Accompanying Scofield on this trip (no psychedelic reference intended) are ace rhythm guitarist Avi Bortnick, bass player Jesse Murphy, and drummer Adam Deitch, who doubles as a rapper on "I Brake 4 Monster Booty". In addition to this tight band that has formed the nucleus of Scofield's touring group are appearances by John Medeski of Medeski, Martin, and Wood playing B3 organ and clavinet, plus saxophonist Karl Denson.

Uberjam is utterly fresh and modern sounding, yet it somehow manages to hark back to the halcyon days of funky jazz/rock experimentation, when everything sounded incredibly new. Scofield takes much of the credit for this, taking off into jams that are technically challenging and trippy, but never losing sight of the groove, which his band lays down wonderfully. A track like "Polo Towers", with its swamp-rock New Orleans groove and funky organ fills juxtaposed against an edgy guitar and bass line recalls the best of Miles' work from the '80s. "Almost every interviewer asks me about my past experience with Miles Davis" says the guitarist. I have to say that out of all the albums I've made, I think this is the one that Miles would have enjoyed the most." I have to agree.

"Acidhead" starts the album off with a whiff of incense and some Indian vocal and sitar samples against which Scofield offers up some pinched Eastern guitar riffs. Once the rhythm section kicks in, the piece develops an easygoing melody before the guitar effects kick in. The somewhat disorienting effects of the tune certainly demand Scofield's disclaimer on the CD jacket: "John Scofield wants his audience to know that (despite the evocative tune titles) he has not used drugs and alcohol since 11 July 1998." OK. "Ideofunk" features Medeski's B3 organ stabs as well as his doubling with Karl Denson's flute on the melody. Take away Scofield's effects and you'll find his solo very bluesy.

"Jungle Fiction" opens with a drum n' bass style drum break, then gets down to business as Scofield soars over the shifting rhythms with the melody. There's no question that breakbeats and various styles of electronica have had their influence on Scofield and his band; even though they aren't working with turntable effects here, the results are similar. About two and a half minutes into the piece, Scofield lets loose with a John McLaughlin Mahivishnu-style run before the tune goes out with Scofield and drummer Adam Deitch trading fours. "I Brake for Monster Booty" is one of the less-than-exctiting tunes on the disc, with a generic funk beat and bass line supporting a discordant guitar melody and then some rapping from Deitch. Note to jazz musicians and instrumentalists in general: if you must make a foray into vocal music, please don't do rap unless you have a special guest who is a rapper. It just sounds poor and will date the album in less than a year.

The next couple of numbers are fairly by-the-book fusion guitar numbers-pleasant but not groundbreaking. "Tomorrow Land", however, will make you sit up and take notice. A rather straight-ahead number whose focal point is the interplay between the acoustic and electric guitars, it features Scofield doing a wah-wah solo that sounds exactly like Terrapin Station-era Jerry Garcia. "Uberjam" is pretty much what its name implies-a jamming vehicle for Scofield, with plenty of sampling and quirky sounds to go around. Check out John's quote of "Blue Moon" somewhere around five minutes in.

"Polo Towers" and "Snap Crackle Pop" are standout numbers, recalling the music of Miles' 1980s electric records, records on which John Scofield played a major role. Both have substantial musical ideas and seem constructed rather than simply frameworks for the band to jam on. "Polo Towers" features sax work by Denson, and this also serves to make the Miles connection more explicit. The disc ends with "Lucky For Her", driven by heavy electronic beats. The piece actually seems more like a fragment than a completed composition, but provides a fairly fitting conclusion to the disc.

While there are a few tracks here that might qualify as filler, your concentration will never slide too far while listening to Uberjam because the group's execution is very sharp and also because Scofield never seems to flag or run out of ideas. Overall, Uberjam offers one of the best combinations of jazzy, technique-heavy jamming, modern musical styles and technology, and group interplay heard recently. Hopefully folks like Scofield can help point the way for jazz to meld some of these disparate elements and still come out sounding like fresh improvisational music.