Scott Reeves is a trombonist, alto flugelhornist, composer, arranger, author, and college jazz educator. A Chicago native, he attended Indiana University where he received his B.M. in trombone and his M.M. in jazz studies. His teachers have included David Baker, Woody Shaw, Kenny Werner, Thomas Beversdorf, and Lewis Van Haney. Since 1976, Scott has been teaching jazz at the university level. He currently teaches at The City College of New York, CUNY, where he holds the rank of Associate Professor, and is also on the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music. He previously held positions at the University of Southern Maine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Memphis State University, and Western Washington University. Scott has presented workshops and concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan and Italy.
Scott’s
recent performing & arranging credentials include work at New York jazz clubs
such as Birdland, the Village Vanguard, the Knitting Factory, Cecils and
the 55 Bar. He regularly performs with the Dave Liebman Big Band, the Cecil’s
Big Band and his own groups - the Scott Reeves Quintet, Pedacinho do Brasil and
Manhattan Bones. He has also subbed with the Vanguard Orchestra, the Chico
O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, the NewYorkestra, the Oliver Lake Big Band,
and the BMI Jazz Composers Orchestra.
Some of the other
musicians with whom Scott has played include trumpeters Herb Pomeroy, Clark
Terry, Freddie Hendricks, Jim Rotondi and Bill Mobley; trombonists Mike Fahn,
Gary Valente, Sam Burtis, Alan Ferber, Tim Sessions, Mark Patterson, John Mosca
and Doug Purviance; saxophonists Dave Liebman, Benny Carter, Rich Perry, Tim
Reis, Jon Gordon, Dick Oatts, George Garzone, Gerry & Adam Niewood and Steve
Wilson; pianists Kenny Werner, Mike Holober, Jim Ridl, Roberta Picket and James
Williams; bassists John Patitucci, Rufus Reid, Mike McGuirk, John Benitez, Todd
Coolman and Ron Carter; and drummers Pete LaRoca, Eliot Zigmund, Tim Horner,
Andy Watson, Billy Hart and John Riley.
His recording credentials include “Beyond the Line” with the David Liebman Big Band (Omnitone, 2004), “Composition 96” with Anthony Braxton and the Composers & Improvisors Orchestra (Leo, 1991), and “Honey” with the Rome-based Santucci/Scoppa Sextet. A second Liebman CD, featuring two of Scott’s arrangements of Liebman compositions, “New Breed” and “Anubis” is currently under production. He also appears as a sideman on two recordings by bassist Sam Sherry, Mike Trenny’s Jazz Composers Orchestra, and vocalist Kaoru Azuma. Scott has three CD’s under his own leadership: “You Are What You Think” (Brownstone, 1996), “Congressional Roll Call” (Creative Jazz, 2000) and “Tribute” by Manhattan Bones (Creative Jazz, 2005). His new quintet CD featuring tenor saxophonist Rich Perry will be available in 2008.
Scott's two
books, Creative Jazz
Improvisation and Creative Beginnings
(both published by Prentice-Hall), are among the most widely used texts in their
field. They have been used in this country at schools
such as the University of Southern California, University of Texas, Cincinnati
Conservatory, Rutgers, William Paterson University, City College of New York,
Georgia State University, Philadelphia University of the Arts, Temple
University, Miami/Dade College and High School for the Performing Arts,
University of Minnesota, and Berklee. They have also been adopted by European
academies, such as Brunel University in London, the Royal Conservatory in
Brussels, and the Università della Musica in Rome. Scott has also written eleven
articles and papers on jazz; his article on jazz arranger Gil Evans was the
feature story for a 1995 issue of Jazz Educators Journal. His compositions and
arrangements for jazz ensemble are published by UNC Press, and his series of
arrangements for jazz trombone ensemble and are available through Aebersold
Jazz. Scott is an artist/affiliate for United Musical Instruments and can
be contacted through this website:
www.creativejazz.com.