Juice is the fourth recording that pairs heralded jazz guitarist John Scofield with John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood. Scofield explains that MSMW entered the studio with the intention to record “music from the different rhythms of the African diaspora, by which you can say jazz, rock and roll, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian—all of which comes from the African root. We also said, ‘Are we really gonna stick to this?’ and then decided, ‘No, let’s let it go wherever it goes.’” Scofield details the journey that ensued as he discusses the 10 tracks on Juice, which is set for release on September 16 via Indirecto Records.

Sham Time

“Sham Time” was a song that John Medeski knew from a Willie Bobo record, a real old ‘60s Latin jazz record. We heard it and said, “Oh, cool, let’s do that” because it would give us a chance to do our thing with this boogaloo kind of beat that MMW and I have done a lot. So we recorded it and then we found out after the fact that Eddie Harris, the jazz saxophonist and one of the greats of what became acid- jazz, had written it. Eddie Harris is someone I used to play with, and I got him to be the special guest on my record Hand Jive. We didn’t know it was an Eddie Harris tune until after the fact because John had it on his iTunes, which does not include composer credits.

North London

That’s my tune, and originally, the piece of paper had “Brazilian Boogaloo” as a working title. I knew about Airto Moreira’s early music because I had played with him in about the very first jazz gig I ever played. Airto came to Boston around 1973 and needed a band to do a tour with him and his wife, Flora Purim. He hired me, Kenny Werner and a bunch of guys. We opened for Cheech and Chong—it was hilarious. He was from the generation that invented samba jazz and this was my version. Then we started playing it, and I realized that there was a certain kind of Mersey beat thing to it. It reminded me of when I first got into music, listening to The Dave Clark Five. And then I thought, “Well, they weren’t from Liverpool. They were from North London.”

Louis The Shoplifter



That’s Billy Martin’s tune—his kind of Latin jazz-blues. I love the way John uses the acoustic piano on this track. It really sets a mood. All of MMW approach instrumental tunes with an unspoken concept of what they should play that gives each song a certain character. I love that about them. So many jazz musicians just play generic jazz, and the songs don’t have any character—they’re just jazz. But MMW are special that way and that’s what John and Billy and Chris do to every track.

Juicy Lucy

This is the one tune that we put together in the studio. We had one vamp that ended up being the second section of the song and then, I started to play the three-chord guitar lick to “Louie Louie.” I changed it minutely but, basically, that’s what it is. And then, we just put it together. John plays a fantastic Latin piano on it and Chris is playing this wild African dub bass—real muted.

I Know You

“I Know You” is my composition, and it’s, for lack of a better word, a bossa nova tune—a real slow one. I love the way MMW played it—they got so into it. Billy Martin plays this beautiful brush beat that sounds like anybody can do it but, let me tell you, nobody can do it. It’s a very simple thing, but to keep that going and to not be tempted to play busy, and to keep it going but still groove and to do little punctuations, is very difficult. Billy Martin is as great a groove drummer as he is a free, absolutely no-holds-barred conceptualist.