This Meets That

Delightfully eclectic and artfully executed, This Meets That is vintage Scofield, covering a range of styles, sparkling guitar tones, and impressive soloing. He's joined here by compatriots Steve Swallow on bass and Bill Stewart on drums, who have backed Scofield many times and are probably his most sympathetic rhythm section (tellingly, Scofield calls them his “A-Team”), along with a four-piece horn section that adds depth to many of the tunes. And there are some excellent compositions here, from the atmospheric “Down D,” with its moody horn arrangements, to the laid-back funk of “Shoe Dog” and “Heck of a Job” to the sultry swing of “Strangeness In the Night.” He also revisits an old gem, “Pretty Out,” that first appeared on his excellent 1991 release Grace Under Pressure. The recording features eight Scofield originals along with three unexpected covers: a wistful take on Charlie Rich’s gem “Behind Closed Doors,” the traditional “House of the Rising Sun,” in which he’s joined by old friend and collaborator Bill Frisell on tremolo guitar, and a wicked version of the Rolling Stones classic “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” the latter two being a couple of the first songs Scofield ever learned to play on guitar. It all adds up to another memorable release by one of the masters of modern jazz guitar.