Scott Mullett has played and toured with some of the best big bands in the world, including those of Woody Herman and Artie Shaw. He was drafted into Woody’s band after a few semesters’ study at Berklee College, where he had had been awarded a full scholarship at the age of 17. Mullett has been a working musician ever since, and is now a first-call saxophone player for the greater Boston area, doing commercial studio sessions, and performing regularly with the White Heat Swing Orchestra and the C-Jammers. They even invite him back to teach an occasional saxophone clinic at Berklee! When he came back to the area in the late ‘90s due to family concerns, he was fresh from three years’ tenure as Musical Director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and was probably surprised to find himself settling down in the same town where he’d grown up. Mullett currently resides in Swanzey and draws students from around the tri-state area for private instruction. He is also founder and director of the Keene Jazz Orchestra, now in its fourth year.As a student at Keene High School, Mullett was strongly influenced by the band director Bob Cummings, a Juilliard graduate who retired to Keene with his family after a wildly successful commercial career as an instrumentalist. Cummings played trumpet for Les Brown and his Band of Renown: this, the house band for Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Steve Allen, and also the group that backed an unknown Doris Day and Tony Bennett, launching them into stardom. Incidentally, Cummings’ directorship not only shaped the life-path of the young Scott Mullett, but also those of some of his KHS classmates: local classical trumpet virtuoso Dan Farina, the famous Vegas bandleader Lon Bronson, and multi-instrumentalist Probyn Gregory (who toured with Jerry Garcia and played on Brian Wilson’s “Smile”).
Jeff Galindo teaches trombone at the Berklee School and plays with the Mingus Big Band, among others. Jeff has performed with Chick Corea, Makoto Ozone, Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods and Gunther Schuller. He has two recordings out as a leader with his own sextet.
Eugene Uman, Director of the Vermont Jazz Center, has been a regular member of Scott’s quartet for over 4 years. He will be featured as leader in the final concert of the “Key Into Local Jazz” Series, playing his own compositions on the Fender-Rhodes with a septet. Uman has toured internationally with Sheila Jordan, recorded with Carlos Averhoff, and is the pianist with the Vermont Jazz Ensemble and Ambassadors of Light. He is in the top tier of jazz educators and presenters in the Tri-State Region, and has performed with countless ‘name’ players.
Dave Shapiro is still missed in New York City, where he cut his teeth riding subways to sessions with his bass at all hours of the night. He currently lives in West Townshend and resists calls to go back to big city life; recently he was courted by a certain famous big band out of San Antonio that’s regularly heard on NPR, but decided he preferred Vermont weather to the Texas twisters. A rhythm machine when he is playing with a section, once he is out front he regularly steals the limelight with melodic solos that have given him the title of “Master Tunesmith.” Shapiro, like Mullett, is a veteran of Woody Herman’s band and was also a sideman for Chet Baker and Anita O’Day.
Drummer Peter Moutis has had a special connection with Mullett for many years. Their synchronicity is always evident, and even when they lose the average pair of ears, it’s easy to see that they are still simpatico – soaring away into choruses of just rhythm and sax, reminiscent of the flights taken by Coltrane and Elvin Jones off into the stratosphere. Also a first-pick of Jerry Bergonzi and other master improvisers, Peter works regularly in the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire.
Tune in for a special feature on these performers during the WP Show from 5-7PM on Sunday the 5th, on Black Sheep Radio, 100.1FM out of Bellows Falls VT. Real-time streaming audio is available through the website at <http://wool.fm>.