John Scofield Talks about Playing with Miles Davis 

Sco is the nicest cat in the world! I've known him for along time and he is ALWYAS the most humble person. And I've heard him play live hundreds of times and never heard a bad note.

Seriously, the Man!

I saw this band at the Blossom Jazz Festival in Ohio around 83 or 84, both Scofield and Stern were in the band, it was fantastic, at one point I see a figure standing at the edge of the stage, in a suit, holding a trumpet, it turned out to be Winton Marsalis but Miles ignored him!

He is easily one of my absolute favorite guitarists, but how refreshing of what a nice and humble guy he is. The man is a global treasure. I'd love to get more solo John!!

Scofield is an excellent storyteller and is so down-to-earth...

I love hearing these great old stories about Miles Davis. Like the one about how he enjoyed speaking to fans after the shows and how he'd stay for hours signing autographs and telling dirty jokes. Miles was always willing to offer advice and compliments. There was that one time where he told a crowd of 50-thoudsand people to go shove it up their asses. That Miles, what a character.

Had the good fortune of talking to John after a gig 20 years ago and was immensely impressed with his persona. Just a great guy to meet, not to mention blowing everyone away for the previous 2 hours. #1 on my list.

John's been in my top five for over 40 years. Absolutely love his solo on Miles "Decoy' .. nice interview.

Thank you very much for this interview. Just wish, Dominque Gaumont, Peter Cosey, and Reginald Lucas were here to interview. My favorite period, starting with McLaughlin. He may have started the '70' phase, Gaumont, Cosey, & Lucas finished this phase... Miles Morphs.

I saw John play with Miles, at the Royal Festival Hall London 1985. He was utterly fantastic. "Time On My Hands" remains a stone-cold classic. Good luck to him.

His solo on “Line for Lyons w Mulligan and Baker. Live. CTI. One of the loveliest guitar soloes i ever heard by anyone. And in 45 years as a jazz guitarist- i have listened- to many. Memorized it immediately.

Miles seemed to love the blues more and more as he got older, kinda his comfort food. Hard to imagine for someone who refused to sit still musically, always moving forward which was one of his great strong points. And he really brought the blues out of Scofield which John conveyed with his expanded harmonic sense. I love the album Decoy and the world of jazz guitar took a big leap then courtesy of John Scofield!

Great interview. Scofield is something else. My old man and Miles lived together a few times. Once when dad was the drummer with Bird and Diz and then later on he helped Miles get clean in the 50’s. Dad had some funny stories about Miles. John lived close to me in Missouri Heights Co but never got to meet him. Missed that 1!!!

Great chat! I saw him on the Blue Matter tour with Gary Grainger & Dennis Chambers, simply brilliant as well as with Miles along with Mike Stern 👍😊

I got into Sco and so many other musicians through Miles and now listen to Sco more.

My favorite Miles' guitar player and one of my favourite guitar players ever.

A couple of years ago Miles came to me at night. It was in another dimension - where he is now - and I peaked in. He was playing a synthesiser, but he was standing behind it and reaching over and playing the notes one by one... very slowly. More like making sounds than playing music as we know it. Then he reached over to some of the buttons on the synth and started pulling them back - like he was peeling a banana and pulling the keyboard apart. It was a surreal experience. A privilege.

My two favorite albums are still “Who’s Who” and “Rough House.”

Cool! Learned a lot about Miles!

Thanks, this is incredible. I always wondered what he thought about the 83 band with two guitarist.

Thank you for the mature and well-researched approach. It bums me out when I hear the same basic questions, over and over.

For the curious, Peter Losin's Miles website shows that the Sco/Stern edition of the Miles band last from mid-November, 1982 to the end of May, 1983, with some final gigs in Japan. Marcus Miller disappears from the live set lists after December, 1982, replaced by Tom Barney. One audience recording of the Sco/Stern/Marcus band (at the Felt Forum, in Dec. '82) made it onto a bootleg in Germany, but I can't find any other live documentation of this band. If Miles had been touring in Europe or Japan with this lineup, there would probably be professionally recorded gigs, but alas... :(

Saw Miles with Mike and John ..when he started ...he would just come on ,play , then disappear , then mike would do his thing ... Etc it was awesome!! Definetly Sco’s best soloing was with Miles...

You ARE my no.1, John.

in my top five players for sure on guitar without question. totally original voice

He is a top 5 all times for sure!! Great interview!!

John has delighted us for several years, accompanying Miles Davis. A great guitarist.

I wish Sco was my neighbour, such a great guy! Thanks for the insights!

Exceptionally interesting!!! 😁

He’s my no. 1.

So cool hearing these stories

great player and fun guy

John is in my top 5.

Sometimes it sounds like the John Scofield band when he solos & Miles is tinkering on the synth keyboard

just discovered john through "you're under arrest".

I found out about Scofield from his inclusion on Davis' "Star People" album. I've since seen Scofield in concert about a half-dozen times.

John is the best!! ❤️

Sco's great drummer Dennis Chambers turned Miles down around 1987 or so.

I would love to hear him just record his guitar single track and hear what he comes up with. He is so capable that there really isn’t a requirement of anyone else, unless of course, he wants something else to be there.

He is such fun! Seeing him live with his überjam project was just like heaven - except that he pulled these devilish faces... This, and his funny and honest comments in between the songs just put a grin on my face for days :D Listening to decoy right now ;) God bless you, John!

Schofield is a Great brand

Sco is my #1!

tutu is a good album.

What an awesome interview. Nothing like listening to a couple of good ol boys :)

Greaaaaat interview, thanks so much.

Great interview, thanks.

Great interview, thanks!

So awesome! thank you for that interview!

Superb💪

Enjoyed the interview. Thanks!

Great stuff

I’ve read a Barry Finnerty interview where Barry claimed that Bill Evans kept him out of the band, Scofield seems to corroborate that in this interview.

He played with Jaco so he’s good enough for me!

The tune, It Gets Better, sounds like it always was.

Top 3 for me: Santana, Scofield, DiMeola, no particular order

SCO!

Did he say Bill Evans on saxophone? twice? *(oh my bad, I just checked there really was a Bill Evans on Saxophone.. I live in the wrong decade)

For the record, Bill Evans played piano.

Cool but he doesn't really give any Miles stories...it's what everybody really wants to hear. :(

Jack Nicholas ? LOL

Bill evans on sax.!? Piano surely.

I wish the interviewer was better...