Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Ray Scro has performed, studied and taught music for nearly fifty years in his home of Staten Island and throughout New York City. At age seven Scro began playing clarinet, which continues to share space on his bandstand next to tenor and soprano saxophones. Ray studied music at Brooklyn College in the early seventies, and received private instruction under saxophonist and guru Lee Konitz. He has played with Jimmy Knepper, Chuck Wayne, Charlie Persip, Chico Hamilton and many others.
After twenty years as a professional musician, Scro began a second career as music educator. He taught music in a Brooklyn middle school for three years before joining the music department at Curtis High School in Staten Island. Scro served as head of the Performing Arts Department for six years and has served as band director to this day. He directs the Curtis jazz band, where his experience and insight as a professional musician inform the next generation of jazz artists. Scro’s work as an educator has been acknowledged with an International Association of Jazz Educators scholarship, as well as an Arts Educator's award from the Council of Arts and Humanities of Staten Island.
Scro also keeps an active performing schedule. He performs regularly with bassist Paul Daloia and singer/guitarist Greg Stier in the jazz, blues, folk and pop trio This Old House, and is a quadruple threat as saxophonist, arranger, composer and co-director of The Ray Scro/Mike Morreale Big Band. He also leads several small groups, often working with bass legend and jazz scribe Bill Crow. His influences include Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Charlie Parker and Lester Young.
Ray lives in Staten Island, and includes baseball among his other passions, with plans to visit every ballpark in the United States.
Awards:
International Association of Jazz Educators scholarshipArts Educator's award from the Council of Arts and Humanities of Staten Island
This Old House Live at Adobe Blues (Self Produced, 2007)
Swinging Guitar Sounds of Young America (Vaz Music, 2006)
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Primary Instrument:
Saxophone
Location:
Staten Island, NY
