John Scofield announces first ever solo guitar album

Jazz electric guitar legend John Scofield has announced a new, self-titled album.

Set for a May 6 release via ECM, the LP is Scofield's first-ever solo guitar album, and will feature re-interpretations of standards from the jazz, rock 'n' roll and country catalogs, and new versions of some Scofield originals.

The jazz numbers on tap include It Could Happen to You, There Will Never Be Another You and My Old Flame, while unique takes on Buddy Holly’s formative rock classic, Not Fade Away, and Hank Williams' You Win Again are also included.

“When I was a kid the guitar was the instrument of rock and roll and popular music, that’s what I was interested in," Scofield – who saw the LP partially as a chance to pay tribute to the music that shaped and influenced him – explained in a statement.

The original tunes, meanwhile, include a reworked version of Scofield's Honest I Do, and a new rendering of his heartfelt tune, Mrs. Scofield’s Waltz.

“I think that there’s a delicateness that I have acquired from playing at home alone,” Scofield told the Boston Herald last year. “I am so used to playing with a slamming band, which is what I love to do, and there’s a certain muscularity to that. That went away and was replaced, I think, by, hopefully, this more delicate approach of pinpointing the beauty of the strings.”

“When I play solo, I make these little loops on the fly, I don’t do prerecorded loops,” he said in the same interview. “So I am having to respond to some music and it’s almost like I’m playing with another person.”

“I do say almost," he added, laughing.

We don't have a tracklist or pre-order link for John Scofield yet, but keep an eye on the guitarist's website for that info when it becomes available.