Kendrick Scott joins the faculty at the Institut Jazz

The Institut Jazz at the Basel Academy of Music FHNW welcomes drummer, composer, and bandleader Kendrick Scott as new Professor of Drums and Ensembles joining in fall 2026. 

Kendrick Scott is one of the defining drummers of his generation. He approaches the drums as a compositional instrument: melody, dynamics, and form are as central to his work as groove. His albums repeatedly explore themes such as conviction, vulnerability, and community.  

Scott gained international recognition as a long-standing member of Terence Blanchard’s band and can be heard on the Grammy Award-winning album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina). With his band Oracle, Scott has led one of the most distinctive ensembles in contemporary jazz since 2006. He has toured and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd, Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Gretchen Parlato, and Robert Glasper, as well as with the SFJAZZ Collective and the Blue Note All-Stars. Beyond jazz, he has performed with Philip Bailey and Angélique Kidjo. 

Scott is currently part of the Blue Note collective Out Of/Into alongside Gerald Clayton, Immanuel Wilkins, Joel Ross, and Matt Brewer. The group’s second album, Motion II, was released in 2025. 

DownBeat magazine named him a Rising Star, The New York Times recognised him as one of jazz’s leading young drummers as early as 2009, and in 2017 he received a New Works Grant from Chamber Music America. 

Raised in a musical family in Houston, Scott studied at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Berklee College of Music. He is also a member of the jazz faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, previously taught at The New School in New York, and gives workshops and masterclasses internationally. 

We are very excited to work with Kendrick Scott and warmly welcome him to the Institut Jazz!