John Scofield, Bill Stewart & Steve Swallow Swallow Tales LP (Vinyl)

TAS Rated 4.5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sonics in the September 2020 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

One Of TAS' Ten Best Jazz Albums of 2020!

Guitarist John Scofield celebrates the music of his friend and mentor Steve Swallow in an outgoing and spirited recording, made in a day in New York in March 2019 - "old school" style as Scofield says, while acknowledging that more than 40 years of preparation led up to it. John was a 20-year-old student at Berklee when he first met and played with the bassist, and they have continued ever since.

"I love these songs," says Scofield of the selection of Swallow compositions explored here - a broad range including classics such as "Hullo Bolinas", "Eiderdown", "Falling Grace" and "Radio", as well as lesser-known works. The rapport between Scofield and Swallow is evident in every moment. "Sometimes when we play it's like one big guitar, the bass part and my part together," Scofield explains.

Behind the drum kit, Bill Stewart, a close associate of Scofield's since the early '90s, is alert to all the implications of the interaction. "What Bill does is more than 'playing the drums'," Scofield says. "He's a melodic voice in the music, while also swinging really hard."

As an example of modern jazz guitar playing, this is one of Scofield's finest efforts.

The trio expresses intimacy, empathy, and simmer available only to like-minded souls of long and comfortable acquaintance. The trio dissects the itchy twists and turns on the winding 'Falling Grace,' practically a jazz standard. Bill Stewart maneuvers 'Portsmouth Figurations' like a rhythmic beast, leavening Sco and Swallow's wiry melodies with jabs, stabs, and face slaps. Even when this trio rages, it's cozy and chatty, like a bar fight in a library. The 3/4 'Awful Coffee' begins flirtatious, only lifting its skirt during Sco's sticky, bridge-swiping solo. 'Eiderdown' rips it up fast and furious; the intro of 'In F' is all glancing blows settling into straight-ahead surety; 'Radio' exudes friendly, country music comfort. The sound, by Manfred Eicher and Tyler McDiarmid, is classic ECM, intimate and reverberant. Scofield has recorded dozens of albums since the early 1980s. He reinvents himself every time.