Anyone expecting a mellow evening of jazz guitar and musical restraint knew they were in the wrong place about five minutes into John Scofield's JazzSLC appearance.

The ongoing series normally features more traditional, mellow fare, but Monday night's quartet, The Piety Street Band, attempted to turn the Sheraton into a tent revival. And while the music often settled for more of a blues festival vibe, it still provided a wide-awake reminder of Scofield's aggressive, rocking style.

Scofield and his backing trio ripped through 12 songs, most from last month's release of "Piety Street," employing an open-hand slap of a tone from his trademark Ibanez guitar, barrelhouse piano sounds and a muscular groove from the rhythm section.

Fans of Scofield's genre-switching style were treated to sonic blasts from the latest incarnation. Highlights included the quiet introductory solo of "Walk With Me" during the first set and a blistering take on Hank Williams' "The Angel of Death."

Keyboardist and vocalist Jon Cleary was also featured prominently during the roughly 100-minute two-set show, including a scorching dueling-guitar rendition of Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor."

As a guitarist, Scofield is widely regarded among the brightest six-string lights of his era. However, like a lot of jazz virtuosos, Scofield battles in Piety Street to balance a tendency to overplay with a better decision to defer to his oh-so-tight and joyous bandmates, including bassist Donald Ramsey and drummer Ricky Fataar.

The crowd came alive for "I'll Fly Away," during the second encore when Scofield yielded to the band and the song. More self-indulgent numbers like the opener "That's Enough" and "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" weren't as warmly received.

And despite the wonderful collection of New Orleans-sounding gospel selections played Monday, the biggest applause of the night arguably came during a solo in which Scofield quoted Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze."

Audience members thinned at intermission, maybe to go home and watch the Utah Jazz end their season in Los Angeles. But also possibly because of the excessive volume and the surprise of finding themselves at a rocking, guitar-drenched gospel revival instead of a mellow, reflective jazz show.