Scofield Stories Episode #1: Coast to Crossroads

Big Personalities, Brilliant Musicians, and a 7-String Guitar!

We couldn’t be more excited to release this video as the premiere of Scofield Stories. Here’s how this particular story came to be a Scofield Story:

Over a recent lunch, tenor sax giant Rob Dixon mentioned to John Scofield, our fearless leader here at Scofield Digital Storytelling, that he planned to record a CD with world renowned 7-string jazz guitarist, Charlie Hunter. John decided then and there that this momentous musical summit needed to be captured on video. His next call was to Dave Morrison, one of our favorite DPs, and plans were made to travel to Bunker Studios Brooklyn.

As John came to find out, Rob had recently played with Charlie on a tour of California and had approached Charlie about advice on advancing his career. Charlie suggested the idea of recording as a trio with legendary drummer Mike Clark, and Rob liked that idea a lot. Mike, who played with Herbie Hancock’s legendary Headhunters in the 70s, has had an illustrious career and more recently played with Charlie in Mike’s own band, Prescription.

So, on the weekend of March 11, 2018, the trio arrived in New York, and in a marathon recording session of 2.5 days, recorded and mixed nine original compositions of Rob’s and two additional songs that Charlie selected to create, “Coast to Crossroads.” Charlie acted as a producer and took more of a back-seat approach to soloing, which freed things up for Rob’s unique soloing on tenor and alto, Mike’s famous shuffle style rhythms, and trombonist, Ernest Stewart, who was brought in to add more brass touches to the session.

The resulting video is not only captivating in its portrayal of the brilliant musicianship of the players and Charlie’s strong leadership as a producer, but it also beautifully captured a tremendously unique body of music. It’s straight ahead enough for the true jazz lovers but with an added R&B dimension from Mike’s rhythms.

Please reach out and let us know what you think about the video, and remember to follow us on social media so you can see what Scofield Stories has in store!

Episode #1: Coast to Crossroads