Marc Anthony Turnage on Scofield

**Christian Miller** · 01-11-2025, 08:29 AM

Quite interesting. Incoming Scofield concerto from the LSO for Simon Rattle's bday, form long time collab Mark Anthony Turnage.

In a way this is more like the way concerti were back in Mozart's day? Lots of improv.

I like Scorched quite a lot but the disparity between orchestral and jazz time/feel is quite surreal and humorous at times which I'm not sure was the intention. Not Turnage's fault, sounds like he's learned from it haha.

They play it like a 20th century classical work and it's cool:

But then it's immediately contrasted with this....

The big band fares better unsurprisingly.

**kris** · 01-11-2025, 09:00 AM

The album with this music was released probably 12 years ago.
I have most of Scofield's records.Great stuff!!!

**Doctor Jeff** · 01-11-2025, 10:07 AM

I like ALL of the above pieces.

Some of the reviews of Scorched said it was neither “fish nor fowl.” I don’t know—take a piece for what it’s worth, and don’t pigeonhole it into a preconception of what you wish it were. If you view an orchestra as just a “big band with strings” it may not do it for you.

I don’t know if the upcoming work will be something I will listen to obsessively. A lot of the rock/pop/jazz and orchestral mashups (Third Wave) work for me, but some don’t or just don’t interest me.

The artists who write most “orchestrally” seem to be most successful, like Metheny and Corea and Ellington. Scofield typically doesn’t write in that language. In fact, a lot of times he’s more funk and jam-oriented, kind of the antithesis of programmatical music.

That said, I love a good orchestration. I enjoy the Charlie Parker with Strings for instance. A lot of Creed Taylor productions were exquisite, though some of course were rather kitschy and held the artist back.

There are quite a few rock artists I admire for their orchestration. Naturally, the Beatles, with George Martin’s work. David Bowie always had a great sense for this, and even Lou Reed on occasion. REM has had some good orchestral support on their albums.

Probably my current favorite is Radiohead with Jonny Greenwood. That guy is a master orchestrator. He knows how to use the orchestra like a weapon.

**spencer096** · 01-11-2025, 10:21 AM

I actually like this even tho I loathe Scofield normally.

**Christian Miller** · 01-11-2025, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by kris

The album with this music was released probably 12 years ago.
I have most of Scofield's records.Great stuff!!!

I checked how long it’s been … and I won’t say if you don’t want to hear haha

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**Hep To The Jive** · 01-11-2025, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

Quite interesting. Incoming Scofield concerto from the LSO for Simon Rattle's bday, form long time collab Mark Anthony Turnage.

In a way this is more like the way concerti were back in Mozart's day? Lots of improv.

I like Scorched quite a lot but the disparity between orchestral and jazz time/feel is quite surreal and humorous at times which I'm not sure was the intention. Not Turnage's fault, sounds like he's learned from it haha.

They play it like a 20th century classical work and it's cool:

But then it's immediately contrasted with this....

The big band fares better unsurprisingly.

I like all of what I've heard in here. More exciting actually than the latest Sco solo albums.