Up All Night (John Scofield album)

Up All Night
Studio album by The John Scofield Band
Released	May 20, 2003 (US) (CD)
Recorded	December 2002–January 2003 Long View Studios, Massachusetts, USA
Genre	Jazz fusion, jazz funk
Length	(CD)
Label	Verve Records
Producer	John Scofield, Joe Ferla, Avi Bortnick, Jason Olaine
The John Scofield Band chronology
Überjam (2002) Up All Night (2003) EnRoute: John Scofield Trio LIVE (2004)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Pop Matters	[2]
All About Jazz	(very favorable)[3]

Up All Night is an album by The John Scofield Band, released in 2003 as jazz guitarist John Scofield's sixth album for the Verve label, and the second for the band. Besides second guitarist Avi Bortnick and Adam Deitch on drums, Andy Hess has replaced Jesse Murphy on electric bass. The quartet is backed by a small horn section on half of the tracks, like on the 1971 hit by The Dramatics "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," the only track that is not an original. Five of the songs on the album were written by Scofield, another five were developed by the band (still with Murphy).

Critical reception

On AllAboutJazz Farrell Lowe begins his review “The Freaky Deaky is back!,” referring to Scofield's time playing with Miles Davis, “this is the most inspired playing I have heard from John Scofield in many years.”^[3] “Scofield inhabits a place in which the cerebral and the funky ... form an alliance and work together for the common good,” Alex Henderson writes in his four-star-review on AllMusic, and concludes: “Up All Night is a consistently engaging addition to his sizable catalog.”^[1] Whereas on JazzTimes Nate Chinen writes in his critique, “Scofield and crew acquit themselves flawlessly to the material, but ... there are no real clunkers on the album (despite a cheeky "Watch Out for Po-Po," which comes close). ... What seems to be missing is the edgy sensibility of a band reaching beyond its limits. It should serve as a testament to Scofield that those borders have already been stretched to the extreme.”^[4]

Track listing

All songs arranged by John Scofield

1. "Philiopiety" (John Scofield, Avi Bortnick, Adam Deitch, Yusef Lateef) – 6:23
2. "Watch Out for Po-Po" (Scofield, Bortnick, Deitch, Jesse Murphy) – 6:04
3. "Creeper" (Scofield) – 7:27
4. "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" (Tony Hester) – 5:53
5. "I'm Listening" (Scofield, Bortnick, Deitch, Murphy) – 2:58
6. "Thikhathali" (Scofield, Bortnick, Deitch, Murphy) – 6:58
7. "Four on the Floor" (Scofield) – 6:03
8. "Like the Moon" (Scofield) – 6:40
9. "Freakin' Disco" (Scofield, Bortnick, Deitch) – 8:21
10. "Born in Troubled Times" (Scofield) – 4:56
11. "Every Night Is Ladies Night" (Scofield) – 5:27

Personnel

• John Scofield - electric guitar, guitar samples
• Avi Bortnick - rhythm guitar, samples, loops
• Andy Hess - electric bass guitar
• Adam Deitch - drums
• Horn section on tracks 1, 4, 6–8, 11, arranged by John Scofield
  • Craig Handy - tenor saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
  • Gary Smulyan - baritone saxophone
  • Earl Gardner - trumpet
  • Jim Pugh - trombone
• Samson Olawale - percussion on track 6

References