MidiOrleans
(Scotty Hill)

Bio:


Pictured: The French Opera House
Built 1858
New Orleans, Louisiana


My name is Scotty Hill and I use the name MidiOrleans for my computer music projects. I was born and grew up in New Orleans. Many genres of music can be found here. We have a very fine symphony and opera, as well as contemporary jazz, gospel, blues, funky, rock, Cajun, zydeco and of course traditional jazz. There are many clubs for performance of music. I currently perform nights at Preservation Hall. It is a landmark that is more known of in Europe and Japan. We perform traditional New Orleans jazz with some fresh touches here and there to keep the music alive. The musicians usually are from here and can play other styles of music and contemporary jazz extremely well but have a respect and a love for the legacy and history of jazz. They have fun playing traditional jazz. It is music with rhythms and harmonies that originated here. Music created by Creole, French, Spanish, Caribbean connections and Africa. Just like our Gumbo, the jazz here has something for all and for it to be the best the more diverse cultures coming together and culminating in harmony usually the better!

I graduated from, the College of Music, Loyola University in New Orleans. As well, I hung out at jazz places as much as I could with various types of jazz especially to listen to the older swing and traditional musicians who were generous with their time and support. I had and still do have a family like relationship with many of them. Some jazz pioneers were still around back then that had worked with the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. I had the best of both worlds, studying for four years with Bob Gillespie, first trombonist of the New Orleans Symphony, formerly first trombonist with the Metropolitan Opera. Performing street music in San Francisco and at home were great times providing a good life with fun and lessons on audiences and reactions of people on the street.

Places I have performed have included the Montreal Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center Washington D.C, the cities of Augsburg Germany, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Edinburgh, York, and Cardiff, United Kingdom. Other tours have included La Rochelle and Paris France, Andorra, Quito Ecuador and that tour also brought us to the Galapagos Islands.

I have been fortunate to perform for the shows of the Four Tops, Dionne Warwick, Pearl Bailey, Julie London, Roger Miller, Jack Jones, Dr. John and two wonderful weeks with Ella Fitzgerald and the Tommy Flanagan Trio. As well I recorded with my band the French Market Jazz Band for FlyingDutchman/RCA produced by Bob Thiele. Bob had produced, to name a few, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." Also, I did a recording session with the legendary Louis Jordan, a pioneer of R&B, that came out real nice. My band was featured with photographs in National Geographic and Time magazines, and was reviewed by Nat Hentoff and also the UPI.

Logic Studio