Scott Colley

Scott Colley’s stature as a leading bassist in the field of improvised music is well known, and easily measured. He’s been called “one of the leading bassists of our postbop era, and a composer-bandleader of quietly serious resolve” by The New York Times, while musical colleagues, like saxophonist Joshua Redman, praise him for being “one of the most musical bassists playing today. To me, he seems to have…this natural, intuitive, empathic sense of how to bring the most out of the other musicians and the music he’s playing.”

Colley, a three time Grammy nominee, has performed on over 200 recordings, eight of those as bandleader and composer. He is a first-call sideman, as renowned for his role in groups led by well-known headliners—John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, Chris Potter, many others—as he is for being part of all-star projects like “Still Dreaming” with Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, and Brian Blade; and “Steel House” with Edward Simon and Brian Blade.

Significantly, Colley is a leader of note, having assembled and composed music for a number of his own ensembles of top-level talent. His new recording Seven benefits from the combined prowess of Colley alongside trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, keyboardist/singer Kevin Hays, and drummer Nate Smith. The recording serves as an earnest, effective example of the personal and the musical becoming one, and is dedicated to a number of important mentors who have passed away recently, including Andrew Hill, Michael Brecker, Jim Hall, Charlie Haden, Fred Tinsley and Colley’s father.

“This last decade has been a big shift for me personally, and has made me appreciate the importance of being present in the moment, in life, as well as in music,” says Colley. “These moments happen only once. I believe that because I'm more aware of this fact, I’ve come to a deeper understanding of my various experiences—how I’ve arrived at this point in my career, and my life.”

Colley’s musical journey began in his hometown of Los Angeles. He was born in 1963 where at the ripe age of 11 he set his sights on the bass as his instrument of choice. At 13, he began studying with bassist Monty Budwig, and later, attending Eagle Rock High School, with John Rinaldo the school’s musical director. A full scholarship to the California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) greeted him after graduation. He focused on composition and jazz studies, while also studying privately with jazz legend Charlie Haden and classical bassist Fred Tinsley of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“Working with Charlie and Fred was amazing. They emphasized what was possible when people really take chances and connect—on a real level, not just on the surface. So that was one of the greatest lessons I got from them, in a lot of ways very similar to Jim Hall and other people that I've been lucky to be around. Andrew Hill was also that way."

Even before graduating Cal Arts, Colley’s reputation began to spread and he was tapped to tour and record with famed singer Carmen McRae in 1986; two years later, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree, moved to New York City, and toured further with McRae, and such headliners as Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Jordan, Jim Hall, John Scofield, Joe Henderson and Art Farmer. By the late ‘90s, he added stints with groups led by Joe Lovano, Toots Thielemans, Bobby Hutcherson, and Bob Berg to his resume, as well as extensive touring with Andrew Hill's "Another Point of Departure" sextet.

The first decade of the new millennium—from 2000 to ‘10—saw Colley become a major player with international recognition, touring extensively as a member of Herbie Hancock’s working trio and a quartet with Bobby Hutcherson for five years, while continuing work in Andrew Hill’s trio and sextet, as well as the Chris Potter Quartet. In 2005, he joined “Directions in Music”, a collaboration with Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, and Terri Lyne Carrington; performed in Pat Metheny’s acclaimed Trio; and took on teaching residencies globally.

Colley credits his wide range of experiences during these years as providing a sort of post-graduate training—opportunities to draw upon lessons and influences, and to see what works best in a variety of contexts. “I'm always asking myself the question—I've said this a lot—what's the most powerful thing I can do in this situation? If it's a ballad, I'm speaking of power in terms of delivering the story, like we were talking about Carmen McRae and the way she was able to be very soft. Or it could be power in a different way, volume or texture.

“My influences are super broad in terms of things that I listen to. My influences are everybody from Paul Chambers to [Motown bassist] James Jamerson to a lot of [Jimi] Hendrix and James Brown or... and classical influences and all kinds of things so you find those things within your history or your background that you can bring out in different ways. Sometimes they're not expressed overtly.

“You get into a certain groove and then it's like applying these influences to the acoustic bass can be a whole different thing. It's not to really think in terms of genre when you're playing. It's just thinking of music.”

It was during this period that Colley also stepped out as a leader and composer in his own right, recording and releasing five critically hailed albums in a seven-year run. His debut Portable Universe (1997), featuring a sextet that featured Potter and David Binney, was welcomed by the L.A. Times for “present[ing] an involved, emotional musical vision of contemporary life”, and “marks him as a bandleader from which to expect great things.”

Subliminal, a quartet outing from 1998 (which JazzTimes praised for “gripping originals…at once appealing and challenging”) and two trio releases with Potter and Bill Stewart from 2000—This Place and The Magic Line, soon followed. In 2003, he released Initial Wisdom featuring a quartet with Ravi Coltrane, Adam Rogers, and Stewart. A few years later, Colley’s reputation for capturing both improvisational moments of magic and sentimental precision was secured in recordings like 2007’s Architect of The Silent Moment (featuring Ralph Alessi, Craig Taborn and various special guests) and 2010’s Empire (a quintet recording with Alessi, Taborn, Bill Frisell, and Brian Blade that No Treble called a “front runner for jazz record of the year”). As Colley told All About Jazz in 2015, allowing for the extemporaneous and the unplanned is a leading imperative in his approach to recording.

“There's a lot that happens to a composition in the process of playing and recording. And it's not just done when it's recorded either. It's still moving and changing. That's the way with all my writing. It's still a living composition that can change depending on different individuals that I might play the music with, or over the course of a tour with the same musicians, how we approach it to see how we can surprise each other and. It is possible, I've played with people who can lock that down and make it so those possibilities don't exist. And to me that's not that interesting. Because those surprises can be the best part of music.”

Seven is the latest example of his desire to assemble lineups with the freedom to find their own sound. “When I started the project last year I had these three musicians in mind—it was very deliberate on my part,” says Colley. “From the very beginning I could imagine interacting with these three in a very organic, very powerful way… though I’ve played with all of them separately, and we’ve been friends for many years, they’ve never really played with each other. So there was this element of not knowing exactly what was going to happen.”

That idea of embracing the unknown, of searching for the unexpected, stands as a career-defining aspect of Colley’s musical path—one that continues to balance his role as a leader and a band member, as a creative collaborator and as one following where the music itself leads. One can hear that in his work as a still high-demand sideman in the most recent decade of his ever-ascending and continuously expanding career, performing and recording with groups led by Potter, Scofield, Metheny, Donny McCaslin, Gary Burton, Luciana Souza, Kenny Werner, Edward Simon. One can also hear it in such recent collaborations as the KCB Collective, with Danish Saxophonist Benjamin Koppel and Blade, the trio “Steel House”, and now with his current quartet.

It can be argued that Colley’s sense of creative priorities distinguishes itself most in his role as leader and composer. “I’ve always been more interested in writing music that doesn’t necessarily seem like a bass player’s record and so my role in the music doesn’t really change much whether it’s my compositions or someone else’s. To me, that’s an interesting balance: to be decisive and solid and create music that has direction, but in the process of playing the music, to step back and not control every event. That’s what brings the space and the beauty but also brings the power.”

Ashley Kahn 6/2017

Awards

3 Grammy Nominations

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Scott Colley, Edward Simon, Brian Blade: Three Visitors

Read "Three Visitors" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
December 8, 2024

There are the many moments to hold and savor on Three Visitors, the second trio offering from pianist Edward Simon, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. Like their 2017 eponymous debut Steel House (Artist Share), Three Visitors is artful, understated, elegant and so soul deep. A late night disk to rest with and to reflect upon days in the distance and days ahead. Simon (SFJazz Collective), Colley (Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock) and Blade are '90s post-boppers who have enjoyed each other's ...

Album Review

Andrew Hill Sextet Plus 10: A Beautiful Day, Revisited

Read "A Beautiful Day, Revisited" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
November 13, 2024

Registrato dal vivo al Birdland dal 24 al 26 gennaio 2002, il materiale di questo doppio CD (nonché doppio vinile) raggiunge oggi i quasi 83 minuti di durata, aggiungendo, rispetto all'edizione originaria uscita pochi mesi dopo il concerto, un'alternate take inedita del brano che intitola l'album e una versione ampliata di “11/8," riposizionando nel contempo i nove brani complessivi in quanto a “ordine di apparizione." Ne vien fuori un'opera che possiamo tranquillamente definire monumentale, anche proprio per la ...

Album Review

Andrew Hill Sextet Plus Ten: A Beautiful Day, Revisited

Read "A Beautiful Day, Revisited" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 21, 2024

The heyday of pianist Andrew Hill (1931-2007) happened during his hang with Blue Note Records, where he released ten albums between 1963 and 1970, including 1964's Black Fire, a splendid quartet session featuring saxophonist Joe Henderson; 1964's Point Of Departure), that featured a freewheeling sextet that included Henderson, multiple reedist Eric Dolphy and trumpeter Kenny Dorham; to Passing Ships (1969), with an exuberant multi-horn group that included trumpeter Woody Shaw, trombonist Julian Priester and flutist Joe Farrell. For those with ...

Album Review

Lux Quartet: Tomorrowland

Read "Tomorrowland" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
October 14, 2024

Lux Quartet is a new combination of four musicians who are all part of the more progressive branch of the jazz world, pianist Myra Melford: drummer Allison Miller, saxophonist Dayna Stephens and bassist Scott Colley. All four members contribute compositions to the band on this album which show off different facets of what the band is capable of. Melford brings in three pieces. “Intricate Drift" has the sax and piano navigate a swirling, angular melody while the bass ...

Album Review

Frank Ambrosetti & Strings: Sweet Caress

Read "Sweet Caress" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 5, 2024

Swiss flugelhornist/trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti teamed with pianist/arranger Alan Broadbent in 2022 for the exquisite Nora (Enja Records), a top-shelf orchestral jazz album with a core group of mainstream all-stars. Listening back to the history of the 'jazz with strings' sub-genre--the shot across the bow, Charlie Parker With Strings (Verve, 1950), followed in short order by Chet Baker with Strings (Columbia, 1953), Clifford Brown with Strings (Verve, 1955)--Nora could be considered a leap forward in terms of the richness of the ...

Album Review

Benjamin Koppel: White Buses: Passage To Freedom

Read "White Buses: Passage To Freedom" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
May 31, 2024

Il sassofonista e compositore Benjamin Koppel è uno dei massimi jazzmen danesi: in trent'anni di carriera ha inciso più di sessanta dischi con i massimi nomi del jazz contemporaneo e il suo nome spicca per il trio con Scott Colley e Brian Blade e per il quartetto con Colley, Kenny Werner e Jack DeJohnette (The Art of the Quartet, Cowbell 2020). Questo progetto è stato registrato a New York coinvolgendo altri statunitensi (Uri Caine, Antonio Sánchez, Thana ...

Album Review

Benjamin Koppel: White Buses: Passage To Freedom

Read "White Buses: Passage To Freedom" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
December 28, 2023

If saxophonist/composer/bandleader Benjamin Koppel has proven anything over the last few years, it is that he has no trouble finding sources of inspiration for his work. Whether it is just for the sake of blowing with a redoubtable rhythm section in the form of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade on Perspective (Cowbell Music, 2023) or illustrating his own range of style with The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue (Cowbell Music, 2020) and The Art of The ...

Recording

Joshua Redman's New Album, "Still Dreaming"—Featuring Ron Miles, Scott Colley & Brian Blade—Out Now

Source: Nonesuch Publicity
June 10, 2018

Saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman is joined by drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and cornetist Ron Miles for Still Dreaming—an album inspired by his father Dewey Redman's 1976–1987 band, Old and New Dreams—released on Nonesuch Records on May 25, 2018. Along with the senior Redman, Old and New Dreams featured an all-star lineup of Ornette Coleman collaborators—cornetist Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell—who continued pushing musical boundaries as they had with Coleman even after their former ...
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Recording

ArtistShare Is Proud To Submit Scott Colley's "Seven" For Nomination Consideration In The 60th Grammy Awards

Source: Brian Camelio
October 22, 2017

Multi-Grammy nominated Scott Colley, “one of the leading bassists of our post-bop era, and a composer- bandleader ofquietly serious resolve,” has composed incredible new works for his recently formed band, Current, which features trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, drummer Nate Smith, and pianist Kevin Hays. ArtistShare is proud to submit Scott’s stunning new recording, Seven, for nomination consideration in the 60th Grammy Awards. The writing and performance is unparalleled, combining beautiful melodicism with exhilarating rhythmic structures. The band navigates sometimes surprising territory, ...
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Performance / Tour

Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open Season Finale with Dave Liebman & Scott Colley and May 19th!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
May 18, 2012

CONNECTION WORKS PRESENTS The Season Finale of BROOKLYN JAZZ WIDE OPEN @ The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Concert Hall The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music is located at 58 Seventh Ave (at Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, Tel 718 622 3300, reduced admission! FINAL Concert of the 2011-2012 season Saturday, May 19 @ 8:00 PM (two sets) WORKS with special guests DAVE LIEBMAN & SCOTT COLLEY Dave Liebman - saxophones Michel Gentile ...
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Performance / Tour

Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open Presents Joe Lovano and Scott Colley @ The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
March 23, 2011

CONNECTION WORKS PRESENTS The 4th SEASON OF BROOKLYN JAZZ WIDE OPEN The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Concert Hall 58 Seventh Ave (at Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY 718-622-3300, Tickets are $15, and $10 for students and seniors NEXT CONCERT! Wednesday, April 13, 2011 2 sets at starting 8:00pm WORKS with special guests JOE LOVANO & SCOTT COLLEY Joe Lovano—saxophone Michel Gentile—flute ...
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Recording

Scott Colley - Empire (Cam Jazz, 2010)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
September 27, 2010

Scott Colley is one of the first call bassists on the modern jazz scene, having played with everyone from Andrew Hill to Chris Potter. On this album he is joined by a first class unit consisting of Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Bill Frisell on guitar, Craig Taborn on piano and Brian Blade on drums. The work on this album is atmospheric and subtle, with Frisell using effects to his guitar to add texture, and Blade keeping the percusssion shifting and ...
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103

Performance / Tour

Introducing the New Gary Burton Quartet: Featuring Julian Lage, Scott Colley and Antonio Sanchez

Source: AAJ Staff
September 10, 2010

GROUP SET TO MAKE THEIR NORTH AMERICAN DEBUT AT BLUE NOTE, OCTOBER 19-24 The New Gary Burton Quartet, featuring guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Antonio Sanchez, is set to perform at Blue Note on October 19-24. The week long engagement will serve as the North American debut for the group, which made its world premiere at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in August 2010. For over five decades, Gary Burton, the Grammy® award winning vibraphonist and former ...
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154

Recording

Preview Scott Colley's upcoming release "Empire"

Source: Brian Camelio
August 17, 2010

With the release of Scott Colley's latest album “Empire" just around the corner Scott has teamed up with ArtistShare to allow fans to preview tunes from the record, check out photos from the recording session and Scott's gigs, as well as a special video performance. Fans can also access a .pdf lead sheet of Scott's tune “The Gettin' Place" from the upcoming “Empire." Click here to redeem your certificate log in number (6-66423969-76269) and access this exclusive preview of Scott ...
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Recording

Preview "Empire" from Scott Colley!

Source: Brian Camelio
July 29, 2010

With his new release just around the corner, Scott Colley would like to invite you to preview some tunes from his the upcoming record “Empire." Scott's ArtistShare preview features tunes from his upcoming release as well as a bonus video performance with Jim Hall and Lewis Nash, tour photos, pictures from the Empire recording session and press photos. Click here to redeem your certificate log in number (6-66423969-76269)! “Empire" will be released in the U.S. on August 31st, worldwide on ...
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Recording

Preview Scott Colley's "Empire"

Source: Brian Camelio
July 19, 2010

Due for U.S. release on August 31st 2010, Scott Colley's upcoming album Empire features an impressive line up of Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Bill Frisell on guitar, Craig Taborn on piano and rhodes, and Brian Blade on drums. “Empire" is yet another strong example of Scott Colley's skills not only as an improviser, but also as bandleader and composer.

To preview the tune “Five-Two" from the upcoming release and view Scott's tour and press photos simply redeem your certificate number ...
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167

Recording

"Empire" an Upcoming Release from Scott Colley

Source: Michael Ricci
June 17, 2010

Scott Colley's upcoming album Empire is his seventh release as a leader and it seems as though his experience has served him well. “It felt to me that writing the material for this recording flowed quite easily. I think that because I have listened to all these musicians so much over the years, and have been fortunate to play with them all in many different musical environments, it was very easy for me to imagine them all playing together and ...
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