Dr. Deb Scott is the professor of trombone and bass trombone at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. She is also the director of SFA’s first jazz band, The Swingin’ Axes. She is active as a performer and clinician in both classical and jazz styles. She graduated with top honors from Texas Tech University and received the top award for her master’s degree at the University of Northern Colorado. She went on to be the first woman to complete the doctorate in trombone performance from the University of North Texas. Her primary teachers were Vern Kagarice, Buddy Baker, and Robert Deahl.

Scott has been a featured soloist in many recitals and concerts with bands and orchestras in Texas. She has toured with performing groups in Europe. In 2016, she was a featured soloist and faculty member in Santa Fe, Argentina at Trombonanza. She has also been featured in the Canadian radio broadcast, Women in Brass. At the International Trombone Association Convention, she and the SFA trombone choir were described as playing a “fantastic performance…of some of the most challenging works in the trombone choir repertoire” (ITA Journal).  Navona Records will release Scott’s first solo CD, Playing Favorites, in early 2017.

She has performed regularly with many symphonies including the Shreveport Symphony, Shreveport Opera, Longview Symphony, the Twentieth Century Unlimited Orchestra in Santa Fe, the New Mexico Music Festival Orchestra in Taos, the Orchestra of the Pines, the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra (Texas), the Greeley Philharmonic (Colorado), and the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth Circus Band.

Dr. Scott reviews CDs for the International Trombone Association Journal and contributes pedagogical information to the Texas School Music Project. For a dozen years, she reviewed solos for the U.I.L. prescribed music list for trombone and bass trombone in the state of Texas. She is active as a clinician for All-Region jazz ensembles and jazz festivals. Over fifteen jazz etudes composed by Dr. Scott have been accepted as audition material for the Texas All-State jazz trombone and bass trombone auditions; she has also selected all-state band audition material for trombone.

As a conductor, Dr. Scott has directed the Texas All-State Community College Jazz Ensemble at the Texas Music Educators Association Conference and numerous all-region jazz bands. SFA’s Trombone Choir under her direction has been featured at the International Trombone Festival and the Texas Music Educators Association Convention.

As a jazz artist, Dr. Scott performed frequently in the Houston area as the lead trombonist for the Ronnie Renfrow Big Band where she also free-lanced often. She has performed with such artists as J.J. Johnson, Louis Bellson, Diane Reeves, Frank Mantooth, Phil Woods, Lee Greenwood, the Mills Brothers, and the Ink Spots.