I have been in a lot of groups over the years - so this is a partial list.
Current Project:
Jim Scully Group
Jim Scully, guitar Steve Eisen, trumpet Ron Christian, trombone Steve Mettler, alto and tenor saxophones James Dethlefson, double-bass Brian Palla, drums Zeke Victor, piano
Here are a couple of videos from recent performances of my work
Premier of Bouncing About
Bakersfield Symphony New Directions Concert
Patrick Bender (piano) & Donna Fraser (violin)
Enigmatic Joe
Bakersfield Jazz Festival - May, 2007
Jim Scully Band
Monkitude
Bakersfield Jazz Festival - May, 2007
Jim Scully Band
Follow this link to see all of the videos from the Jim Scully Band performance at the Bakersfield Jazz Festival, as well as other performances
John Martin, trumpet Ron Christian, trombone Jim Scully, guitar James Dethlefson (double-bass) or Glen Fong (electric bass) Brian Palla, Canaan McDuffie or Zanne Zarow, drums
Jacksprat
Jared Coyle, clarinets Jim Scully, guitar Paul Cartwright, violin and effects James Dethlefson, double-bass
Jim Scully Trio
Jim Scully, guitar James Dethlefson, double-bass Brian Palla, drums
Jenn Neil Group
Jenn Neil, vocal Jim Scully, guitar James Dethlefson, double-bass Brian Palla or Kyle Burnham, drums
Speedy Neptune Project
Jim Scully, guitar Kyle Burnham, drums Dennis Hamm, piano Caleb Moore, electric bass
Kris Tiner/Jim Scully Group
Kris Tiner, trumpet Russ Sedam, tenor sax Jim Scully, guitar Dennis Hamm, piano James Dethlefson, double-bass Kyle Burnham, drums
For my non-jazz compositions, I routinely hire talented musicians from in and around Bakersfield to perform or record my works. However, at some point after I had dropped nearly $2000 to hire musicians for this purpose I realized that using Logic Pro 7.2 (now Logic Studio 8) and the Vienna Symphonic Library was a smarter way to record my pieces for orchestral instruments. I still hire folks for performances and recording sessions, but I first work up a prototype of the piece using a sequencer and samples so that the players have an aural representation of the piece before they have to play the work.
So, mad props go out to:
Sibelius notation software and Apple computer.
These two companies have created hardware (Apple G5 - dual processor model) and great software (Logic Pro, Sibelius, GarageBand, etc.). These products (and others) help to make my job as a college professor and professional musician so much easier.
Influences
Everything I hear becomes an influence. What has really influenced my compositional creativity is music from the 20th century. All of it, really. Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, Alban Berg, Claude Debussy, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Beatles, Ben Folds, Radiohead and others...
As a guitarist, the usual suspects have been influential: Joe Pass, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Ulf Wakenius and more recently Kurt Rosenwinkle.
Here are some videos from YouTube that make me want to be a better musician...
Bright Size Life Pat Metheny and Ulf Wakenius
Zhivago Kurt Rosenwinkel Group
Sounds Like
If I am doing my job well, my music sounds like me.
Jim Scully is a composer, performer and educator in the fields of contemporary classical music, electroacoustic music and jazz studies. He has been contributing his diverse talents to the music scene in Bakersfield, California for over 20 years.
Scully holds degrees in music from CSU Bakersfield (B.A. in Music) and UC Irvine (M.F.A. in Music) and has taught music at the collegiate level at Bakersfield College, UC Irvine and now, CSU Bakersfield. He has served as Director of the Bakersfield College Jazz Ensemble and Director of the UC Irvine Community Jazz Ensemble. Currently, he is a full-time member of the CSU Bakersfield music faculty where he teaches a wide array of courses in the fields of Music Theory, Jazz Studies and Music Technology and serves as Director of Small Group Jazz and as Producer/Director of the CSUB Jazz Coffeehouse Concert Series that features small jazz ensembles under his tutelage.
Scully’s works have been performed at the Electro-Acoustic Juke Joint on the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, Bakersfield Symphony New Direction Concerts, Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival, CSUB Jazz Coffeehouse Concerts, UC Irvine Composers’ Concert, Bakersfield Student Composer Concerts, CSUB Theatre for New Voices, Bakersfield Jazz Festival, and the Queen Mary as part of the Music Association of California Community Colleges Conference in October of 2000. Scully has also led or co-led numerous small jazz groups including the Jim Scully Group, Jim Scully Trio, Jim Scully/Kris Tiner Band, the Bodfish All-Stars the Jenn Neil Group and the Speedy Neptune Project.
Hey Thanks for the friendship, I truly appreciate it! I’m getting ready to play as much as possible in the US. Feel free to check out my band profile (see below), download free MP3s from my brandnew debut album or even become a fan! :)) Blessings, Vlada http://www.facebook.com/pages/VLADA/13506957663 PS: You can download the album on iTunes or order the Limited Second Edition CD here: www.vladamusic.com.
Featuring the Bakersfield College Jazz Ensemble Directed by Kris Tiner
Saturday, March 28, 8:00 p.m. BC Indoor Theatre
$8 general, $5 students/BC staff/seniors
BC's student jazz musicians present a special program of jazz, blues, and funk from Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia, with music by Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti, Mulatu Astatke, Thomas Mapfumo, Majid Bekkas and others.
hey scully. summer is going well, adapting to new things...i have been playing a lot of guitar lately, i have been workin on choros no 1. and its ocming along. ill be ready when school starts.
have you been working on any new projects lately?? as far as jazz group goes, what type of things will we be playing
Trent Reznor has released another album. This time, completely free. He's giving downloads of the MP3 version free via the website, and torrenting the lossless audio formats.
Rumor says he plans to release 5 albums this year.
hey Jim, go to my page and listen to the guitar ensemble piece I just crapped out last night. I don't know if I have the will to actually write out the parts (or, of course, performance notes).
I am planning on heading out there this summer sometime. Jenn and I also talked about visiting the Florida Keys and the Georgia Sea Islands. So, we'll see...
