Nov 8, 2024 1:00 pm

Named a “Rising Star” by Downbeat magazine and a “drummer whose time is now” by the New York Times, Kendrick Scott is a premier drummer of his generation. Born in Houston, Texas, Scott grew up in a family of musicians and had taken up the drums by age 8. He attended Houston’s renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a school which has produced an impressive array of musical talent, including Scott’s label mates Jason Moran and Robert Glasper, as well pop star Beyoncé, among many others. While still attending HSPVA, Scott won several Downbeat student awards, as well as the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators. He was later awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, where he majored in music education.

Kendrick Scott has toured and recorded with a wide array of artists, including Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Charles Lloyd, The Crusaders, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kurt Elling, and Terence Blanchard, on whose Grammy-winning Blue Note album, A Tale of God’s Will (2007), he appeared. As a bandleader, Kendrick has released Reverence (2011) and three albums with his band Oracle—The Source (2007), Conviction (2013), and We Are The Drum (2015). In addition to composing and performing with his band Oracle worldwide, Scott continues to be an in-demand sideman.