John Scofield Trio

[Tom Storer]

John Scofield played Paris on Friday night with his trio, as part of the La Villette Jazz Festival. This trio of Scofield, Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart has toured Europe annually for several years but they haven't recorded yet - they're the extension of the Sco/Swallow/Adam Nussbaum trio that made three or four very nice records in the late 70s/early 80s.

They were *great*. I've never heard them play so well and I've seen them a lot. They did a combination of standards, bebop tunes, and original compositions, going from graceful ballads ("Scarborough Fair," for example, and "Alfie") to swinging bop at breakneck speed, to funkier, guitar-hero jams... beautiful soloing all around, and Stewart's drumming was fantastic, constantly plyrhythmic in his own dry manner.

Scofield announced they are just about to record a new album!

The opening act was Jim Black's AlasNoAxis, about which the less said the better.