GUITARIST JOHN SCOFIELD’S IMPROVISATIONAL CONCEPTS IN SELECTED PIANO LESS QUARTETS

John Scofield has created a very distinctive guitar sound and style over a long and impressive recording career spanning 40 years. He has played and recorded with many legendary musicians throughout this time. He has been both sideman and leader on recordings encompassing a wide variety of styles and instrumentation including periods with both Miles Davis and Joe Henderson’s bands. His improvisational style bridges the period between early pioneers of guitar from the 1940’s & 50’s based in Swing and Bebop, and more modern approaches which incorporate elements of modality, advanced harmonies and rock/pop musical influences. To date, little scholarly research has been done on Scofield. This thesis will explore and analyze the improvisational style of John Scofield in the context of a piano-less quartet. It will focus on his playing with three different piano-less quartets comprised of; guitar, saxophone, bass, and drums. This instrumentation puts the guitar in the dual performance role of soloist and main harmonic accompanist. This is a significant variance from the 1920’s - 60’s more common reliance on the piano as primary harmonic instrument in the ensemble.U of I OnlySchool of Music polic