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Among the most dynamic and virtuosic drummers in jazz, the SFJAZZ Collective’s Kendrick Scott presents the West Coast premiere his multimedia project Unearthed, combining poetry, visuals, string quartet, and a jazz ensemble in a moving work memorializing the Sugar Land 95 — the 95 unidentified Black prisoners and forced laborers found buried in the Texas town of Sugar Land in 2018. This performance is part of Terence Blanchard’s UpSwing series.

Named one of the “Five Drummers Whose Time Is Now” by The New York Times, the Houston-raised Scott is a prodigious musician, composer and bandleader who joined the Collective in 2021 and has collaborated with SFJAZZ Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, vocalists Kurt Elling and Gretchen Parlato, saxophone master Joshua Redman, and the Blue Note All-Stars, among others.

He’s released several superb albums with Oracle exploring his own spiritually charged compositions, and Unearthed is his most expansive work to date. Originally produced and premiered by Houston arts presenter DACAMERA, the piece explores the brutal history of forced labor of prisoners at Texas factories, setting the words of Houston Poet Laureate Emeritus Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton and featuring the work of visual artist Robert Hodge. In Scott’s words, “I read about the unearthing of these slaves who were convict leased and experienced a visceral explosion of emotions. As an African American, it is my responsibility to leverage my gifts to tell the stories of our history, heritage, and legacy.”