Well he's heard this question about a trillion times I'm sure. Sco did pay his dues. I've heard from people (on this list) who described him as a student at Berkeley transcribing and coping practically everything that Joe Pass ever did. Anyone who thinks that is a walk in park has never tried it. Then he moved on and integrated that ( and Jim Hall) with what he already knew about rock era guitar.
The he spent the rest of his life doing it every day and every night. There is no logic to creating great solos, and who knows where it comes from, but not from the conscious mind that is for sure. On that great album (that certainly is jazz) called Time On My Hands, with Jack Dejonette, Charlie Haydn, and Joe Levano, he created some awesome ballad solos. There was an interview with the transcriber who asked him why he played those notes. He said, that was because of something that Charlie and Joe were doing in that tune, I was following them, it was in the moment.
One of my favorite visual artists, Chuck Close, was asked how he was inspired to do his paintings and how he planned it all out, and he said, I'll hell you one thing, it ain't inspiration. Inspiration is for sissies. It's all about getting up in the morning and working you ass off for decades, and great things only come from those who see the little bits of what is good in what they do and expand on that, leave the unsuccessful stuff out. It's damn hard work.
Having said that, Sco's solos are not like Wes Montgomery,with an elegant beginning, middle, and conclusion, like a classic poem. They are much more in the raw moment than that. Don't think Coltrane could describe what he did either, or Bird. All depends on the moment and how you've prepared yourself.
j
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--- In jazz_guitar@..., JVegaTrio@... wrote:
Interesting exchange between Jimmy Leslie (writer) and John Scofield in the
Jan. 2011 issue of Guitar Player magazine. I was glad to see Sco tell it
like it is!
GP: That's a cool chord. Can you explain what you play during the
chromatic-sounding head melody that follows?
JS: There's nothing to explain. You just need to check out the notes, and
they are what they are.
GP: I know it's difficult, but can you take a shot at describing some of
the fantastic moves you make- whether they are pieces of chords, or chromatic
notes-that make your playing beyond the box, but not too far out?
JS: I won't describe them. I'm not going to oversimplify what has been my
life's work, which is to develop a vocabulary in jazz. You learn licks,
phrases, and songs, and then you try to piece together what you've learned
tastefully so that you don't sound like you are regurgitating licks. You
listen to what's going on for inspiration, and if you trust your own mind and
instinct, then you will come up with another idea... Eventually, you
realize you've said enough, and then it's time to shut up and end your solo.
Later on in the article, Scofield makes the following comment:
"I hope I didn't come across as rude when I was waxing on about how you
can't explain licks and stuff like that. It's just a pet peeve of mine. I
realize that's part of what the magazine does, but for me it's too close to
"jazz guitar in ten easy steps." I won't dumb it down because I think smart
people are going to get into it for what it is, and they want to know the
real deal. Jazz takes strong desire, and it requires a lot of practice. Once
it's ingrained, it's like a magic trick done with mirrors. You become
fluent in a certain way that's even greater than your understanding of how you
got there. People think fluency in jazz is a big intellectual thing, but
it's actually just a lot of work. You have to do the time."
Straight talk from someone who "walks the talk".
Cheers,
JV
Juan Vega
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