As part of tonight’s Casino Royale fundraiser for the Breckenridge Music Festival, attendees will be treated to the soothing sounds of local jazz ensemble the Trading Fours Jazz Band, led by Breckenridge’s Alton Scales.
“What we play is traditional jazz with a splattering of Latin jazz,” Scales said. When not playing drums in a jazz band, Scales can be found behind his desk as the CEO of the Colorado Mountain College, Summit Campuses. Scales came to CMC from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania five years ago.
“This particular group has been together for a little over two years,” said Scales, “and we actually operate under two names, the Trading Fours, and Legit.”
This is common practice for musicians and especially jazz-genre musicians who often play with multiple groups and various musicians, depending on the venue, type of music or the gig. The group can take on the flavor of the bandleader any particular night, sometimes determined by which band member booked the gig.
Hailing originally from Amarillo, Texas, Scales didn’t pick up the drumsticks until his 47th birthday, which just happens to fall on Jan. 1.
“I bought a drum set and decided I was going to teach myself to play drums,” Scales said. “And you know how people make resolutions on January 1st and never keep them? Well, it took me a year before I actually started playing those drums.”
His real baptism by fire came that year later, after his first lesson by jazz drummer Elmore “Cootie” Harris, who is now 89 years old. Cootie must have been taken with Scales’ potential as he invited him to show up to his monthly Jazz Jam held at the Market House’s Gardner Theatre in Meadville, Pa. Scales thought he was showing up to watch and listen, not perform, and when Cootie called him up on stage to sit in for a song, Scales was mortified. He waved off the crowd for as long as he could before finally succumbing and taking his seat behind the drums, sweat running down his face and sides. He got some encouragement from the other band members, starting the beat off first with the bass drum, then with the high hat, and making his way through the entire song. “I remember thinking, I didn’t burst into flames; it couldn’t get any worse than this,” Scales said.
After six more lessons from Cootie, his career as a jazz drummer was off and running.
“I went from playing with albums to playing with real jazz musicians,” he said.