London Jazz Festival, in association with BBC Radio 3, Friday 11 to Sunday 20 November 2011

The Scofield Jazz festival gig on Monday 15th was in two parts. The first half was the John Scofield Trio, with Steve Swallow on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. It was great, and a rare opportunity to see Scofield with his "A" Team band performing in the UK. They took us through a landscape of peaks and valleys sculpted by edgy chords, and blistering solos by all three musicians. What a pity then that we had to sit through a second half with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra playing with the volume control turned all the way up to 11 and left there. The sound technician struggled to control the situation, Scofield kept asking for more on his monitor because he couldn't hear what he was playing. But the band played on. Only in the last number Green Tea (an encore) was there something approaching a balance. What a waste for the organisers to have passed up an opportunity to give the whole evening to three of the world's best jazz musicians.