After a professional musical career spanning fifty years, three Grammy Awards, and nine nominations, John Scofield continues to enjoy entertaining audiences. It is a delight to see a musician of his caliber and success play a small club. I caught his first set Thursday evening at SPACE in Evanston.

Scofield brought with him an outstanding group of musicians: Gerald Clayton on piano and organ, Bill Stewart on drums, and Vicente Archer on upright bass. Clayton was particularly impressive in his solos.

What Scofield did not bring was a plethora of guitars. He played only his Ibanez, using a control panel at his feet to change the sound. At one point, he removed a shoe for better control of the panel. With this guitar, he was able to switch seamlessly between jazz-rock fusion, blues, love ballads, and straight-ahead jazz.

With his head tilted back and his eyes closed, he gave the impression that he was guiding the guitar, rather than playing it.

His composition "Boulez Saal," which he wrote to dedicate a concert hall of the same name in Berlin, left us speechless. Clayton's piano solo on this song was impressive.

My only complaint was that the organ blocked my view of most of the stage from my front-row seat. SPACE has a small stage, so the extra keyboard crowded the area.

But this was a minor issue. The music was enough to overcome the visual limitations of the evening.