JOHN SCOFIELD, the guitarist for Miles Davis during one of his final periods as bandleader, returns to Hong Kong with a few pages freshly torn from the Great American Songbook. Backed by a new quartet, Scofield takes the stage at the Cultural Centre for two shows starting tomorrow to play tunes off his latest album, a heady but respectful take on the folklore genius of Ray Charles.
Shows in the US and Europe have fired up critics, who have heaped superlatives on the band's ability to throw open the doors on the R&B classics. And audiences love it, too, Scofield says - so long as they don't come to hear a cover band.
'That's not what this is about,' he says. 'This is taking that music and playing it our way. Nobody has said, 'Oh, you did Ray Charles' music well'. It would be nice if people did, but man, I didn't try to do anything like Ray Charles, because that would be stupid.'
Instead, Scofield says he approached the originals as ideas to explore. He adds congas and timbales to turn What I Say into a spring-loaded salsa. He grips Sticks and Stones with muscled funk, and on Hit the Road Jack weaves a jazz horn line through the menacing, relentless marching groove.
The album was suggested by Ron Goldstein, head of Verve Records, shortly after Charles died. Although Scofield says he prefers to come up with his own projects and is sceptical about theme albums, the idea hit home.
'It really was, 'Right, that can go a bunch of different ways'. I thought of about 20 possibilities just sitting there in the office with this guy from Verve. It's inspiring to play his songs.'
Scofield put the album together over Christmas in New York, convincing friends and assorted artists to navigate the snow gridlock and join him in the studio. New Orleans pianist Dr John appears, as do Aaron Neville, Warren Haynes from the Allman Brothers, and John Mayer.
