Home » Jazz Articles » Kendrick Scott
Jazz Articles about Kendrick Scott
Gregory Groover Jr.: Old Knew
by Pierre Giroux
With Old Knew, tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr. offers a mature and deeply rooted statement that gracefully balances reverence for tradition with openness to spontaneous expression. Recorded without rehearsal and driven by a diverse group of top-tier collaborators, including Joel Ross on vibraphone, Paul Cornish on piano, Harish Raghavan on bass, and Kendrick Scott on drums, this 11-track set reveals a leader eager to let the music flow, communicate, and develop in the moment. The result is a highly interactive ...
Continue ReadingGregory Groover Jr.: Old Knew
by Jack Bowers
Even though he has surely heard this more than a few times, Gregory Groover is a pretty hip name for a jazz saxophonist. Not so much for the pastor of Boston's Charles Street AME Church, the position held by the Groover for whom he is named, Gregory Sr., who no doubt grooves in his own way. Gregory Jr. plays high-energy tenor on Old Knew, the second recording under his name, wherein he leads a sturdy quintet through its paces on ...
Continue ReadingOut Of/Into: Motion I
by Mike Jurkovic
Most supergroups happen and barely dent the dust. Despite those odds, one or two happen for a reason. That reason is Motion I by Out Of/Into. Formerly known as The Blue Note Quintet--pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Matt Brewer--hijack the lead track “Ofafrii" with a brazen romp of everything tuneful and tasty. Wilkins and Ross virtually ground the driving ethic while power-gliding above the whole enterprise. It is a hellion ride, considering ...
Continue ReadingWalter Smith III: Return To Casual
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 ...
Continue ReadingKendrick Scott: Corridors
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 ...
Continue ReadingKendrick Scott: Corridors
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 ...
Continue ReadingJoey Alexander: Origin
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 ...
Continue Reading
