David Thorne Scott (voice) and Mark Shilansky (piano) perform fresh treatments of jazz standards and original tunes in a freewheeling duo performance.  

David Scott and Mark Shilansky have been playing music together for over five years, but it took a happy accident to bring about their latest project.  David had a collection of 20 or so new songs and arrangements, and had the idea to go into the recording studio with Mark to create demo versions of as many songs as they could crank out in three hours.  The result was a sublime meeting of the minds.  The music called out to be released as a CD, called DYAD.  

A dyad is something that consists of two parts, such as a musical chord containing only two tones.  A dyadic chord is a deceptively simple sound because it invites the listener to become aware of deeper and finer levels of detail.  In the same way, hearing the Scott/Shilansky duo is a fascinating experience in which even tiny musical gestures seem to be magnified.

Tonight's performance is part of a CD release tour of jazz and folk clubs, colleges, and performing arts centers, beginning in Massachusetts and progressing through Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

David Thorne Scott grew up in Kearney, Nebraska; went to college in Madison, New Jersey; pursued advanced study in Creston, Iowa and Miami, Florida; and currently resides in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and young children.   David is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  He studies with Mark Baxter.

Mark Shilansky is an Assistant Professor at Berklee, and at the University of New Hampshire.  He has 4 CDs to his name as a leader, including his latest, a latin-jazz outing entitled "Join the Club." A New Hampshire native, he has been a mainstay of the Northeast music scene for years as a pianist, composer, and producer, having performed and/or recorded with such artists as the New York Voices, Luciana Souza, Kenny Wheeler, and Clark Terry.

David's album "Shade", co-produced by Mark Shilansky, was chosen as a Top 5 Vocal Jazz CD in the Jazz Education Journal.  His arrangements for jazz choir are published by Hal Leonard Publishing and UNC Jazz Press.  He was awarded a Berklee Faculty Fellowship to study and transcribe classic vocal group arrangements from the 1930s and 1940s.  David was a finalist in the professional division of the New England National Association of Teachers of Singing "Song and Aria Competition."  He is a member of the vocal jazz groups Vocalogy and Syncopation.

CDs by David and Mark can be purchased online from CDBaby.com.  For more information, see www.davidthornescott.com and www.markshilansky.com, or myspace.com/davidthornescott and myspace.com/markshilansky