I had the pleasure of attending a concert by John Scofield’s Combo 73 this month (November 2025), and the quartet opened with a stirring rendition of Scofield’s “Icons At The Fair” from their 2019 Combo 66 album. Probably not coincidentally, this new, very satisfying duo album with bassist Dave Holland also opens with that tune, which was inspired by a Herbie Hancock arrangement of “Scarborough Fair” on Hancock’s The New Standard album, on which both Scofield and Holland played. Scofield used the chords but built something new, apparently using a melody that alludes to a Miles Davis trumpet phrase. You don’t need to know all of that to love this track and the whole album.
Contemporary jazz masters Scofield and Holland have played together in various ensembles over many years, but this is their first duo album. It was a natural extension of a couple of duo tours in 2021 and 2024. The nine tracks were all composed by one or the other, five by Scofield and four by Holland.
The album is something of a tour through some of the icons, heroes and mentors who influenced both of these musicians, Davis chief among them — Holland played with Davis from 1968 to 1970, Scofield in the early to mid 1980s. But the nods to jazz greats and greatness don’t end there. Possibly my favorite track (today, at least) is Scofield’s “Mine Are Blues,” an upbeat showcase for Holland’s melodicism and drive with a great solo and a superb bop duet for a coda. I take the title to be a reference to Ellington. And I really like the jaunty swing of Holland’s “Mr B,” a tribute to his first double bass hero Ray Brown. Having just seen Scofield in action, I can say that the apparent ease with which he rolls out chorus after chorus of improvised gems is a wonder to behold, and it’s on full display in this tune. Holland’s “Not For Nothing” combines a complex yet swinging rhythm and some spiky improv by Scofield to great effect.
The title song and final track “Memories Of Home” brings out Scofield’s comfort with the country and folk side of American music. It revisits a tune Holland brought to his 1980 collaboration with a couple of progressive bluegrass musicians, fiddler Vassar Clements and savant John Hartford. It’s a gentle tune that would have been at home on the guitarist’s recent Hudson project with Jack DeJohnette, Brian Blade and Larry Grenadier. Great way to wrap up an album.
(ECM, 2025)
