Jim Scully profile picture

Jim Scully

About 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 plays such traditional instruments as the guitar, electric bass and piano and also makes music on Apple computers using Logic Pro and various software samples. He has appeared, collaborated, or worked with Kris Tiner , Kyle Burnham , Kenny Burrell , Eric Marienthal , Billy Childs , Carl Allen , Kei Akagi , Paul Cierley , Charles Owens , Laura Porter , Mandy Rees and the CSUB Theatre Department, and many others.
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.
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Background from Yahoo search result ..

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 25/01/2007
Band Website: http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/compositions.html
Band Members: 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

Jim Scully on YouTube
Previous Projects:
Bodfish All-Stars

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.
Record Label: N/A

My Blog

My blog is moving...

Hi folks -It's not like I blog a lot - or have a lot of readers, but I moved my personal blog to:Scully NotesCheck it out there, if you get a chance.PS. The most recent post is about Kasey - the dog....
Posted by on Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:54:00 GMT

Chris Page, RIP

Just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that friend and one-time band-mate at CSUB, Chris Page, has passed away. I met Chris at CSU Bakersfield in the mid to late 1990's. We were both members o...
Posted by on Tue, 27 May 2008 21:34:00 GMT

Guest Artist Hans Blix @ CSUB 5/23 & 5/24

Hi folks -I am dropping a note to my MySpace friends to let everyone know about a great event at my University - CSU Bakersfield - this week.The CSUB Music Department is hosting NYC Improvisational Tr...
Posted by on Thu, 22 May 2008 10:42:00 GMT

Good thoughts for John Barker

Member of the Bakersfield music scene and CSUB graduate John Barker has suffered a stroke. John is a saxophonist, bassist, composer, friend and music teacher to many. He is at the Mercy Hospital on ...
Posted by on Tue, 13 May 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Hop, Skip and Jump to have East Coast Premier

Hi all-My piece for solo clarinet - Hop, Skip and Jump - has been selected for performance at a concert in Brookline, Massachusetts on 5/24/08. The concert is being organized as a CD release for Beau...
Posted by on Tue, 13 May 2008 11:24:00 GMT

Last minute gig TODAY!!!

Hi all -I got a last minute call to play a couple of gigs today to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the shopping center on the corner of Brimhall and Calloway. If you have nothing going on, come c...
Posted by on Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:20:00 GMT

New recording of Bouncing About

Well, Bouncing About got another performance here in Bakersfield on Saturday night and it was an unmitigated success. The players were excellent! Patrick Bender played the piano part (his second per...
Posted by on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:39:00 GMT

CSUB/BC Composer Concert - 4/19

On Saturday night, April 19, 2008, CSUB will host the 5th annual Bakersfield Student Composers' Concert. The event will take place on the main stage of the Doré Theatre on the CSUB campus and feature...
Posted by on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:39:00 GMT

CSUB Jazz Coffeehouse Concert

Hi all -Just a quick note inviting you to the CSUB Jazz Coffeehouse tonight, March 1. The show is being held in the Albertson Room (inside the Doré Theatre) and starts at 7:30 PM. Tickets can be pur...
Posted by on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:58:00 GMT

Bouncing About Video on YouTube

Hi all -I smuggled a mini-DV recorder into the premier of my piece, Bouncing About, on Sunday. I taped it from my pew, as stealth-like as possible - I don't know if that kind of thing is frowned upon...
Posted by on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:13:00 GMT