Piety Street finds the jazz master guitarist fronting a blues band for the first time in, at least, a very long while. Scofield has gigged with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and Cobham/Duke among many others. Yes, he’s explored blues, along with plenty of jazz styles, but he says this is a new era.

“I’ve always wanted to record and tour a blues project,” Scofield said in a statement. “That’s where I started as a guitarist and I’m feeling that music more than ever of late. I launched a personal search for musical inspiration beyond the standard 12-bar blues and found it in ‘old time gospel’ music – the closest relative to and inspiration for the R&B we all love.”

Accompanied by bass, keys, drums and vocalists, Scofield and his Piety Street Band will play Port City Music Hall in Portland, Maine, April 2, followed by April 3-4 gigs in Cambridge, Mass.

There are also two shows in Santa Cruz, Calif., plus visits to NYC, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Charleston and other cities before the journey winds down at Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, N.C., April 19.