John Scofield

Under the spell of jazz

It is only a tiny minority of artists that are able to express themselves with real skill, virtuosity and honesty in more than one style. John Scofield is one of their number, and he has been supplying impressive evidence of this versatility on nearly every new album for some 35 years now. Inspired by the great rock and blues musicians of the 60s, Scofield, who was born in 1957 in Ohio and grew up in lower middle-class surroundings in Connecticut, started to play the guitar at the age of 11. He got to know the music of Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Pat Martino through his guitar teacher, and thus John Scofield fell under the spell of jazz, which has remained his preferred musical genre ever since. He now makes his Elbphilharmonie debut as part of the anniversary week.