Scott Healy

March 18, 2013 by Scott Healy No Comment

The first time I listened to "Hudson City Suite", the latest recording from pianist/composer Scott Healy, the music blew me away....one can hear the influence of Duke Ellington on the melodies and arrangements of Scott Healy but there is so much more to be heard in the voicings, the counterpoint and the inventive manner in which the composer writes for the sections of his talented ensemble. Positively smashing music
Richard B. Kamens - Step Tempest

The first time I listened to “Hudson City Suite“, the latest recording from pianist/composer Scott Healy, the music blew me away. Haven’t changed my opinion in the 4+ months the CD has been in rotation but am not sure why this review has taken so long (the word “laziness” comes to mind.) Healy, who worked in Conan O’Brien’s “show” band when he started at NBC and his subsequent move to TBS, admits to being greatly influenced by Duke Ellington. There are moments on the 9 tracks that make up the “..Suite” where one can notice that influence but what is…

Blog, Featuredcd reviews, hudson city suite, jazz, jazz composer, scott healy

“Jazz Arranging for Keyboardists”, from Keyboard Magazine April, 2013

March 12, 2013 by Scott Healy No Comment

We do so much work with computers – we might forget how to write for real instruments. Jazz arranging, while it will never become a lost art, might loose some of the subtleties that the masters have taught us. I’ve been writing for Keyboard Magazine for almost ten years, and I’ve seen it go through many changes, many new formats, writers and editors. The current incarnation with Stephen Fortner as editor is, as Moe Green says, “bigger and swankier than any of the rub joints in Vegas”. They recently brought back full, notated, lessons covering everything from basic technique to…

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Scott Healy Ensemble Returns to Vitello’s – March 27th at 8PM

March 2, 2013 by Scott Healy No Comment

I’m pleased to bring my band back to this great club on Wednesday, March 27th. We’re doing one set at 8PM. Vitello’s the best-sounding room in LA, and the piano is fantastic (a Steinway B). I have a great lineup: Jeff Driskill, Alex Budman, Tim McKay on reeds, Bill Churchville and Brian Swartz on trumpets, and the great Andrew Lippman and George Thatcher on trombones. This is an amazing group of LA musicians, who really “get” my music and my vibe. Someone once told me to never show up at a rehearsal without something new to play, so I’m working…

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February 26, 2013 by Scott Healy No Comment

Linear motion can imply sharp harmonic movement, or more subtle sound/color movement, with or without a predefined chord progression. Chords can happen though, and if you look up and down you might see some recognizable harmonies. You’ll definitely hear them. So let your ear be your guide as you write, stop playing roots and start writing lines.
Professor ScoSco

So much for hating music theory. I did just finish a blog post at Professorscosco where I go on and on about linear harmony. Check it out! It’s got some cool graphics, like this: I don’t know (or care) if it’s the correct term, but what I call linear harmony involves forgetting what you know about chord “progression” and instead thinking about broader and less defined tonal movement. Tension and resolution happen (though not necessarily where you expect it)…and perhaps there is never a cadence, a ii-V, or even a tonic key center. Linear motion can imply sharp harmonic movement,…

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February 26, 2013 by Scott Healy No Comment

Scott Healy and Glenn Alexander's "Northern Light" is one of those rare recordings that thankfully, after being buried for over twenty years, made its way out of the vault and into the light.
Ralph Miriello–Notes on Jazz

Twenty Years in the Vault: Scott Healy – Glenn Alexander Quartet’s Northern Light For an album that has been stowed away in the vault for over twenty years Scott Healy and Glenn Alexander’s Northern Light has a taut, modern sound and sensibility. This enjoyable recording was taped by these two talented musicians back in December of 1991, along with the tight and elastic rhythm section of Kermit Driscoll on bass and Jeff Hirshfield on drums. You would be hard pressed to believe it isn’t a current offering. After this quartet disbanded, Alexander went on to some of his own…

Blog, Featuredcd reviews, glenn alexander, jazz, jazz composer, jazz reviews, northern light, scott healy

A Confession…Music Theory Sucks

February 26, 2013 by Scott Healy 2 Comments

I need to get something off my chest: I hate music theory. Maybe hate is too strong a word. Don’t scientists consider a “theory” to be the highest order of proof? How can you prove music, and why would you try? This is a rambling preamble to an upcoming post on my jazz composition blog, Professorscosco. Music “theory” attempts to prove why things sound good, why chords work, why things that our ear naturally hears provide richness, gratification, tension, resolution, all the things that make music happen. But Bach didn’t know music “theory” (he invented the rules of 4-part choral-style…

Bloglinear harmony, music theory, professorscosco, scott healy

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