Scott Colley

Scott Colley stands among the most productive figures in jazz as a bassist, composer, and bandleader. Nominated for four Grammy Awards, he appears on more than 200 recordings, eight of them under his own name as leader and composer. Recognized as a premier sideman, he has held prominent positions in ensembles directed by Andrew Hill, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, and Chris Potter, among numerous others, while participating in notable all-star ensembles such as Still Dreaming alongside Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, and Brian Blade—Colley’s longest-running and most frequent collaborator—and Steel House with pianist Edward Simon and Blade. Colley’s bass playing remains open and instinctive, even during its most exploratory passages. Rarely ostentatious, his richly organic harmonic sensibility merges with a multifaceted perspective on improvisation, positioning him as one of post-bop’s most distinguished exponents. Released on Criss Cross in 1998, his second album as leader, Subliminal, featuring saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist Bill Carrothers, and drummer Bill Stewart, is widely regarded as a foundational work within the post-bop repertoire. Nearly twenty years spent in Potter’s band yielded such boldly exploratory recordings as 2002’s Traveling Mercies and 2007’s Song for Anyone. Colley’s Architect of the Silent Moment, issued by CAM Jazz in 2007, earned widespread recognition as a landmark jazz recording of the twenty-first century, owing equally to its original compositions and its distinguished personnel, including Craig Taborn, drummer Antonio Sanchez, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Seven, released in 2017, appeared on multiple year-end critics’ lists. Throughout the 2010s Colley collaborated extensively with guitarists Julian Lage, Nels Cline, and Wolfgang Muthspiel. In 2020 he joined the last of these musicians’ trio—alongside Blade on drums—for the albums Angular Blues and 2023’s Dance of the Elders.

Born in Los Angeles in 1963, Colley displayed an intense engagement with music from childhood, selecting the bass at age eleven and receiving instruction from bassist Monty Budwig by age thirteen. He attended Eagle Rock High School under musical director John Rinaldo, then earned a full scholarship to the California Institute for the Arts upon graduation. There he concentrated on composition and jazz studies while also studying privately with Charlie Haden and classical bassist Fred Tinsley of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Colley quickly gained notice as both sideman and composer. In 1986 he was selected to tour and record with vocalist Carmen McRae, two years after receiving his Bachelor of Music degree. He subsequently moved to New York City, where he continued working with McRae and secured engagements with artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Jordan, Jim Hall, Roy Hargrove, John Scofield, Joe Henderson, and Art Farmer. By the late 1990s his résumé included studio and touring work with Joe Lovano, Toots Thielemans, Bobby Hutcherson, and Bob Berg, as well as extensive performances as a member of Andrew Hill’s “Another Point of Departure” sextet. During the first decade of the new century the now internationally recognized bassist toured regularly with Hancock’s trio, spent five years in Hutcherson’s quartet, maintained his affiliation with Hill’s various groups, and remained a member of Potter’s quartet. In 2000 he issued two albums, This Place on Steeplechase and The Magic Line for Arabesque, both featuring colleagues from Potter’s band, including its leader. In 2003 he appeared on recordings by Donny McCaslin (The Way Through), Brad Shepik (Drip), and the Andrew Hill Jazzpar Octet +1 (The Day the World Stood Still). The following year he continued associations with Potter and Hall while also working in groups led by trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and David Binney. Between 2005 and 2007 he toured extensively with the “Directions in Music” project featuring Michael Brecker, Hancock, Roy Hargrove, and Terri Lyne Carrington, performed trio concerts with Pat Metheny, toured with Hall, and traveled throughout Europe and the United States with Potter and Antonio Sanchez, in addition to leading his own band. During the same period Colley joined a large ensemble of American jazz musicians—including Wallace Roney, Gil Goldstein, and Lovano—that accompanied French singer Juliette Gréco on her 2006 album Le Temps D’Une Chanson. Later that year he recorded with McCaslin (Soar, Give and Go) and pianist Kenny Werner (Democracy Live at the Blue Note).

In 2007 Colley released the widely praised Architect of the Silent Moment, whose critical reception placed it on the jazz charts. The year proved exceptionally active: alongside continued sideman duties with Sipiagin, Werner, and McCaslin, he participated in Abbey Lincoln’s studio ensemble for Abbey Sings Abbey and joined Steel House with Simon. In 2008, while touring with his own band whenever possible, he primarily recorded with vocalists Jane Monheit and Monday Michiru.

Colley issued the acclaimed Empire on CAM Jazz in 2010, featuring guitarist Bill Frisell—previously a colleague on Hall’s Hemispheres—along with Blade, Alessi, and Taborn. The album was selected by prominent critics, among them John Kelman, as one of the year’s outstanding jazz releases. He toured with his quartet and trio across the United States, Europe, and South America, as well as with Chris Potter’s Underground, the Antonio Sanchez Quartet, Magic Circle (a trio with Dave Douglas and Mark Feldman), Binney’s quartet, and Werner. So occupied was he with sideman and touring commitments that another leader date did not appear until 2017.

Over the ensuing five years Colley contributed to several significant recordings, including The Master’s Diary with Simon and drummer Clarence Penn, and served as bassist in piano trios led by Enrico Pieranunzi and Alex Mercado. In 2014 he and Sanchez formed the rhythm section for Croatian pianist Matija Dedić’s Sentiana. The following year he took part in the live all-star ECM tribute Hommage À Eberhard Weber with Pat Metheny, Gary Burton, Michael Gibbs, Jan Garbarek, and the SWR Big Band. In 2016 he joined guitarist Julian Lage’s trio for Arclight.

Colley released Seven on ArtistShare in 2017. Featuring his working quartet Current—pianist/vocalist Kevin Hays, trumpeter Johnathan Finlayson, and drummer Nate Smith—the album received critical praise and European airplay, particularly during the band’s tours there. In 2018 he joined Joshua Redman, Blade, and Ron Miles for the Grammy-nominated Still Dreaming, a quartet project inspired by the legendary Old and New Dreams, which had comprised former Ornette Coleman sidemen Charlie Haden, Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, and Dewey Redman. Colley contributed two compositions to the recording, among them the opening track “New Year,” which also included Coleman’s “Comme Il Faut.” He further appeared on Nels Cline’s double album Currents, Constellations and on Lage’s quintet date Modern Lore. In 2019, while continuing to lead and tour with Current, Colley replaced bassist Larry Grenadier in Wolfgang Muthspiel’s working trio with Blade on drums. Their first recorded document, Angular Blues, appeared on ECM in 2020. In February 2022 the trio recorded seven tracks in Oakland, California, resulting in Dance of the Elders, released by ECM in September 2023.