SOME MUSICIANS CHOOSE THEIR FIELDS BECAUSE THEY LOVE MUSIC, AND THEY WANT TO SERVE THE ART TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITY. DRUMMER KENDRICK SCOTT USES HIS GOD GIVEN TALENTS AND MAKES THEM A VEHICLE TO COMMUNICATE MESSAGES. SOME ARTISTS HAVE USED THEIR ALBUMS AS A STAGE TO CREATE A SOCIAL OR POLITICAL STATEMENT. SCOTT, TAKING LESSONS HE’S LEARNED GROWING UP IN CHURCH AS WELL AS BEING A SIDEMAN FOR SOCIALLY OUTSPOKEN ARTISTS LIKE TERENCE BLANCHARD, HAS USED HIS OWN BAND (ORACLE) TO ADDRESS MORE PERSONAL ISSUES, NAMELY HOW TO BREAK THROUGH ONE’S OWN MENTAL SELF-INDUCED LIMITATIONS.
THIS STRUGGLE AND RESOLUTION IS ADDRESSED ON HIS RECENT ALBUM A WALL BECOMES A BRIDGE, AND WHILE SOME HAVE TAKEN THE TITLE AS A POLITICAL STATEMENT, SCOTT REVEALS IN HIS CHAT THAT THE TOPIC IS MORE PERSONAL, AND ULTIMATELY MORE IMPORTANT, THAN THAT.
WE HAD A NICE CONVERSATION WITH MR. SCOTT AS HE WAS TOURING WITH HIS BAND IN PROMOTION OF THE LATEST RELEASE, JUST BEFORE EMBARKING TO JAPAN. WE FOUND HIM IN HUMBLE SPIRIT, STILL ON A PILGRIMAGE.
YOU STARTED PLAYING AT CHURCH. WHAT DID YOU LEARN MUSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY THERE?
The first thing that I remember was the deep feeling that I got from hearing music, the way that music extended the prayers and messages inside of the church service was like Nirvana for me. It was like the pinnacle of what it was like to be human; to think of others and to worship God with other people in unity. That got to me as a small child.
Seeing all of these people three times a week at church and growing with them; the sense of community was beautiful. That community sense is always something I’m searching for, even if I’m in my hibernation.
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“Seeing all of these people three times a week at church and growing with them; the sense of community was beautiful. That community sense is always something I’m searching for, even if I’m in my hibernation”
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IF I PROPERLY CONNECT THE DOTS OF YOUR CAREER, I SEE THIS INCULCATION OF THIS COMBING MUSIC AND MESSAGE FROM YOUR CHURCH YOUTH. THEN, YOU MEET UP WITH TWO ARTISTS, TERENCE BLANCHARD AND CHARLES LLOYD WHO ALSO DO THIS, ALBEIT IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
For sure, that is why I gravitated towards them.
I think that in life you have many opportunities to do many different things, but when God puts you in a situation, you know where it’s where you’re supposed to be.
When I graduated Berklee, I started playing with the Crusaders, with Joe Sample and Wilton Felder, for about 3 years. I was concurrently playing with Terence Blanchard, and I was with him for 11 years. Both Terence and I just knew that there was something in me that needed to be fostered, and it was a beautiful thing. And, when I’m with Charles Lloyd when Eric Harland’s not playing, I’m always blessed to be around him and his wisdom as well.
I’ve always made it a point to be around artists that I wished to emulate.
WHAT DID YOU GLEAN FROM YOUR TIME WITH THE CRUSADERS?
They taught me a lot because they’re also from Texas, Houston, and what it meant to represent that sound and intensity that comes from The South. I try to embody that every time I play.
They demanded excellence out of me, even playing a groove was the most Nirvanic thing.
They demanded excellence in many different ways. They’d say, “I want you to execute this with all of your heart” where with Terence, he demanded that I be vulnerable. Every time I’m up on stage he wanted me to try something that I hadn’t tried before.
There were two different mind sets that I had given to me, and it immensely added to my growth.
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“I’ve always made it a point to be around artists that I wished to emulate”
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THAT BLANCHARD BAND WITH YOU, ROBERT GLASPER AND LIONEL LOUEKE WAS AN INCREDIBLE OUTFIT
It was incredible, especially looking back, it’s amazing that all of us got signed to labels. Terence is a modern day Art Blakey in that he fosters young talent like us and encourages us. I attribute a lot of my success to him because he set the path for me and continues to do so. He’s been nominated for Oscars, and he’s also working on his second opera. He’s incredible.
YOU WERE ON HIS A TALE OF GOD’S WILL AS WELL AS CHOICES. WAS HE THE ONE WHO PLANTED THE SEED TO PUT MESSAGES INTO ALBUMS?
No, my mother did that! (laughs)
It was the most beautiful thing to be around a mother who was very strict and very forward thinking. She never let me do anything around the house just to do it; it was always for a reason.
Even cleaning the house or cleaning the bathroom had another meaning; it meant cleaning your mind. She taught me that early
THAT IS EXCELLENT!
SO, WITH BLANCHARD THE MESSAGES ARE SPECIFIC, BUT WITH LLOYD IT SEEMS MORE OF AN ESSENCE THAN A STATEMENT
“Essence” is the perfect word for Lloyd. It’s like, how do you embody without saying something. I don’t know, but he does it.
Being around Lloyd is a spiritual experience. Getting to talk to him on a day to day basis, and being around him when he plays his instruments are things that you take in that are inexplicable. For people like Charles Lloyd and Herbie Hancock, you just have to be around them and just experience it.
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“For people like Charles Lloyd and Herbie Hancock, you just have to be around them and just experience it”
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YOU NAMED YOUR BAND ORACLE. THAT’S FROM THE ORACLE AT DELPHI. WHAT WAS YOUR PURPOSE BEHIND THAT TITLE?
For me it was two things; first it was Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, always sending a message with the music.
One of the other things I was thinking of when trying to name the band was The Matrix series.
Whenever The Matrix went to The Oracle, she’d never really give him answers, but she’d always make him think of questions. That’s what made me think that if we could be the kind of band that sends out questions to make people contemplate about their lives, then we could be an Oracle.
THE TITLES OF YOUR ALBUMS ( REVERENCE, CONVICTION, THE SOURCE, HIDDEN PATHS) ALSO DISPLAY A SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE.
Yes, and it’s a life-long one. Each album represents a step and a snapshot of me at that time.
That’s something Terence told me before I made my first record. He said “These albums are just Polaroid snapshots of you at one moment in time. You’re going to wake up tomorrow and say ‘Man, I can do better than that; I could’ve combed my hair better” and then you take the next snapshot and ask ‘Why was I wearing those clothes?’ Every day you take a different snapshot you see something different, but if you look into the eyes, you’ll see the growth.”
So, it’s actually about the documentation and the draw of it. But that can also be scary, which is what happened just before this record.
It’s happened before, but there was a block there, a wall where I couldn’t finish. I could start writing but couldn’t complete anything. That’s when I approached (bassist/composer) Derrick Hodge and asked him what to do. He said that “We should make music about that situation, because you’re not the only person who goes through that.”
In addressing that wall, it became a bridge to make the music.
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“sometimes I spend too much time comparing myself to them that I don’t do my own work. I think that we all do that at some point”
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WAS THE BLOCK/WALL THAT YOU HIT MORE MENTAL, SPIRITUAL, MUSICAL OR A COMBINATION?
It was a mental block; I was making a lot of comparisons.
I’ve been blessed to be around some incredible people, and sometimes I spend too much time comparing myself to them that I don’t do my own work. I think that we all do that at some point.
I wanted to be a symphonic writer, but I realized that it wasn’t really my path at this moment in time. Right now, my path is to write a beautiful and simple melody, and enhance it with my drumming. That’s the essence of what I do.
Maybe I can grow into symphonic writing, but it’s all about achieving a balance and accepting myself.
It all goes back to Terence, who told me “One of the biggest questions you’re going to have in your life is ‘who you are’ versus ‘who you want to be.’” I deal with that a lot, and making this record is part of that process of giving me back some balance.
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“It all goes back to Terence, who told me “One of the biggest questions you’re going to have in your life is ‘who you are’ versus ‘who you want to be.’”
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THERE’S A GREAT VERSE IN THE BIBLE, “(GOD) KNOWS THE PATH I TAKE, AND WHEN I’M TESTED I”LL BE PROVEN GOOD AS GOLD.
That’s right.
WHAT HAS HELPED YOU MOST TO GET BACK ONTO THIS PATH?
Mainly the friendships of the people in the band.
Also the thought of the title of the record ( A Wall Becomes A Bridge) . It does have a kind of a double meaning. There’s a lot of things going on politically, and we are going through what is like a wall right now, but even this is like a bridge, as it’s bringing us together to make our awareness more heightened to what is happening in our country and in our world. We’re speaking about it much more than we did before.
I started thinking about that, and it took me back to church when I was a young boy, and I was told “Act as if you’ve already come out of the storm. Pray as if you’ve gone through the storm and it’s done, even if it’s before the storm, or you’re in the storm.” I want to embody that.
IT’S INTERESTING THAT TWO ALBUMS BY DRUMMERS ARE FILLED WITH MESSAGES, YOURS AND ANTONIO SANCHEZ’S
His album is intense. I’ve been listening to that record and know about his thoughts on it. For me, I’m not the type of guy to be pontificating on political things. I call myself a “temporary radical.” (laughs) We can think about these things and talk about them, but I’m not going to get on the podium. That’s not me.
THIS RECENT ALBUM HAS A DIFFERENT SOUND, AS IT INCLUDES VOICES, TAPES AND “EFFECTS.” WAS THIS JUST A NATURAL PROGRESSION OR AN EXPERIMENT OF SORTS?
It’s been a natural progression. It’s embracing my love of electronica and hip hop, but in my own way. I’ve always wanted to include things like that, but it always felt contrived for me. I had to figure out a way how it could be organic for me and still be inside of the band, instead of something that we play over.
If you notice, everything that you hear is melded into how the record works, and it’s melded into the Grand Arc. When I think about making a “work” I think about the Grand Arc of a song, the arc of a solo; I think of everything. The Grand Arc is about putting in little things like colors.
There’s a poster of a Dali painting on my wall. I’m looking at it right now. It’s called The Swans Reflecting Elephants, and I’m thinking about what is going on in it. He has some swans on top of a pond, but if you look at the swan’s reflection in the pond, they’re elephant heads. It’s all about perspective.
That’s why the first song on the album is called “Perpective,” because it’s coming out of the other side, so the record actually runs backwards. You’re actually coming out at the end of the record; when you listen to the beginning of the record, you’re really listening to the end of the process, at the breakthrough. So, you see that the wall that you were facing was actually a bridge. That’s the kind of idea that the record has in it.
YOU ARE QUOTED AS SPEAKING ABOUT “BREAKING THROUGH WALLS OF FEAR AND INSECURITY.” HOW CAN PEOPLE DO THAT?
The best way that I handle it, is through balance. I think those things, those walls, are actually what drive us. It’s when it goes over the balance point that it gets detrimental.
I relate it to what I feel when I play the drums. When I play the drums there are only two hindrances: One is the actual instrument, which is why I practice every day.
The other thing is my ego. My ego is telling me that I suck; it’s also telling me that I’m wonderful, great and I’m killing it. So, that high and low of the ego is always coming into my head as well as the instrument itself.
When I play drums, somehow I push the drums and ego away from myself and look at them. I get to laugh and watch them work.
In life, when we’re at our best at being ourselves, we’re in that way where we have a total balance point. I feel that my balance point is teetering on the edge, like it’s a “perfect imbalance.”
It’s like the perfect amount of oxygen to allow our earth to be here. That’s what I try to be on and stay on that “perfect imbalance.”
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“I feel that my balance point is teetering on the edge, like it’s a ‘perfect imbalance.'”
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AT THIS STAGE OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT KEEPS YOU MOST GROUNDED?
Still my mother. She keeps me grounded.
I’ve been taught The Word my whole life, which also keeps me grounded at the same time. I’m grounded in family and friends. It’s people that took me out of my funk. My bandmates have encouraged me.
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“You can hear somebody else play a lot of notes, and it can be phenomenal, but you don’t feel anything in your bones. That’s what I look for”
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WHAT DO YOU LISTEN FOR WHEN YOU WATCH A DRUMMER?
Intention. Is the music coming from them, or the drums (laughs).
It’s like when you hear Donny Hathaway singing, that is intention. When you here John Coltrane play one note, there’s intention.
You can hear somebody else play a lot of notes, and it can be phenomenal, but you don’t feel anything in your bones. That’s what I look for.
People don’t look for that in drummers enough. They just think “Oh, it’s grooving” or whatever. But in the groove, I look for intention; is he deeply entrenched into his music?
That’s not about style; it’s about mastering your intention.
WHAT DRUMMER WOULD YOU PAY $1000 TO SEE?
Roy Haynes, even at 94 years old.
WHAT’S THE BEST MUSICAL ADVICE SOMEONE GAVE YOU?
“Feed the mind, play the heart.”
WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES AND FUTURE GOALS?
I love to play basketball and chess.
For the goals, I want to keep the Oracle band going because I’m still intrigued by each of the players. They keep me going in a way that I want to keep going.
I want to expand into other projects. I have about three other projects that are in development. I want to keep expanding on my talents, with intention behind whatever I do.
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“Feed the mind; play the heart.”
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SINCE THE DAYS OF ST. AUGUSTINE IN HIS CONFESSIONS, OR JOHN BUNYAN’S PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, PEOPLE HAVE EXPRESSED THEIR DESIRE TO KNOW THEMSELVES AS WELL AS THEIR GOD MORE IN ORDER TO REACH THEIR PROMISED LAND. KENDRICK SCOTT’S LATEST ALBUM IS A REWARDING EXAMINATION OF HIS SPIRITUAL TREK, AND IT IS ONE WORTH APPRECIATING, AND HOPEFULLY IT WILL INSPIRE US TO REACH OUR OWN MOUNT ZION.