John Scofiele's Out Louder : a study of band arrangement and performance practice

Abstract

John Scofield is a guitarist who applies elements from rock, blues and R&B in his jazz guitar playing. This enabled him to achieve uniqueness in terms of sound, and playing approach. His collaboration with John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood in the album Out Louder, represents a culmination after years of experiment with synthesized sound, use of guitar effects, and jazz avantgarde concepts. This study offered an insightful analysis of the following five selected tunes: 1) Little Walter Rides Again, a funk piece in medium tempo 2) Julia, a slow ballad with a glimpse of English popular music 3) Tequila and Chocolate, a medium tempo song in Latin groove with synthesized guitar effects 4) Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing, a Dixieland tune in medium tempo and 5) What Now, a song featuring shuffle blues rhythm with avant-garde concepts. These five tunes were investigated to achieve a thorough understanding of Scofield's guitar playing in terms of melodic embellishment, solo improvisation, band arrangement, sound design and form. The collaborated knowledge gained was then theoretically applied to the author's preparation and performance in his Graduate Recital.;