Hi, I’m Scott, a 5th-gen Vermonter with a passion for Afro-Cuban music. What I care most about, and what I’m known for as a musician, is bringing “saoco” -that authentic swing, spirit, and relentless drive the music calls for.

Scott Dean is a Vermont-based musician and educator specializing in Salsa and Latin Jazz. He plays bongo, timbales, batá, and various hand percussion instruments; his primary voice is the conga drum.

His rhythmic journey began in the late 1980s at local West African, Haitian, and Afro-Cuban dance classes. The call of the drum eventually guided Scott to Havana, Cuba, and straight into el barrio Pogolotti, where he was sworn to the fundamento drum Aña Echú Iré and became Omó Aña, an initiation into the sacred fraternity of ceremonial batá drummers. This further solidified his commitment as a drummer and deepened his connection to the spiritual dimension of the drum and Afro-Cuban culture.

Over the past 30+ years, Scott has performed in theaters, clubs, studios, and workshops alongside artists such as Arturo O’Farill, Rick Davies’ Jazzismo, the UVM Latin Jazz Ensemble, The Flynn Center’s Latin Jazz Intensive, Afinque, Mal Maiz, and numerous Vermont-based projects.

Currently, Scott has steady gigs with Ray Vega’s Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble (on conga, bongo) and with Guagua (on timbales). You may also catch him subbing or sitting in with some of the area’s greatest combos and bands.

Scott offers lessons to beginner and intermediate students, both privately and as an Affiliate Artist at the University of Vermont.