John Scofield Trio - Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR 9/04/2004

The great guitarist John Scofield recently stopped into a place he admits “has always been good to him,” and that place is Portland, Oregon. On this particular occasion he played within the warm ambience of the Aladdin Theater walls, ancient as they may be. He brought along accomplished sidekicks Dennis Stewart on upright bass and Bill Stewart on drums and together, the trio brought us straight ahead jazz in a stark naked setting. No light show. No fancy effects. No pyrotechnics. Just clean professional jazz.

The first set featured a different-than-you-might-be-used-to version of “Green Tea,” a song featured on the oustanding 1997 collaboration between Scofield and Medeski Martin &Wood known as A Go Go. Obviously in this setting, we didn’t get the funky feel that John Medeski brought to the original, but what it did offer was a monster solo by Scofield, one of the best of the night proving why some call him the greatest guitar improviser today. Another special moment from set one was a cover of the Louis Alter composition, “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?,” made popular by the one and only Louis Armstrong. Among other things, it showed the rhythmic range of the impressive Bill Stewart as he slowed the tempo to a dreamlike pace, which allowed for nice interplay between the men with strings.

Set two began with a tune called “Pretty Out” from 1991’s Grace Under Pressure, which, believe it or not, was indeed pretty out there. This gave the trio its first real chance of the night to remind us that things could be a whole lot weirder. A few uneasy moments later the madness segued nicely into “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” of which Scofield later proclaimed was “the oldest song being played on this side of Portland tonight, I guarantee it.” Being that it first hit the “charts” in 1911, he doesn’t get any argument from me and in fact, looking back, I’m surprised he didn’t make a bolder promise. Another second set gem, also made famous by a performer other than the composer was “You Don’t Know Me,” written by Eddy Arnold but stolen in all its glory and then re-invented by Ray Charles on his epic Modern Sounds In Country &Western Music, Scofield handled the song beautifully and confessed he’s been playing a lot of Ray Charles in his spare time lately.

Before the encore as fans remained on their feet clapping, the humble Scofield said appreciatively, “I can’t believe I get to play jazz for money and people like it!” Believe it John… believe it.