The year was 1986 and it was this song Techno that turned me on to John Scofield, as it appeared on an acetate floppy record that came in an issue of Guitar Player magazine. For those of you who remember, this was standard fair every month in the magazine. It was great way of being turned on to new guitarists in those days-way before the internet, email, Instagram and all of the other geeky nonsense we have today.
I loved the funky feel of the drums and bass and how John lazily orchestrates his guitar around them. Then I found out it was Omar Hakim on drums from Weather Report and Darryl Jones from Miles Davis. In fact, Darryl was on the Mile’s album Decoy that Scofield played on in 1984. I went out and bought the cassette Still Warm and played the crap out of it and still do to this day!
Years later when I was living in Hollywood, I went down to the Catalina Bar & Grill and saw Scofield live with Larry Grenadier on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Great show and he even signed that cassette cover of Still Warm with Techno on it, in which I still have framed. In those days Scofield was not really known to the rest of the world, but it is so nice to see he has such a large following today with his breakthrough to the Jam Band world! Go-Sco!
You can learn more about John Scofield here
About the Curator: Brian Tarquin
Multi Emmy Award winning Brian Tarquin is an established top rate composer/guitarist. He has won 3 Emmy's for “Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series” and has been nominated for an Emmy 6 times. In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” Three years in a row (2016-2019) Tarquin received “Best Album of the Year” nominations from the Independent Music Awards for his releases: Guitars for Wounded Warriors, Orlando in Heaven, and Guitars for Veterans. On which, Tarquin shows his guitar prowess alongside such world-class shredders as: Steve Morse, Larry Coryell, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot (Guns N’ Roses), Reb Beach (Whitesnake), Chuck Loeb (FourPlay) to name a few. In 2006 SESAC honored him with the Network Television Performance Award. Tarquin has graced the Top Billboard Charts with such commercial releases as: This is Acid Jazz, Vol. 2, Sweet Emotions, and Bossa Brava: Caliente on Instinct Records, followed by several solo jazz albums, which charted Top 10 at Smooth Jazz Radio R&R and Gavin charts. Brian has appeared on 38 releases, selling over 140,000 records in his career.
