Singer-composer-teacher and multi-instrumentalist David Thorne Scott immediately said “piano” when asked to name his main instrument. But in line right behind the keyboard are trumpet, flugelhorn, and electric bass. And ahead of them all is his voice.
Scott, who will be celebrating his 50th birthday as well as the release of his newest album “Thornewood” at a concert being streamed through ATAC Downtown Arts & Music (formerly Amazing Things) on April 13, is a jazz singer. A Nebraska native, he spoke about his career and his album from his home in Somerville.
“I was singing before I was playing anything,” he said, then chronicled his journey through music. “I started in the church choir, began playing trumpet in fourth grade, and got into musical theater in sixth grade. I was listening to pop music on the radio – things like Chicago and Hall & Oates. But when I played trumpet in the high school jazz band, I got into swing music, and started listening to Bobby McFerr
Right after graduating high school, Robillard and his piano-playing buddy Al Copley founded Roomful of Blues, which turned their love of rhythm and blues into an internationally acclaimed “little big band” that toured the world. Robillard left Roomful in 1979, embarking on a solo career, which also included stints with The Legendary Blues Band, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Robillard’s solo work, with his trio the Pleasure Kings, tended more toward primal rock, but he also loves jazz, and has recorded and performed with such jazz stars as Scott Hamilton, Gerry Beaudoin, Herb Ellis and Jay Geils.
The album reflects all of Robillard’s musical strengths, from the rollicking, Roomful-like jaunt through Ike Turner’s “Do You Mean It?” to Dave Batholomew’s rompin’, stompin’ swinger “Ain’t Gonna Do It,” to the easy rolling ballad from Al King, “Everybody Ain’t Your Friend.”