PRACTICE PORTAL

Honestly, i’ve never been a big fan of guitars drenched in electronic effects or, as i call them, affected guitars, in largely acoustic settings. but that’s never stopped me from enjoying a lot of John Scofield’s work. there’s the great record, “So Near, So Far”, led by Joe Henderson, which was featured in an earlier post. there’s also his date, TIME ON MY HANDS with Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette and Charlie Haden. a song from that date i particularly like is Scofield’s “Since You Asked”. i can’t help but think that maybe he had Mingus in mind when he wrote it. the writing definitely evokes echoes of a song like “Goodbye Porkpie Hat”. like “Goodbye”, “Since” is an understated, bluesy ballad with a 12/8 feel. it has an AABA form, starting out with Scofield alone on the first section. the band then joins him for the rest of the tune. the melody moves beautifully, especially during the bridge as the harmony wanders toward Amaj but never quite makes it there. then there’s Lovano, who, with his dark, woody tenor that serves a great contrast to Scofield’s ethereal soundbending,  just seems never to sound bad. he delivers a quiet, lyrical chorus full of beautiful altissimo work… so, here’s a sketch of “Since You Asked” along with a transcription of Lovano’s blowing. once again, the changes? i think they’re pretty close but i’ll leave you make the call…

JOHN SCOFIELD- “SINCE YOU ASKED” (mp3)

LEAD SHEET TO “SINCE YOU ASKED” (pdf)

JOE LOVANO SOLO FROM “SINCE YOU ASKED” (pdf)

Tags: Jazz, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Lead Sheet, Solos, Transcription

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 7:44 PM and is filed under TRANSCRIPTIONS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.