When John Scofield first met Steve Swallow in the early 70s while the former was a student at Berklee College of Music, Scofield was still years away from being, you know, John Scofield but Swallow was already Steve Swallow. Over the prior decade, the trailblazing bassist had been a part of Jimmy Guiffre’s cutting edge trio with Paul Bley and later Gary Burton’s groundbreaking fusion jazz band. By the time he encountered Scofield, Swallow had been playing electric bass exclusively, becoming a pioneer in the use of that instrument within the jazz context.
Sco didn’t simply learn from Swallow, they’ve played together on and off over the decades. In 1979, John Scofield formed a trio with the bassist and drummer Adam Nussbaum that continues to this day with Bill Stewart eventually replacing Nussbaum (on some days their early live date Shinola is my favorite Scofield record).
The guitarist became a lifelong colleague and admirer of Swallow’s probably for all those things and more, but there’s another reason: starting around the mid 60s, Swallow became force to be reckoned with as a composer, too. So Swallow Tales is not just a continuation of this long-running trio, it’s John Scofield’s way to call attention to that side of Swallow that probably does need more notice.
All recorded on a single afternoon in March, 2019, these are songs performed without much formal forethought, but they know these songs plenty well enough to play them at the gut level, and the time not spent overthinking produces a very breezy, loose session, especially by ECM standards. Everyone is ripping, but the distinction is that they’re ripping away on some rather sophisticated harmonies even if they are also very melodic; if someone — especially Scofield — were to lose track of the song during improvising, you’d know it right away. That was never going to happen with these elite musicians.
In its original incarnation, “She Was Young” was set to lyrics — poetry, actually — by Robert Creeley, but this time, the waltz slows down. Right away, it occurs how easily Steve Swallow songs become John Scofield songs, even when the composer himself is present on the cover. Sco’s uniquely lyrical language is a perfect fit for Swallow’s pretty strain and the bassist’s aside is quietly expressive as well. But then Scofield and Swallow take their shoes off and lightly jam on the last chord for several minutes, hardly disrupting the easygoing vibe of the song set from the start.
“Falling Grace” is a song long associated with Swallow’s old bandleader Burton who first recorded it with Swallow back in 1966 and later it became a staple of Burton’s and Chick Corea’s performances together. Scofield exploits the guitar’s ability to bend notes and in the process makes the tune really swing, with no small help from Stewart.
“Portsmouth Figurations” was also introduced to the world by Burton, a year later on 1967’s proto-fusion record Duster. Like Bob Moses did then, Stewart plays a key role in lighting a fire under it, and Sco be-bops like his early 90’s self as Swallow bass walks like a machine.
“Awful Coffee” here is a much more low-key performance than the one that appeared on Carla Bley’s big band album Appearing Nightly, but also where one can really hear Swallow’s one-of-a-kind bass tone and patterns, illuminated during his on-point solo.
“Eiderdown” was the first tune Swallow had written, back in 1965 when drummer Pete La Roca led its maiden recording. Here, Sco is bolstered by a crisp rhythm section, and Swallow’s bass is holding down the swing so well, Stewart is free to loosen up. The guitarist goes right from stating the theme to single-line notes with a few octaves tossed in a tasty brew of a solo. It seems the longer Scofield goes, the more original ideas he comes up with, not less.
“Hullo Bolinas” is another example of Swallow’s interesting choice of chords, making the song flow in a tricky but still natural sounding way. Covered long ago by greats such as Burton and Bill Evans, Scofield honors the spirit of the song with an earnest grace, and Swallow’s own aside is fittingly low key.
“Away” is one of Swallow’s lesser-covered tunes but there’s nothing else ‘lesser’ about this ballad. Swallow is again given the chance to sketch out a complement to his own melody on his brief but centerpiece bass spotlight.
Swallow built in a drum feature for “In F” and when he first recorded the song in 2011, original John Scofield Trio drummer Nussbaum was the guy featured. This time around, Stewart is the man and his approach is more meticulous; he never abandons his responsibility to swing.
“Radio” is one of those instances where Swallow plays a broken walking bass line and the ever-perceptive Stewart follows suit busting up his swing as well. Scofield barely states the head before leaping into extended solos with enthusiasm.
When you’re done listening to Swallow Tales, you understand that even with a very small band played in no-nonsense bop style, Steve Swallow songs are the sound of quality modern jazz from the last fifty years, the sound of ECM Records and the sound of harmonic refinement within the wrapper of a singable melody. Swallow Tales is a tribute to an historically great jazz bassist and composer that’s long overdue.
Swallow Tales becomes available June 12, 2020 via ECM Records.
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