Stephen Scott

Another within the latter-day parade of tradition-respecting “youthful lions,” Stephen Scott brings a formidable technique, a few of Ahmad Jamal’s locked-groove obsessions, and components of Wynton Kelly, Bud Powell, and McCoy Tyner to his function. However, Scott demonstrated he could increase beyond his neo-bop foundation on THE STUNNING Thing, an recording with pronounced Latin and soul-jazz tendencies on some songs. He began piano at age five, and advanced rapidly to the stage where he was acquiring personal lessons at Juilliard at 12. Although grounded in traditional music, Scott was also subjected to reggae and salsa on the air, but wasn’t introduced to jazz until his senior high school years (he provides saxophonist Justin Robinson the credit for the). By age 18, Scott was playing within the music group of vocalist/skill scout Betty Carter, and quickly began carrying out or documenting with famous brands the Harper Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, and Bobby Hutcherson. From 1991, Scott proved a steady way to obtain mainstream albums for Verve, using mixtures of fellow youthful lions and esteemed veterans like Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones as sidemen; and he also performed on Henderson’s 1991 industrial breakthrough, Lush Existence.