John Scofield’s Guitar Matches His Band’s Zest

Guitarist John Scofield believes in thinking young. The group he brought to Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday for the opening set of a six-night run included a trio of players--keyboardist Will Boulware, bassist Matt Garrison and drummer Marlon Browden--who looked young enough to be the 47-year-old Scofield’s sons. And his current band is a follow-up to his recent recording with another ensemble--Medeski Martin and Wood.

But the first tune at Catalina’s was barely underway when Scofield--balding and bearded, looking a bit like Robert Duvall doing an impression of a jazz guitarist--made it clear that his musical imagination was as vigorously youthful and energetic as any of his players. His performing history stretches back to the Miles Davis electric bands of the early ‘80s (as well as stints with Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan and the Cobham/Duke band, among others). In the interim he has made a highly personal synthesis of rock, jazz and funk, with occasional traces of country and sheer avant-garde sounds thrown in for good measure.

Opening his program with four high-powered numbers in a row--”Green Tea” and “Kubrick” from his latest Verve album, and two new, as yet untitled numbers--he was a bundle of high-voltage improvising. Assembling solos from fragmented pieces of melody, occasionally using electronic effects to create dissonant, parallel lines, he produced what might best be described as jazz soundscapes. Only on another, more laid-back number, also still untitled, did he lower the current somewhat. And even here, the rhythm roiled with undulating twists and turns.

The only glitch in this otherwise compelling presentation was the tendency of many of the tunes to fall into predictable patterns. In part, this traced to the use of Browden’s busy, chattering interplay between snare drum and high-hat cymbal to generate most of the rhythmic charge, with Garrison’s bass mostly laying down long, dark tones. Typical of the rhythm-section style for this kind of electric jazz, it confined the music to a narrow--if exciting--emotional range.

And, valuable as this kind of youthful energy may be, Scofield’s performance would have been even more compelling if he had balanced his youthful elan with a similar measure of the broader musical perspective that his maturity as a jazzman can provide.

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* The John Scofield Band at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-2210. $20 cover tonight, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at7 p.m.; $17 cover tonight, Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. Two-drink minimum.