Matt Schofield Has Anything But Time

Anything But Time (Nugene Records) is the latest recording by the relatively young Matt Schofield. Schofield is a triple threat as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist whose blues has strong funk and jazz elements. His latest effort was recorded in New Orleans and produced by John Porter. On this he is backed by his organ trio of Jonny Henderson on keyboards and Kevin Hayes on drums. Jon Cleary guests on several tracks and producer Porter is on one. Eight of the ten tracks are Schofield originals, with the neither of two covers being over recorded numbers.

With the opening title track it is clear that Schofield has a way with words and how he delivers them as well as fluid guitarist. Henderson’s organ adds another strong instrumental voice on this marvelously paced performance. That pretty much characterizes this entire recording. He may not quite equal Albert King on “Wrapped Up In Love,” but he does place his own spin while displaying some of King’s influence in his tone and playing here. And if Albert King may be a strong influence, the influence has been distilled by Schofield in his own style and approach. The rest of this album is on the same level.

This writer was impressed when seeing Schofield at the 2007 Montreal International Jazz Festival, and that impression is reinforced by this excellent recording. Schofield is a strong convincing vocalist and an superb, imaginative guitarist backed by an excellent band. The result is this marvelous recording, Anything But Time.

I received a review copy from a publicist. Here is Matt Schofield and trio performing one of the songs on this album, Dreaming of You.