John Scofield Quotes

“I like forms that are flexible, that can let you feel creative.”

— John Scofield

“Generally, when a record label suggests album ideas for you, you smile politely, and then proceed to shoot it down, because it's never what you as an artist feel is right for you.”

— John Scofield

“The Meters are, I think, the most influential group in our time to come out of New Orleans, to have changed and introduced us all to a way of playing, and to a groove and a level of feel in playing funk-jazz.”

— John Scofield

“It's really good to be forced to get away and try something else, find something that's exciting.”

— John Scofield

“I find as much inspiration from the forerunners of jazz as I do the modern-day innovators of jazz.”

— John Scofield

“I have to work at tunes to get them to come out. Sometimes I'll sit there for four or five hours and get absolutely nothing.”

— John Scofield

“I guess I got lucky with my sound.”

— John Scofield

It turns out kids today still learn that four-chord progression when they're just picking up the guitar.

— John Scofield

“The jazz clubs wind up having only rich tourists - the kids can't come. If they do, then they spend their entire monthly allotments on a 45-minute set.”

— John Scofield

“Who isn't a fan of Ray Charles?”

— John Scofield

“In the States, this type of jam-band phenomena has opened it up for groups to improvise, admittedly more in the groove area, as opposed to the straight-ahead jazz thing - which is good for me, as that's one part of where I'm at. It's been so great playing these gigs and seeing kids come out and the whole college scene.”

— John Scofield

“It's one thing to sit at home and write a piece with your guitar, and quite another to have it performed by four people. For me, it's always trial and error.”

— John Scofield

“When I write a tune - and it's been like this for many years - I always hear in the back of my head some sort of vague, orchestrated, fully fleshed-out big-band version of the song with other parts going on.”

— John Scofield

“One thing people always ask me is 'How do you play outside?' ... I have no idea how to teach that, but when I was discussing this with our bass player Jesse Murphy, he said 'tell them to go cliff diving' ... In other words, when you're jamming, you have to take risks if you want to find new sounds ...”

— John Scofield

“The key to playing with any group is you listen all the time and you listen more than you play.”

— John Scofield

When you compare music, you lose the joy of listening to it.

— John Scofield

“Sound is what drives my solos, not verbal concepts, I never think 'I'm going to use a Lydian Dominant scale and then go up a half-step', even though that might be exactly what I end up doing ...”

— John Scofield

“We don't want any vocalist messing up the music.”

— John Scofield

Hang on to your eccentricities, because they will give you a style.

— John Scofield