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Jim Scully
Jim Scully is a composer, guitarist and educator currently living in central California.
About Me
Jim Scully is a composer, performer and educator in the fields of
contemporary classical music, electroacoustic music and jazz studies.
He has been contributing his diverse talents to the music scene in
Bakersfield, California for over 20 years.
Scully holds degrees in music from CSU Bakersfield (B.A. in Music) and
UC Irvine (M.F.A. in Music) and has taught music at the collegiate level
at Bakersfield College, UC Irvine and now, CSU Bakersfield. He has
served as Director of the Bakersfield College Jazz Ensemble and
Director of the UC Irvine Community Jazz Ensemble. Currently, he is a
full-time member of the CSU Bakersfield music faculty where he teaches
an array of courses in the fields of Music Theory, Jazz Studies and
Music Technology and serves as Founding Director of the CSUB Guitar
Ensemble, Director of Small Jazz Ensembles, Director of the CSUB
Music Lab and Assistant Director of the Bakersfield Jazz Festival.
Scully plays such traditional instruments as the guitar, electric bass and
piano and also makes music on Apple computers using Sibelius 6
notation software, Logic Studio 9, Garageband and various software
samples and loops. He has appeared, collaborated, or worked with Billy
Childs, Kei Akagi, Kenny Burrell, Dr. Keith Calmes, Kris Tiner, Dr. Doug
Davis, Dr. Chris Dobrian, Eric Marienthal, Carl Allen, Charles Owens,
Kyle Burnham, Paul Cierley, CSUB Jazz Ensemble, CSUB Jazz
Singers, Kern County High School Honor Jazz Band, CSUB Theatre
Department, and many, many others.
Scully is an ASCAPlus Award winner, and has received grants from
American Composers Forum and the Teacher Learning Center at CSU
Bakersfield and has had works commissioned by Rachel Arnold, Ashley
Addington and Keith Calmes. His music has been performed at venues
throughout the United States, including the Electro-Acoustic Juke Joint
on the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi,
Roerich Museum in New York, the Lilypad in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, the United Parish Church of Brookline in
Massachusetts, The Bakersfield Jazz Festival, The Pacific Coast
Collegiate Jazz Festival in Berkeley, California and aboard the Queen
Mary in Long Beach, California as part of the Music Association of
California Community Colleges Conference. The Bakersfield
Symphony, CSU Bakersfield Jazz Program, CSU Bakersfield Theatre
Program, UC Irvine and Bakersfield College have hosted other
performances of works for various instrumentations.
Scully has also led or co-led numerous small jazz groups including the
Jim Scully Group, Jim Scully Trio, Jim Scully/Kris Tiner Band, the
Bodfish All-Stars, Jenn Neil Group and the Speedy Neptune Project. Jim
is currently a member of Society of Composers, American Composers
Forum and College Music Society and has had music recorded and
released on the Beauport Classical record label and recently had his
work Bouncing About recorded for release with PARMA Recordings for
release on Navona Records in 2011.
Jim currently lives in Bakersfield, California with his wife and vocalist
Jennifer Neil and their three sons Aidan, Maxwell and Dylan.