John Scofield A Go Go 2006

John Scofield became my favorite guitarist during the summer of my freshman year. This was mainly caused by my guitar teacher, Andy Greene, who admired him as well. He suggested that I buy his album A Go Go; which incited a trip to Borders book store and a $16 purchase of an interesting album with an orange and white cover. I had been earning money mowing my Memere's lawn and I was excited about reaping the fruits of my labor. When I put the compact disc into the C.D. player of my mom's black Honda Civic, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but pretty soon I was grooving along to some jazz funk that even my mom enjoyed. The first track "A Go Go" started out with bongos and then turned into an organ trio (organ, bass, drums) with John Scofield playing the melody which was simultaneously played by low organ breaths. He had perfect articulation; he could play the same note in various ways, producing tones that were the same note, but sounded different. I listened to the entire thing and then listened to it again... and again. It was practically all I listened to for the next two weeks. I began to learn some of the songs on my own guitar, so that I could play along with the recording.

This album inspired me to pursue jazz guitar, which is what I did for the rest of the summer; it's what I'm still doing today. The sheer magnificence of the album left me awestruck. I would sit in the passenger seat of my mom's car, quietly savoring every note and sighing at the hippest and funkiest licks. I was quite and quietly envious of John Scofield. I couldn't understand how any one man could play such complicated music with such perfection, and have such incredible improvisational ideas. I was driven by this envy and the envy of other talented jazz musicians to work hard that summer on guitar.

One thing that John Scofield taught me was that good music wasn't always popular music. Everyone has different tastes. Each of us has his or her own ideas of what is great and what isn't. In this way Scofield's music opened me up to a wider world of music.