Kendrick Scott Oracle (USA)
JAZZ OF FOUR CONTINENTS

TODAY WE ARE OPEN FROM 8 pm

Oracle returns with the release of A Wall Becomes a Bridge (Blue Note), an inspiring new 12-song cycle about overcoming obstacles both personal and collective. The album was produced by Derrick Hodge, and finds Kendrick Scott augmenting his quintet with the addition of turntablist Jahi Sundance who joins guitarist Mike Moreno, pianist Taylor Eigsti, reedist John Ellis, and bassist Joe Sanders to expand Oracle’s palette. Drummer and composer Kendrick Scott released his Blue Note debut We Are the Drum in 2015. Produced by Derrick Hodge, Scott’s creative confidant and musical brother, it earned rave reviews and reiterated how Oracle, Scott’s long-running group, is one of the most thoughtfully powerful jazz bands of its generation. But when it came time to follow this success up with a new effort, Scott felt stuck. Nothing he wrote or played seemed good enough; self-doubt had formed a blockade where inspiration once flowed. But, as Scott points out today, “Wayne Shorter says there’s always something unfolding on the other side of the negative.” Hodge, who’d signed on again as producer, witnessed what Scott was putting himself through and had a similar realization. “Derrick said, ‘We need to tap into our fears and insecurities and make some art about them,’” Scott recalls. “That was amazing to me—that he got me out of my own head.” Scott gathered up the compositions he’d been working on—both finished and unfinished—and headed into the studio, where “Derrick and the band helped me unfold them, and they became the record that you hear.” That gorgeous new album from Scott and Oracle is called, not incidentally, A Wall Becomes a Bridge. And the implications of that title aren’t exclusive to Scott’s artistic breakthrough. Scott says he “loves to create things for conversation. So, I also wanted the idea to speak about a certain president.” Many of us would argue that 45 is all wall and no bridge, but Scott sees a silver lining in this increasingly absurd political age. “With all of these different issues coming to the forefront, we can now say, ‘Things like systemic racism still exist and we need to deal with them.’ More people are paying attention to the government, and that level of intensity is what we need—as is that level of intent in how we vote and how we live and how we treat others. All of those things are a bridge.”

Kendrick Scott – drums

Joe Sanders – bass

Michael Moreno – guitar

Taylor Eigsti – piano

Admission: seating CZK 700, standing CZK 350, at the door: seating CZK 800, standing CZK 400. There is no need to reserve a seat when purchasing a seating ticket. No club discounts. Thank you for understanding.

Band website: www.kendrickscott.com