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Kendrick Scott

Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott kicked off his Blue Note contract four years ago with We Are the Drum. Expertly produced by Derrick Hodge, Scott’s creative confidant and musical brother, and featuring a stunning guest performance by vocalist Lizz Wright, it earned rave reviews and reiterated how Oracle, Scott’s long-running working group, is one of the most thoughtfully powerful jazz bands of its generation.

When it came time to follow this success up with a new effort, however, Scott felt stuck. Nothing he wrote or played seemed good enough; self-doubt had formed a blockade where inspiration once flowed. But, as Scott points out today, “Wayne Shorter says there’s always something unfolding on the other side of the negative.” Hodge, who’d signed on again as Scott’s producer, witnessed what the drummer was putting himself through and had a similar realization. For years Hodge has been dedicated to shaping Oracle’s sonic identity, even relinquishing his role as the band’s bassist to work behind the scenes. Scott calls him “the sixth member of Oracle.”

“Derrick said, ‘We need to tap into your fears and insecurities and make some art about them,’” Scott recalls. “That was amazing to me—that he got me out of my own head.” Scott gathered up the compositions he’d been working on—both finished and unfinished—and headed into the studio, where “Derrick and the band helped me unfold them, and they became the record that you hear.”

That gorgeous new Blue Note album from Scott and Oracle is called, not incidentally, A Wall Becomes A Bridge. And the implications of that title aren’t exclusive to Scott’s artistic breakthrough. “A Wall is a provocation,” Scott says, adding that he “loves to create things for conversation. So I also wanted the idea to speak about a certain president.” Many of us would argue that 45 is all wall and no bridge, but Scott sees a silver lining in this increasingly absurd political age. “With all of these different issues coming to the forefront, we can now say, ‘Things like systemic racism still exist and we need to deal with them.’ More people are paying attention to the government, and that level of intensity is what we need—as is that level of intent in how we vote and how we live and how we treat others. All of those things are a bridge.”

An even more essential part of why this 12-track song cycle is so affecting lies in its ability to be interpreted. A musical and metaphorical journey in reverse, it arrives with a bridge and voyages back toward its beginning as a wall. Along the way, a gamut of themes is explored, including innocence (“Archangel”), acceptance (“Windows”), fear and insecurity (“Voices”) and resistance (“Plēh”—or help spelled backwards). “I want listeners’ imaginations to run wild,” Scott explains. “I want them to think about, ‘What does this mean to me and my community? What does it mean to our country and the world at large?’”

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Album Review

Walter Smith III: Return To Casual

Read "Return To Casual" reviewed by Dave Linn


Walter Smith III released his debut album, Casually Introducing (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006), to enthusiastic reviews. On it, he covered Sam Rivers, Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman and wrote the other six tracks, showcasing a mature and varied sense of composition. His playing and arrangements showed him to be a new, young (he was 26 years old) artist on the rise. Over the ensuing years, he released eight other albums, mainly for European labels. These recordings (including one live ...

7
Album Review

Kendrick Scott: Corridors

Read "Corridors" reviewed by Chris May


Some of the press releases coming out of Blue Note's Los Angeles HQ since the pandemic have been ripe for inclusion in British satirical magazine Private Eye's Desperate Marketing column. In this, the Eye prints particularly egregious, or just plain laughable, attempts by publicists to hook-up what they are selling with headline news events, or to make eye-wateringly hyperbolic claims, or to manufacture an intellectual or cultural context for an artefact where none such exists. True, one ...

12
Album Review

Kendrick Scott: Corridors

Read "Corridors" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Drummer Kendrick Scott's A Wall Becomes A Bridge (Blue Note, 2019) was everything to everybody and then some. Optimistic yet well aware of the roiling contradictions beneath it all, the formidable Corridors, its revivalist tenor intact, carries on that spirit of interplay and common alliance. Breaking from the start with the loping, street-smart, stride of “What Day Is It?" Scott with Corridors take a sure journey, featuring conversant saxophonist Walter Smith III and the equally versed bassist Reuben ...

10
Album Review

Joey Alexander: Origin

Read "Origin" reviewed by Peter Jones


Pianist Joey Alexander was never going to spend his life churning out standards. You could tell from his reimagined version of “Giant Steps," the first track on his 2015 debut album, which begins with a dazzling two-minute solo introduction. The same album also features an original tune, the prowling “Ma Blues." It was clearly only going to be a matter of time before he came up with an all-originals album, and so it is with this, his sixth outing. Meanwhile ...

4
Album Review

Darrell Grant: The New Black

Read "The New Black" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Pianist Darrell Grant's debut album Black Art (Criss Cross) was released in 1994, and became acclaimed as one of the definitive statements of New York jazz in the 1990s. It featured bassist Christian McBride, drummer Brian Blade, and the late, great Wallace Roney on trumpet—all of whom would go on to make major statements of their own in the music. In 2019, some twenty five years later, Grant had the opportunity to revisit the album repertoire at Birdland, convening bassist ...

7
Album Review

Marquis Hill: New Gospel Revisited

Read "New Gospel Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Chicago-born trumpeter Marquis Hill released his first album while still in college and in 2022, just over a decade later, he has retooled it on New Gospel Revisited, recorded live in his hometown with a fresh lineup and tweaked instrumentation. It is a terrific disc. Like his near contemporary and fellow trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Hill holds his music to be part of a broad musical continuum that includes genres other than jazz, notably hip hop. ...

Album Review

Jason Palmer: The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella

Read "The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Formatosi sui modelli dell'hard bop e di grandi trombettisti come Clifford Brown e Booker Little, il quarantenne Jason Palmer pubblica un secondo disco per la Giant Step Arts, dopo Rhyme and Reason del 2018. Quella di Jimmy e Dena Katz è molto più di un'etichetta ma una coraggiosa organizzazione no-profit che sostiene i musicisti lasciando loro piena libertà. Mentre sono confermati il sassofonista Mark Turner e il batterista Kendrick Scott, il quartetto del precedente lavoro si amplia al ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott kicked off his Blue Note contract four years ago with We Are the Drum. Expertly produced by Derrick Hodge, Scott’s creative confidant and musical brother, and featuring a stunning guest performance by vocalist Lizz Wright, it earned rave reviews and reiterated how Oracle, Scott’s long- running working group, is one of the most thoughtfully powerful jazz bands of its generation. When it came time to follow ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott kicked off his Blue Note contract four years ago with We Are the Drum. Expertly produced by Derrick Hodge, Scott’s creative confidant and musical brother, and featuring a stunning guest performance by vocalist Lizz Wright, it earned rave reviews and reiterated how Oracle, Scott’s long-running working group, is one of the most thoughtfully powerful jazz bands of its generation. When it came time to follow this ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott kicked off his Blue Note contract four years ago with We Are the Drum. Expertly produced by Derrick Hodge, Scott’s creative confidant and musical brother, and featuring a stunning guest performance by vocalist Lizz Wright, it earned rave reviews and reiterated how Oracle, Scott’s long-running working group, is one of the most thoughtfully powerful jazz bands of its generation. When it came time to follow this ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott kicked off his Blue Note contract four years ago with We Are the Drum. Expertly produced by Derrick Hodge, Scott’s creative confidant and musical brother, and featuring a stunning guest performance by vocalist Lizz Wright, it earned rave reviews and reiterated how Oracle, Scott’s long-running working group, is one of the most thoughtfully powerful jazz bands of its generation. When it came time to follow this ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Kendrick ‘KADS’ Scott was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His initial inspiration and appreciation for music came from growing up in a household of musicians. The first encounters Kendrick had with the drums were in church, where his parents and older brother were involved in the music ministry. At age six his parents, Stepheny and Kenneth recognized Kendrick’s interest in the drums and purchased him a drum pad and lessons... ...

1

Event

Live recording and concert, May 23-24: Jason Palmer Qt. feat. Mark Turner, Joel Ross, Kendrick Scott, Edward Perez at NYC's InterContinental Barclay

Live recording and concert, May 23-24: Jason Palmer Qt. feat. Mark Turner, Joel Ross, Kendrick Scott, Edward Perez at NYC's InterContinental Barclay

Source: Ludovico Granvassu

A one-of-a-kind musical experience, combining the intimacy of a house concert with the luxurious ambience, comfort and breath-taking views of the Harold S. Vanderbilt Penthouse. Limited space available as this is a recording session that aims at providing the intimacy of a house concert, but with world-class musicians. Contact Astrid ([email protected]) to reserve your spot. Concert and live recording on May 23 and 24 debut an all-star quintet led by Jason Palmer featuring Mark Turner, with Joel Ross, Kendrick Scott, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Kendrick ‘KADS’ Scott was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His initial inspiration and appreciation for music came from growing up in a household of musicians. The first encounters Kendrick had with the drums were in church, where his parents and older brother were involved in the music ministry. At age six his parents, Stepheny and Kenneth recognized Kendrick’s interest in the drums and purchased him a drum pad and lessons... ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Kendrick ‘KADS’ Scott was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His initial inspiration and appreciation for music came from growing up in a household of musicians. The first encounters Kendrick had with the drums were in church, where his parents and older brother were involved in the music ministry. At age six his parents, Stepheny and Kenneth recognized Kendrick’s interest in the drums and purchased him a drum pad and lessons... ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Jazz Musician of the Day: Kendrick Scott

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Kendrick Scott's birthday today!

Kendrick ‘KADS’ Scott was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His initial inspiration and appreciation for music came from growing up in a household of musicians. The first encounters Kendrick had with the drums were in church, where his parents and older brother were involved in the music ministry. At age six his parents, Stepheny and Kenneth recognized Kendrick’s interest in the drums and purchased him a drum pad and lessons... ...

1

Performance / Tour

Camila Meza Appearing At Rockwood Music Hall - April 23 - With Shai Maestro, Kendrick Scott & Rick Rosato!

Camila Meza Appearing At Rockwood Music Hall - April 23 - With Shai Maestro, Kendrick Scott & Rick Rosato!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2016 Vocalist/Guitarist/Composer Camila Meza Continues Her Celebration of Traces LIVE AT ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (STAGE 3) at 11:15pm Camila Meza, Shai Maestro, Rick Rosato & Kendrick Scott Traces is available on iTunes, Sunnyside Records, Amazon CAMILA MEZA continues the celebration of her brilliant, critically-acclaimed new album, Traces, with an appearance at Rockwood Music Hall- Stage @ 11:15 PM on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Camila will be joined by Shai Maestro on ...

Primary Instrument

Drums

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Brad Kang
guitar
The Next Step Quintet
band / ensemble / orchestra
Anton Chekurov
saxophone, alto
The Retrospective Quintet
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Corridors

Blue Note Records
2023

buy

Loyal Returns

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

Return To Casual

Blue Note Records
2023

buy

New Gospel Revisited

Edition Records
2022

buy

The New Black

Lair Hill Records
2022

buy

Haven't Meta Yet

From: Same Moon in the Same World
By Kendrick Scott

Chez Tortoni (Manet)

From: The Concert: 12 Musings for...
By Kendrick Scott

Miles

From: Momentum
By Kendrick Scott

What Goes Up Must Come Down

From: Momentum
By Kendrick Scott

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