The Jon Brindley
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When I
went watching John Scofield’s Uberjam…
The first time I heard John Scofield on the
radio I knew he was something special and when I was posted a flyer for his gig
in Manchester there was no question about not going. When he came on the stage
there was no music for about 5 minutes as he started fiddling around with all
these pedals and stuff. I felt quite underawed by this entrance but it all fell
into place soon enough as the sounds began to draw me in and intoxicate. The
bass player (Andy Hess) and the drummer (Adam Deitch) were as accomplished as I
have seen and the other guitarist with him (Avi Bortnick) was yet another
magician and also a master dabbler with sampling. John himself is a guru and I
subscribed to what he and his guitar were saying totally as he played the most
unexpected notes and phrases yet always came out of each tight situation
impossibly yet naturally. The power of the music was incredible and subtle as
energies fed energies and layers of sound built up.
Even on this voyage into the galaxy of funk, the audience at
the Royal Northern College of Music suffered from inertia and nobody danced at
all until the encore when Mr. Scofield said “we mean it, we want you to dance”.
But no-one grooved until about 3 minutes into the number when I could stand it
no longer and jumped over the seat in front of me onto the dance floor. The
crowd cheered me on and I started dancing with the verve and intensity of a
young Bruce Springsteen. There were others who joined then and John watched me
appreciatively for a short while as he chewed his gum and I believe that to be
the highest point in my dancing career. It went like a dream for about 5
minutes…….. but the number lasted for roughly 15. I should have quit while it
was going so well and by the end of it he had definitely stopped watching me
and I was so knackered that I could barely move, yet I was too stubborn to sit
down! Being so ashamed of my unfitness I made myself drop and do twenty
press-ups on the way home. I have since joined a gym.