Matt Schofield (born 21 August 1977,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England) is an English

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

guitarist and singer. His band, the Matt Schofield Trio, play their own material, a blend of blues,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, as well as covers of blues classics such as

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

' "Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home". Schofield is regarded as one of the most distinctive and innovative British blues guitarists, and has been rated in the top ten of British blues guitarists by ''Guitar & Bass Magazine''. Schofield's prowess has taken his band to twelve countries, seen him playing with musicians including

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

and

Robben Ford Robben Lee Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Springfield ...

, and brought a note in the ''Penguin Book of Blues Recordings'' as one of only two living British artists to gain the maximum four-star rating. In addition, he has been admitted to the

British Blues Awards The British Blues Awards were inaugurated in 2010. The prize was awarded in various categories, such as 'Male vocals', 'Female vocals', 'Guitarist', 'Bass player' and 'Keyboard player', 'Blues band', 'Young artist', 'Blues album', 'Blues festival' a ...

Hall of Fame.

Influences

Schofield's guitar playing is often likened to that of

in its melodic and fluid style, and jazzy lines. Schofield has been influenced by

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...

, and Tomo Fujita.

Career

Recordings

Schofield has recorded five studio albums and four live albums. The first of the live discs, ''The Trio, Live'' was recorded at the Bishop's Blues club at The Half Moon,

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

in 2004 and, funded and released by Richard Pavitt on his Nugene record label, gave the band their first breakthrough. The first studio album, ''Siftin' Thru Ashes'' was released in 2005. This album showcased Schofield as a songwriter, writing or co-writing eight out of eleven of the tracks.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called Schofield's approach "an enjoyable demonstration of what can happen when blues-rock and blues-jazz are united". The second live album, ''Live at the Jazz Cafe!'' was recorded at the London Jazz Cafe in April 2005, and was made available as a web only release. Schofield is one of only two living British artists to be given a four star (excellent) rating in the ''Penguin Book of Blues Recordings''. The release of ''The Trio, Live'' prompted Schofield to be featured in a ''

Guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

'' magazine article, listing the nine notable up and coming blues guitarists, Schofield being the only non-American. Of the album they said "britblues meets jazz via N'Orleans – all played with the kind of sizzling guitar that just does not often surface in Fairford, Gloucestershire". In 2007, ''Guitar & Bass Magazine'' picked Schofield as one of the "Top 10 British Blues Guitarists of All Time". In August 2009, Schofield released ''Heads, Tails, & Aces'', his third studio effort. The next year (2010) the band collected the Album of the Year award at the British Blues Awards for this album, and released ''Live from the Archive'', recorded in 2007 in the Netherlands. Schofield won the British Blues Guitarist and Jonny Henderson won the British Keyboard Player award, and they both won these awards in 2011, too. In 2011, the trio released their fourth album ''Anything but Time'', with Kevin Hayes on drums and John Porter as record producer. Guitarinstructor.com, a part of the Hal Leonard organisation, has this album as No 5 in their top 10 albums of 2011, while ''Mojo'' magazine picked it as No 1 of Blues albums in 2011. In 2012, Schofield made available a third live album ''Ten From The Road'', consisting of material performed live in November 2011 by Schofield with Henderson & Hayes. He released his fifth studio album, called ''Far As I Can See'', in February 2014.

Band

Schofield performs with an

organ trio An organ trio is a form of jazz ensemble consisting of three musicians; a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player. In some cases the saxophonist will join a trio which consists of an organist, guitarist, ...

(guitar, organ, and drums). Organ trios are mostly associated with the 1950s and 1960s US

soul jazz Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including ten ...

groups led by organists such as Jimmy Smith. Blues bands more commonly use trios of guitar, bass and drums, quartets (guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums) or quintets (guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums). In Schofield's organ trio, organist Jonny Henderson plays a

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, performing basslines using his left hand, and playing chords and lead lines with his right hand. The trio's drummer is Evan Jenkins. Jeff Walker played bass on the final track of ''Siftin' Thru' Ashes''. In 2009, as of the recording of ''Heads, Tails & Aces'', The Matt Schofield Trio became The Matt Schofield Band, a four-piece, featuring Jeff 'The Funk' Walker on bass, and also replacing Evan Jenkins with Alain Baudry. Jeff Walker was later replaced by Spanish bassist Javier Garcia Vicente. At a concert at the Swindon Arts Centre on 22 October 2009, the band reverted to a trio. In June 2010, Kevin Hayes, replaced Evan Jenkins in the band. The 2012 Europe Tour, the trio was back with its original formation, with Matt Schofield, Evan Jenkins and Jonny Henderson.

Endorsements and gear

Boutique amplifier company Two-Rock developed the Schofield Signature amplifier for Matt. According to Matt, the amplifier is "simply the best amplifier I've ever plugged into, and I'm honoured it carries my name". Japanese Effects Pedal company Free The Tone also developed the custom MS SOV SPECIAL overdrive pedal for him and released it as a limited edition product in 2013. A full production version, the MS SOV MS-2V, was later released in 2014.

Discography

*2004: ''The Trio, Live'' (NUG601) :Uncle Junior :Everyday I Have The Blues :Bloody Murder :Treat Me Lowdown : Cissy Strut :Travellin' South :Sittin' On Top of the World :Hippology *2005: ''Live at the Jazz Café'' (NUG503) :All You Need :Uncle Junior :Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home :Travellin' South :Cissy Strut :On My Way :It's Your Thing *2005: ''Siftin' Thru' Ashes'' (NUG501) :All You Need :Siftin' Thru Ashes :Djam :Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home :The Letter :Back at Square One :People Say :How I Try :On My Way :Middle Ground :Hard Lines *2007: ''Ear to the Ground'' :Pack it Up :Troublemaker :Ear to the Ground :Heart Don't Need a Compass :Once in a While :Room at the Back :Someone :Searchin' :Move Along :Cookie Jar :When it all Comes Down *2009: ''Heads, Tails & Aces'' :What I Wanna Hear :Live Wire :War We Wage :Betting Man :Lay It Down :Can't Put You Down :Woman Across the River :Nothing Left :I Told Ya :Stranger Blues :Not Raining Now *2010:''Live From The Archive'' :All You Need :Siftin' Thru Ashes :Band Intro :Lights Are on But Nobody's Home :Room at the Back :On My Way :Black Cat Bone :Sitting on Top of the World :The Letter *2011: ''Anything But Time'' :Anything But Time :See Me Through :At Times We Do Forget :Shipwrecked :Dreaming of You :Wrapped Up in Love :Where Do I Have to Stand :One Look (and I'm Hooked) :Don't Know What I'd Do :Share Our Smile Again *2012: ''Ten From The Road'' :Ear to the Ground :Don't Know What I'd Do :Live Wire :Where Do I Have To Stand :Anything But Time :Dreaming of You :Shipwrecked :See Me Through :Siftin' Thru Ashes :Not Raining Now *2014: ''Far As I Can See'' :From Far Away :Clean Break :Getaway :Breaking Up Somebody's Home :The Day You Left :Oakville Shuffle :Hindsight :Everything :Yellow Moon :Tell Me Some Lies :Red Dragon *Other albums Matt Schofield has appeared on **''Back To Blues'' (1998) – Dana Gillespie **''Two Timing Lover Boy'' (1999) – Dino Baptiste **''Mustique Blues Festival'' (1999) - various artists **''My Day Is Just Beginning'' (2000) – The Lee Sankey Group **''She's Not Alone (EP)'' (2000) – The Lee Sankey Group **''Mustique Blues Festival'' (2000) - various artists **''Experienced'' (2000) – Dana Gillespie **''Songs of Love'' (2001) – Dana Gillespie **''Staying Power'' (2002) – Dana Gillespie **''So Lowdown Tour'' (2002) - The Lester Butler Tribute Band **''Basil´s Bar Blues'' (2003) - various artists **''Driving Savage Groove'' (2004) – Cool Buzz Harmonica Posse; Schofield appears with The Urban Achievers **''Mustique Blues Festival'' (2004) - various artists **''Meat And Potatoes'' (2005) – Ian Siegal – co-produced by Schofield **''A Different Picture'' (2005) – Earl Green **''These Blue Nights'' (2006) - Dana Gillespie **''New Road Sessions Vol. 1'' (2006) - The Backbones **''At The North Sea Jazz Festival (DVD)'' (2006) - Ian Siegal **''Live With The London Blues Band'' (2007) - Dana Gillespie **''Swagger'' (2007) – Ian Siegal – produced by Schofield **''Broadside'' (2009) - Ian Siegal – produced by Schofield **''The Six Sessions'' (2010) - various artists - Schofield appears with Jan Akkerman **''Live At Bluesnow!'' (2016) - Big Pete – liner notes by Schofield **''On Down the Road'' (2016) - JL Fulks **''Walkin' The Blues'' (2019) - Federico Luiu

References

External links

Matt Schofield official websiteNugene RecordsBritish Blues AwardsInterview with Matt Schofield on Myth vs. Craft podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schofield, Matt 1977 births Living people English blues guitarists English male guitarists English blues musicians English blues singers Blues rock musicians 21st-century English singers 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British male singers Provogue Records artists