Matt Schofield - 100 Club

Matt Schofield has been consistently graded in the top 10 British guitarists for the last few years and his combination of Blues & Jazzy funk has got him a more than decent following in this country and even more so in Europe. /how to play the guitar/

This was the second gig with his new line up consisting of Schofield, keyboardsman Jonny Henderson, Jeff 'The Funk’ Walker on bass and Alain Baudry on drums and the months since I saw them at Dingwalls last year have brought on a radical improvement in their sound - in the words of one of the crowd last night 'tighter than a freakin’ facelift!’.
To put it simply they were superb. Every time I thought that they had hit some sort of peak in the music, they took it on to another slope and reached a higher climax. They stretched every song to its maximum and every number showed onec again why the introduction of Jeff Walker’s bass and the New Orleans drumming of Alain Baudry had freed both Schofield and Henderson to play more intense music and music that was even more soulful than the brand that they have been peddling for the last few years. /how to play the guitar/

Whether it was a seff-penned number like 'Betting Man’ from the new album 'Heads Tails & Aces’ or one of Freddie King’s classics, 'Crossing The River’ the interplay between all four musicians was an example of how damn good British Blues can be when there isn’t any bullshit in the way.

The numbers from the new album were mixed in with a good selection of Schofield’s older material and the funk factor was there all through but came to a peak on The Meters 'People Say’ which turned into a funk ridden jam that Little Feat would have been proud of.
So many gigs seem to feature the earnest and, frankly, dull Blues that have become commonplace and hearing a band that enjoys the variety of Jazz and loves to funk it up makes a cold and wet Thursday in March a much brighter and happier place. /how to play the guitar/