Greith House Ortisei

John Scofield: The sovereign master of the times

John Scofield at the Greith Haus

(Bild: Peter Purgar)

Guitar great John Scofield honored the Greith-Haus St. Ulrich with his new formation "Yankee go home". An irony-free reminiscence of the grand masters Dylan or Grateful Dead could be experienced - also in the new numbers.

John Scofield can enter and exit with perfection: the 72-year-old jazz guitarist moves his new formation "Yankee go home" through scales, stylistic forms and even through time as a whole in the Greith House. The home to which the "Yankee" returns is the roots rock of Scofield's youth.

After the intro, drummer Josh Dion fluffily shovels the backbeats onto the snare. Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" comes out of the museum immediately. What Scofield then does with Dylan, however, is a grandiose, age-appropriate alienation: typically distorted in sound, his barbed solo removes the folk melody from its traditional harmonies until bass (Vicente Archer) and piano (Jon Cowherd) allow the sound to seep away into the darkness.

Irony-free restructuring
When the "Dylan like back then" finally returns for a short chorus, the deliberate change becomes clear: exit, entry, nostalgia. In this way, Scofield restructures the "old music" without becoming ironic. Because everything here is wonderfully serious, from the old-school funk of some of the new numbers to Dion's heartfelt folk vocals in the Grateful Dead ballad "Black Muddy River". Scofield switches freely between original and commentary - as the sovereign master of the times.