Scott Henderson Discussion

[Kevin Thomas]

I'd like to have the opinion of someone who's a bit more advanced that I am in music.

I love John Scofield. But there is something I'd like to know.
Very often, he ends his tunes all alone, and he slows down, and takes time, and goes very adventurous with the melody and the voicings, so much that sometimes I even get the feeling that he's lost.
Sometimes when he does that I think"What a wonderful way to end it", and sometimes I think "What is he doing???". And then I think someone who does not know him at all would say "It's a piece of crap", which I know it can not be, just cause it's Sco!

Do you get the same feeling? Or is it just that his playing his 10.000 feet over my musical understanding?

Kevin

[Scott Henderson]

I haven't heard a new recording of his for awhile so I don't know what you mean - I've never heard him do what you're describing. If you name a particular tune, I can check it out on Spotify.

[Kevin Thomas]

I forgot to mention that I was talking about live performances.

Here is one with a great ending (though he hardly hit the last low note): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbzDKsVWEkY

And here is another one. In fact I heard it again, and the ending is just great, 2 minutes only Sco alone, but around 6:08 and 6:50, it sounds weird.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd2MtTMQ97Q
(by the way,the very last chord on that song reminds me of the sound in "the rain song" by LedZeppelin)

What I think is he's improvising, and then sometimes it leads to one mistake every once in a while. Then it remains on YouTube until the end of times, and some idiots like me are trying to figure out what he's playing.

[countandduke]

Oh yeah... That last chord of "The Rain Song" on the movie/soundtrack "Song Remains the Same"... Just beautiful...!

I think it was Joe Diorio (please correct me if I'm wrong) that said something along the lines of he enjoyed improvising so far "out there" that it was indeed a challenge to figure out "a way back". I'm sure I'm paraphrasing I'm sure. But I think that's one of the great things about improv is that you can try lots of different ideas and see what happens...

Best,

Chris

[Red Suede]

Art- "Technique sufficient to produce an emotional impact". Either you like something, or you don't. Those that like it are your audience, those that don't are not.

[Red Suede]

Art- "Technique sufficient to produce an emotional impact". Either you like something, or you don't. Those that like it are your audience, those that don't are not.

[Scott Henderson]

I listened to those links and I don't hear anything wrong - he's just going for it. He make a few small mistakes, but who doesn't? At the end, he's going a little out of the harmony of the tune, and maybe it sounds strange to you - if the bass notes of that harmony were there, you probably wouldn't think it sounds weird.

I think he sounds great, and his tone has improved - it's a bit brighter with a little more reverb compared to live clips I've heard before.

[Kevin Thomas]

I should try to understand that he is a human being. And why focus on the few mistake that last a 1/10s? We're surrounded with music with no heart, no balls, no risk,no errors. So that when I see a master like him do anyhting that I could call wrong, I feel like it's not a normal thing. But it is a normal thing.

Have you noticed he's playing with Carl Fredericksen from "Up" ?

[dizzy]

The reason Scott didn't have anything bad to say about Scofield's endings is because of Scott's ending that he describes in guitar wank:
Whole notes on G A B and finally a big C chord.😂