Flutist Kim Scott shuffles her time between her two careers — education and music.
For the past eight years, Scott has served as director of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, an institution where she has taught for 16 years. She is also a professional classical and jazz musician, traveling the world to perform.
On Friday, November 14, she will bring her show to The Tin Pan.
“I’ve been juggling my work for so long that I can actually balance it all out,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like I am working because I love what I do.”
She has a great team backing her up, she adds. “My husband is my manager, and I have a social media team, so a lot of the weight has shifted.”
Scott is a 12-month employee of the Alabama School of Fine Arts with responsibility for running the school. “We have 360 fine arts students from across the state of Alabama,” she says. “No matter where in the world I am performing, I still have an obligation to the school. I am a graduate of this school, so I am grateful to them for what I do.”
An Introduction to the Flute
Scott became interested in the flute in the 5th grade after she had already learned the piano and violin. Her mother was a professional musician and her father was a musician as well.
When she was in fifth grade, she had the opportunity to choose an instrument for band.
“I chose the flute,” says the Birmingham, Ala. native. “I fell in love with it and never looked back.”
After finishing graduate school, Scott set her sights on becoming a classical soloist. She started teaching master classes to flute students and playing concerts and festivals devoted to classical flute performance.
“I was teaching and performing abroad in different flute festivals in other countries like South America,” she says, noting that during that time she also won a seat for the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. “I still play with them.”
Scott wanted to grow her techniques on the flute after listening to jazz radio and never hearing any song devoted to the flute on the station. She decided to choose a couple of pop tunes that she liked and do a jazz cover of those songs.
“I put them on YouTube and people were saying they haven’t heard this style of flute. The next year I decided to create my own voice in that genre. I found a mentor who believed in my gift and my potential as a jazz flutist,” she says.
Since then, the multiple Billboard #1 hit charting contemporary jazz and classical flutist has released six albums and her 2022 single, “Shine!”, was the #1 Song of the Year on Billboard. She was just recently named BEATS Magazine’s 2024 Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year.
Scott Appreciates an Intimate Audience
This year also marks Scott’s 11th year that her two-hour syndicated radio show, Kim Scott’s Block Party Radio, has been on the airwaves in over 30 markets in the U.S. and London. “It’s the hottest jazz party on the airwaves. It’s very upbeat,” says Scott.
During the year, Scott does most of her touring on weekends so that she doesn’t take too much time off from her work.
“The school considers it professional development. It’s a great gig. It will be hard to retire (when she decides to). I just love the job, the support and the students,” she says.
This won’t be the first time she has played at the Tin Pan. She was in Richmond about four years ago.
“I’m excited to come back,” she says. “Some of my favorite places to play are small with up to 300 people. It’s more of a personal experience. I can spend more time with the audience in dialogue. I can get off the stage and walk around and play for them, have an audience experience.”
She wants the audience to leave with a special memory they will never forget.
“I have had people break down in tears and stop and say thank you,” she says, adding that it’s gratifying “to see how people are touched by these moments. It’s always a special time that I spend with them.”
