studio recording. This is an exceptional album that tells its tales with great depth, detail, color, humor, and passion. --Ken Micallef
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