John Scofield – Groove Elation

Galloping between the steppes of the terrific "Hand jive" (Blue Note, 1994) and "A go go" (Verve, 1998), the funkier stage of Scofield's music in the mid-90's visited the lands of "Groove elation" with the company of the late Dennis Irwin and Larry Goldings -the core of his band-, the collaboration of Idris Muhammad (in lieu of Bill Stewart) and the absence of a tenor sax co-leading the front line. This album is the natural continuation of the Hand Jive Band, which left behind the conventional jazz-quartet aromas (with Joe Lovano) in favor of a more colorful orchestration (call it organ, brass and woodwinds which would be central in "Quiet" (Verve, 1996)), less traditional rhythms and different grooves described as soul-jazz and already heard in his previous album.
Given the fact that Goldings had already made a name on his own, with Sco at his best, this set of mid-tempo tunes (all originals) doesn't suffer from the apparent lack of soloists and marks the end of Scofield's relationship with Blue Note, Dennis Irwin and soul-jazz. Very good sequel. Take it to that island along with Hand Jive!