John Scofield/Al Di Meola
Antone’s/One World Theatre, November 17/19
Fusion, fusion, everywhere is fusion: drums and bass, rap and metal, alt and country. Teeny and bop. Thanks to Miles Davis’ hard-wired musical genius and his landmark albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970), the term “fusion” still best evokes the unholy bastardization of rock and jazz. Guitarists John Scofield and Al Di Meola, both Berklee College of Music alums (the former making his name with Miles in the early Eighties, and the latter an integral member of Chick Corea’s seminal fusion meltdown Return to Forever in the early Seventies), could retire teaching workshops on jazz fusion, but have chosen instead to utilize their expertise in unconventional if not mainstream fashion. At Antone’s, during his second set in a two-night stand with ex-Living Colour guitar activist Vernon Reid, Scofield, his quartet, and his Les Paul did their best to connect with a game young crowd of gimme-cap guitarheads and aspiring air axemen. Loops triggered the second guitarist and his dearly beloved wah-wah pedal, while Scofield went searching for Eric Johnson on the high landrons of the upper stratosphere, and the rhythm section kept things funky. According to conventional wisdom, Scofield, thanks to his 1998 collaboration with jazz jam band Medeski Martin & Wood, A Go Go (Verve), is currently courting third generation Deadheads/jam band aficionados with groove rather than bop. If his 90-minute set here, which drew almost exclusively from his latest album Bump, is any indication, conventional wisdom got game. Even the Simon & Garfunkel nugget “Scarborough Fair” sounded a bit Phishy. Not that it didn’t work; Scofield just seemed somewhat self-conscious most of the evening, as if the groove he was looking for was specific to some demographic rather than the evening’s vibe. Al Di Meola, on la otra mano, showed little concern for his audience at the lovely One World Theatre two nights later. “Get ready to rock,” warned founder/executive director Hartt Sterns, evoking Pat Metheny’s raucous show there last month, while also plugging upcoming shows with acoustic guitar whiz Jose Feliciano and Earl Klugh. Al Di Meola did just that. Like Scofield, the Jersey-born guitarist was also backed by a trio — piano, drums, and congas, in this case — only in this quartet, there was no question who the featured soloist was: Al Di Meola. Lightning fast and technically flawless — musically aggressive — Di Meola let rip a fierce, 90-minute barrage of Electric Rock Tango Music, subtlety and crowd-pleasing be damned. His Barry White impersonation revealed a good-humored, amiable entertainer, but his pulsing, white-hot guitar playing was pure carnivorous beast. Di Meola’s new Telarc release, The Grande Passion, paying tribute to Tango Master Astor Piazzolla as he did here, withered under the guitarist’s onslaught. It’s a wonder the venue didn’t blow a fuse.This article appears in December 1 • 2000.
