Christian Scott Quintet, Live at the Saville Theater, San Diego, CA

Robert Bush

Contributor since 2010

Robert Bush has been involved with Jazz as a musician, listener and supporter for over 30 years.

Recent articles (46 total)

Published: June 26, 2010

Scott then told the story of being pulled over by the New Orleans Police—offense: being a black youth driving a nice new car. One thing led to another which culminated in having a gun put to his head. Naturally, he wrote a song about the experience: "K.K.P.D.," which stands for Ku Klux Police Department. Playing the difficult piece seemed to exorcise the demons of that experience somewhat, as he followed with a pensive ballad dedicated to his woman, "Isadora." You get the feeling that she must be drop-dead-gorgeous. After the ballad, Scott introduced each member of his ensemble with obvious respect and affection. It was quite unlike the typical jazz leader introducing his side-men routine that we've all heard a million times. He spent about two minutes on each musician— taking care to mention their individual home towns, who they played with—how he came to meet them, and how he cajoled each one into joining the quintet. Scott went to the microphone one last time to announce the final composition of the evening—"Angola, Louisiana, & The Thirteenth Amendment."

Christian Scott should not be viewed through the same lens as so many of the "young lions" who have come and gone over the last twenty years. Unlike so many of those handsome young men in the Armani suits who play endless variations of the hard-bop aesthetic—Mr. Scott has his own concept going on. All due respect to George Bernard Shaw, youth has not been wasted on this young man.

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