By Anthony Vassallo
Album cover for Chasin’ The Train via martyscott.music
Music flows through Marty Scott’s soul and after releasing his debut album, “Chasin’ The Train,” the sky's the limit for this young jazz musician. The album contains eight tracks, a mixture between covers and original work composed by Scott.
As a 21-year-old senior trombone player at SUNY Purchase, Scott was very excited to be back on campus doing what he loves. Like most children in the United States Scott was introduced to the recorder in elementary school, and surprisingly enough he joined his elementary school orchestra in third grade.
His teacher at the time was holding the band meeting later in the day, and swayed by his impatience, Scott stayed for the orchestra meeting and started playing cello in third grade. He would quickly move onto bass the following year, before learning the guitar at 10 years old.
He spent a lot of his youth scrolling through the music choice channels, which helped him grow an affection for 60s, 70s, and 80s hits. “I would see the Beatles come on and I remember one of the first couple songs I heard was twist and shout,” said Scott. “I thought, I want to be just like George Harrison.”
A musician to the core, Scott wanted to play everything when he was younger, and by the age of 14 he could produce a beat on the drums, play guitar, bass, and tuba. His next ambition was the trumpet which he began learning in high school. As a multi-talented musician, Scott played in Tet and for his high schools Wind Ensemble and jazz bands.
His main instrument at the time was bass guitar, but after failing to get his desired sound, he gave up on the bass. When this occurred, Scott had to reevaluate which instrument he would pursue in college. The teacher that introduced him to the orchestra in third grade happened to be a trombone player, and after Scott reunited with him, lessons ensued.
“He gave me great lessons on the basics of improvisation, I learned tunes, and he helped me audition for college,” said Scott. Luckily for Scott, when he arrived at Purchase there weren’t many trombonists, which put him in the school bands without much competition. Scott said, “It was definitely an experience being around other musicians that were really good, and I’m thinking man I suck, and it encouraged me a ton more to practice.”
Sticking to his guns and learning new skills, Marty would stay invested in music, continuously practicing perfecting his craft while making friends along the way. Ash McMillan who recorded, mixed and engineered “Chasin’ The Train,” has been friends with Scott since arriving at Purchase. “Marty’s record was probably one of the last things I recorded before I graduated, and it felt really good to put all that I had learned over my time at Purchase into not only an incredible album, but for such an amazing friend,” said McMillan.
Heading into his junior year, Scott didn’t believe he was ready to start writing and recording his own music, but after a midday shift at his local deli his viewpoint changed. He encountered someone who graduated from the same high school as him and was quickly asked if he had started releasing music under his own name.
After Scott explained that he wasn't ready yet, the kid replied, “Well if you think like that, you’re never gonna be ready.” This statement hit Scott like a ton of bricks, the reality was he had no reason for not releasing his own music, and he hadto start somewhere so why not start now?
“Your first project might not be the best in the world, and it probably won’t be where the people you love are at, but that’s okay,” said Scott. In his junior year, his class assignments turned into passion pieces that he would one day look forward to recording.
Thankfully he had a strong group of support around him, “When we were in the studio it must’ve been a couple of hours of recording and it felt like 5 minutes,” said Nick Massimo a 20-year-old junior who played tenor sax on the album. “I can attribute that to how well we got along and how well we work together.”
“Marty and the crew are super talented musicians and awesome guys,” said Lauren Torres. I had worked with almost all of them prior to tracking this record so while there was work involved, it was definitely just an all-around good time!”
Torres graduated from the Purchase music conservatory, and is an Assistant Director at Bach to Rock, a music school in Mamaroneck. She was responsible for mastering “Chasin’ The Train,” and was an assistant for the tracking which allowed her to be a part of the process all the way through.
The support from the people around him contributed to an uplifting start to Scott’s music career, “It’s great when you have musicians that can help your idea come to life, and I’m always open to any suggestion that’ll work,” said Scott.
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