Biography

 

Kevin Scott was born and raised in Dothan, AL, where his career began as a
teenager playing bass in his father’s bluegrass band. Hearing Colonel Bruce
Hampton for the first time sparked his interest in experimental music and
pointed his focus to The Colonel’s base of operations, Atlanta.
Kevin moved there in 2004 and began playing with a variety of local acts
across the musical spectrum. As young, driven players in Atlanta have been
known to do, he caught Hampton’s attention and joined his band The
Pharaoh Gummit in 2009. Touring with Colonel Bruce for the next three years
was a dream come true for Kevin. He recalls it as a lesson in “killing the
ego” and committing fully to the music and the moment, something
Hampton taught by example.
Playing with Bruce led to relationships with two of The Colonel’s
contemporaries: First with legendary drummer Bernard Purdie, whom he
still counts as a friend, mentor, and one of his biggest influences. Purdie is
featured with The ATL Collective’s annual presentation of James Brown’s
Funky Christmas, of which Kevin is musical director. Second was guitar
royalty Jimmy Herring, who first saw a 23-year-old Kevin performing with
Bruce and kept track of him for years afterward. When he formed his new
band Invisible Whip in 2017, Herring tapped Kevin to play bass and the
band co-headlined the “Meeting of the Spirits” tour with John McLaughlin.
More dates are set for later in 2018, as is the release of a live album
recorded at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco last fall.
Colonel Bruce’s band travelled mostly on weekends, so Kevin was able to
deepen his foothold in the Atlanta scene. He joined one of Atlanta’s most
beloved bands, Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics, and continued chasing his
interest in experimental/improvisational music by hosting a weekly jam
session at the since defunct 5 Spot. The Tuesday night jam lives on to this
day at Elliot St. Pub, and Kevin continues to explore what can happen when
all types of musicians come together with no rules or boundaries.
Kevin toured full-time with Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics in 2012. The band
performed throughout the U.S., selling out shows regularly with notable
appearances at The Blue Note in New York, The Boom Boom Room in San
Francisco, and The Telluride Blues Festival. Kevin appears on numerous
Soulphonics recordings including It’s About Time (the single from which,
“Heartlite,” was voted the Starbucks Pick of The Week on Christmas Day in
2012) and the band’s new album, Broken Woman, which was released in
spring 2018. Other highlights of Kevin’s discography include Elektrik
Butterfly, a jazz fusion project led by Grammy-nominated trumpeter Russell
Gunn, Avalanche of Worms by metal guitar giants Emil Werstler and Eyal
Levy, The Big Galoot by King Baby, a super-group of Atlanta stalwarts, and
Ambition by hip-hop artist Wale. This project, on which Kevin was bassist
and co-writer, reached #1 on the Billboard hip-hop and rap charts and was
awarded a gold record.
Kevin realized another long-held dream in joining guitar legend Wayne
Krantz’s trio in 2016, on the recommendation of Tim LeFebvre, (bassist for
Tedeschi Trucks Band, David Bowie’s Blackstar, and a regular performer
with Krantz). In addition to frequent dates at the venerated 55 Bar in New
York, the trio has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. Two
more New York-based projects have also brought Kevin on: Matador Soul
Sounds, with whom he recorded a debut album and recently completed a
U.S. Tour, and FORQ, which will tour Europe and record later in 2018.