I’m also happy that Jacques Emond, host of Swing in in the Air on CKCU-FM in Ottawa, Ontario included my CD among a list of his favourite Canadian recordings of 2009! Thanks Jacques!
Review from Japan:
過去作品も好評だったトロントの多忙なギタリストの、カルテットにホーン2者を加えた一作。ちょっとシブめの「燻し銀的ほのぼの感」をしっかりと底流させての、スイング、ビ・バップ、中間派、初期ウエストコースト調、といったスタイルによるレイジー・スモーキーな寛ぎセッションが、折り目正しく引き締まった物腰で結構キビキビと展開されてゆくテイスティー編。テーマ・アンサンブルには中々凝った音響設計意匠やチームワークの緊密さも発揮されつつ、大方は、あまり主役を特定しない群像劇的ジャム大会、風の和気あいあいとしたハートウォーミングなソロ・リレー合戦が決め込まれ、ギター者の、バップ初期を思わせるレトロな職人芸っぽいブルージー・アクションや、よりモダンでクールな趣味のいいラウンジ感覚のリラクゼーション技、がソロの一番手で洒落た魅力を放つ他、侘び寂めいた吟醸スイング派コルネット、純正ハード・バピッシュなテナー、粋なファンキー・フィーリングたっぷりのピアノ、らも各々スター性満点においしく見せ場を飾って、トントン拍子にイカせてくれる。
Another review from Japan:
Andrew Scott / Nostalgia (Sackville)
ジャケットといい、モノラルっぽい録音といい、演奏といい冒頭から乾いたミュートがまた、それっぽく、時間が止まったような時代調。題材に持ってくる曲もよく聴く曲ばかり。極めつけはアンドリュー・スコットの柔らかいギター・トーン。とことん好き者が集まったという、それはほんのりとして幸せな感じ。
Winner of the Best Jazz Artist of 2007 from the Toronto Independent Music Awards!
There is a nice article on me entitled “Jazz is just one of grad’s many cool hats” by Alex Keshen on page 62 of the September 2008 issue of the North Toronto Post.
From Canadian Musician Magazine (Volume XXIX No. 3)…”…there are a lot of good guitarists around these days including [Levon Ichkhanian, David Occhipinti, Andy Scott, and more” (Sonny Greenwich Page 50).
I’ve officially joined the rest of the world and I now have a myspace page. Here.
An article I contributed to on contemporary jazz from the National Post is here.
Email me to say “hello” andrewjacobscott (the symbol for at ) sympatico.ca
About me:
I grew up in Toronto, Canada and have been involved in music my whole life. I sang in the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus as a youngster, played French horn in junior high school and took up the guitar at Leaside High School. My first teachers were my mother—a great piano player—and Andy Baracus at Leaside. I got interested in jazz mainly through my mom’s Oscar Peterson, Junior Mance and Dave Brubeck records. My first jazz teachers were Brian Hughes and Joey Goldstein, all of who gave me a good musical foundation and pointed me in the right direction. I attended Humber College of Applied Arts and Sciences in the music department. Here, I had the good fortune to work with some great teachers (Charles Tolliver, Don Thompson, Pat LaBarbera, Peter Harris, Ted Quinlan, Michael Farquason) and meet some amazing musicians who were masquerading as students. Around this time, I also helped start a really nice band called One Step Beyond. We were on a few compilation records, put out two albums on our own and got to tour extensively throughout North America—occasionally as the backup band for organist Merl Saunders. I also went to Arosa, Switzerland around this time and played in The Hotel Eden for four months.
In 1998, I moved to Boston and attended the New England Conservatory of Music. I earned a Masters in Historical Musicology while getting to play jazz with some great musicians. NEC was the dream school for someone with diverse interests. The scholarship was high—thanks to Greg Smith, Helen Greenwald, Peter Row, Anne Hallmark—and the music was rich and varied; I studied under such wonderful musicians as John McNeil and Gene Bertonncinni. I would have loved to stay in Boston—it is an amazing city—but I got accepted into the PhD. program of Musicology/Ethnomusicology at York University to study with Rob Bowman. In the spring of 2006 I successfully defended my dissertation/thesis “The Life, Music and Improvisational Style of Herbert Lawrence ‘Sonny’ Greenwich.”
Additionally, I’ve put out two albums with Jim Clayton in a band called The Clayton/Scott Group. The band, which mainly features David French, Jake Wilkinson, Will Jarvis and Steve Heathcote (although other great musicians have worked with us) gets a lot of radio play on Max Trax, Wave 94.7 FM, The Breeze in Calgary and a number of other “contemporary” jazz radio stations. We have also been recognized for our efforts with two “Group of the Year” wins at the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards (2005 and 2006) and a National Jazz Award Nomination for “Electric Group of the Year.” We were lucky to work with two wonderful producers—Tony Grace and Rob DeBoer of Four 80East–a group with whom I now play–for our 2nd album “So Nice.” In addition, I married a wonderful woman, have two sons and a daughter, got a dog, bought a house, played just about every jazz festival in Ontario, have written for a host of good academic journals and magazines–including CODA Magazine where I worked as the Managing Editor (see my CV)–and completed a record on my own featuring some “swingin’” playing by Harry Allen , Jake Wilkinson, Bernie Senensky, Louis Simao and Joel Haynes. The record is called “This One’s for Barney,” as a tribute to the late guitarist Barney Kessel, whose music I love and whom I feel was influential on my playing style. It was released on Sackville Records in late 2004.
My 2nd recording–”Blue Mercer”–is a program of mainly Johnny Mercer music. I am thrilled that New York trumpeter Randy Sandke, tenor saxophonist Mike Murley, pianist Bernie Senensky, bassist Louis Simao and drummer Joel Haynes agreed to record with me. John Norris at Sackville Records has again put out this record and I’m happy to report that the liner notes have been written by pianist/composer/Mercer collaborater Gene DiNovi, whose composition “Have a Heart” I recorded for this album. His notes can be found in the press section of this website. This recording is currently getting a lot of play on CBC and CJRT (Jazz FM).
I’m also pleased to report I recently recorded two “Generations” CDs with Gene DiNovi and Dave Young (July 2007). The first (”The Three Optimists at the Old Mill”) is available on Sackville Records in the fall of 2008. The second was produced by famed jazz producer Mitsuo Johfu for his Marshmallow record company. Here is a link to the label’s website (Japanese only, however). I will be making a guitar trio record (guitar, bass, drums) for the same label sometime in 2008.
As of June 2009, I have recorded a third CD as leader for Sackville Records. The CD, Nostalgia features tunes (or rather melodies/heads) that are based upon standard American songbook compositions: so, for example, we play Fats Navarro’s “Nostalgia” which is based upon “Out of Nowhere” and Barney Kessel’s “Vicky’s Dream” which is based upon “All the Things You Are” etc. The record features both Dan Block (on tenor and clarinet) and Jon-Erik Kellso on trumpet (and a variety of mutes) on the front line and the swinging rhythm section of pianist Mark Eisenman, bassist Pat Collins and drummer Joel Haynes.
In addition to all of this, I teach at Humber College of Music (music business/marketing, critical perspectives on contemporary music, sociology of contemporary music, jazz history, 2nd year music theory, reading ensemble and private guitar), the University of Guelph (jazz history, ensemble coaching and private guitar instruction), Seneca College (survey course in Canadian music) and York University (classroom and private guitar instruction). That is where this website comes in. This site is mainly a resource for my students. Here, I will post thoughts, reading assignments, listening assignments and important dates for students in my courses. Students are encouraged to email me, leave messages, ask questions, raise issues etc. which I will post on the website in order to continue the classroom discourse long after the class is over.
Thanks for visiting my site.
Andrew