Although some have noticed a greater degree of formal restraint in Scofield’s latest music, Meant To Be is essentially a sequel to 1989’s Time On My Hands. Thus most of the upbeat pieces lay naive themes over crude harmonies and rhythms ranging from New Orleans march (Some Nerve) to calypso (Mr Coleman).
The solo sections are loosely ordered and the changes approached from the most abstruse of angles. Some attention is thus required to discern the broad developments and climaxes of the solos, if such things exist.
By contrast, the several lovely, languid ballads reveal their riches immediately. Scofield draws from a wider harmonic palette in this context, and both content and delivery are profoundly emotional. Miles Davis is recalled in the delicately etched lines of Keep Me In Mind, and Meant To Be, with its light bossa nova brushwork, is a reminder of Jobim’s wistful studies in melancholia. These are the most rewarding moments in another set which finds the great guitarist unusually reliant on the music of the past.
Discography
Big Fan; Keep Me In Mind; Go Blow; Chariots; The Guinness Spot; Mr Coleman To You; Eisenhower; Meant To Be; Some Nerve; Lost In Space; French Flics (68.36)
Scofield (elg); Joe Lovano (ts/acl); Marc Johnson (b); Bill Stewart (d). NYC, December, 1990.
(Blue Note CDP 7 95479 2)
