The Scott Mullett Fund for Jazz Education

2023

In the Summer of 2023, KJO was proud to sponsor two attendees at the Vermont Jazz Center Jazz Workshop.

• Donna Morse has been the lead alto player in KJO since its inception in 2004. She plays alto & soprano saxes, clarinet, flute, & piccolo for KJO. She teaches privately those same instruments along with being a free-lance musician for classical orchestras, musical pit orchestras, jazz bands and some rock & roll cover bands. This year Donna studied at VJC jazz camp with the flute players under Anna Webber to sharpen her flute skills, particularly improvising. 

• Matt Carey is a rising Senior at Keene High School and he plays trombone in the concert band, marching band, and jazz band under Joe Conti. He also plays in the Keene State Jazz ensemble under Steve Cady.  Matt has made NH Jazz All State along with the New England Music Festival, he is considering music education for post-secondary study. 

2022

After a 2 year hiatus of the camp, KJO is proud to sponsor two attendees at the 2022 Vermont Jazz Center Jazz Camp.

• Alex Vance, percussion. Alex expects to graduate from Keene State College in May 2023 with his B.A. degree in music. Alex grew up in Milford, NH where he has gone back to and assisted the Milford High School marching band drum line.  Alex has played with KJO for 2 seasons and he plays in the KSC jazz band. Alex is thinking about a gig as a drummer on a cruise ship.

• Pedro Paez, percussion.  Pedro graduated from Keene State College in December 2021 with a degree in music technology after growing up is Caracas, Venezuela . While at KSC, Pedro played in the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Combos under Steve Cady.  For the future, Pedro hopes to have his own music studio to record his music.

Past recipients of KJO assistance who were at the 2019 VJC Jazz Camp include: Nick Pelton, Andy LaCuyer, Zach Trombly, Dylan Chambers, Noah Ramirez, & Tom Cassar. It is great to see these folks continuing to hone their jazz skills.

2019

The 2019 recipients of tuition assistance from the Scott Mullett Fund from Jazz Education to attend the Vermont Jazz Center Jazz Camp in August 2019 were:

• Andy LaCuyer, Percussion. Andy expects to graduate from Keene State in May 2020. Andy played with KJO this past season and will play with KJO again in the 2019-2020 season.

• Nick Pelton, saxophone. Nick is the instrumental music teacher at Bellows Falls High School. Nick has played with KJO for a number of years.

Past recipients of KJO assistance who were at the 2019 VJC Jazz Camp include: Zach Trombly, Dylan Chambers, Noah Ramirez, & Tom Cassar. It is great to see these folks continuing to hone their jazz skills.

2018

The Scott Mullett Fund for Jazz Education made its first donation this past August to assist three young people in attending the Vermont Jazz Center’s Summer Jazz Workshops in Putney, VT.  The camp is one week of intense training in jazz performance and music theory. 

This year’s 3 recipients were:

• Matt Marzola, drums, a recent graduate (2018) of Keene State College

• Thomas Durnford, bass, a music major at Loyola College in New Orleans. Thomas’ hometown is Walpole, NH

• Jon Moody, saxophone, is a Keene High School student who was studying with Scott.

Also at the 2018 Summer Jazz Workshops were past KJO assistance recipients:

• Zach Trombly, trombone, who graduated from Keene High School in 2018 and is at SUNY Purchase as a music major, a former student of Scott’s.

• Dylan Chambers, saxophone, from Bellows Falls High school who is at Temple University, a former student of Scott’s.

• Noah Ramirez, drums, who graduated from Keene High School in 2018 and currently is a student at Cedarville University in Ohio.

• Tom Cassar, trombone, who lives in Marlow, plays in the Nelson Town Band, and has been developing his jazz skills.