Call and Response

There is some serious jam action going on here: funky beats, soul-man rhythms, boogie, Curtis Mayfield sounding riffs, Al Green ballad comping.  God, this is a good record.

The opening song “Camelus” wastes no time getting to its funky essence. The tune is driven by a clean rhythm guitar vamp from talented guitarist Avi Bortnick (who also does the sampling here and throughout the record). Former Gov’t Mule/Black Crowes bassist Andy Hess’ bass lines are amazing, paralleling Bortnick’s single-note rhythm and Walter Becker sounding neo-jazz chords, Scofield slides in with his funky virtuoso licks.  The song is straight forward jazz funk for the most part, but midway into the song, Bortnick’s eerie samples signal a shift in direction. You can hear Bortnick’s sampling throughout, especially to an eerily effect on “Torero.”  John Modeski’s organ on the album is subtle enough to be overlooked most of the time, but it’s there, nonetheless, adding alternative dimensions of tone and feeling of this record

“Boogie Stupid” has this great drum intro from Adam Deitch, while Bortnick’s vamp seems to relentlessly drive the bottom, laying the rhythmic groundwork for Scofield’s riffs whose sound of funky-used-harmonics is ridiculously good. “Dub Dub,” on the other hand has this strange reggae feel.  Jazz guitar improvisations built on the ubiquitous reggae pulse always run the risk of bottoming out of ideas, certainly more so than the blues. Scofield, however, understands rhythm, so takes his time, fleshing out inside/outside bends, executing blues-like tones leads.  Very strange but beautiful organ harmonics from John Modeski in the background

“Scotown” is Scofield’s version of Motown-laced tribute riffs.

“Cracked Ice” begins with this relentless, driving, rhythmic Steely Dan feel that quickly dissolves into straight-ahead soul funk.  Scofield subtly slides in, deftly laying down tight whammy-bar licks over Bortnick’s solid, James Brownish chords.  No one covers the scales and harmonics like Scofield—his ideas have no bounds. This jazz , I tell myself, is definitely not your appeal-to-the-masses neo-pop/rock jazz.  This is honest, playing-music-to-have-fun jazz. Towards the end of the track, more eerie Modeski with a repetitive bell like vamp.

“Al Green” is all about Scofield’s lyricism and harmonic control.  It’s Al Green’s voice we hear in Scofield’s lines

“Curtis Knew” opens with this light, repetitive theme.  Just what did Curtis know?

Finally, there is nothing abrasive (as fusion can sometimes be) about this album. Uberjam Deux doesn’t pretend to be laying the groundwork for any new jazz-fusion direction, nor does it target jazz-head elitists who think playing a great jazz record more than once a year is jazz-sacrilegious. It’s just a very good record.  Hell, it plays just as fresh after twenty spins as it did after one.