Master Class with Scott Healy

What do linear harmony, plastic meter, “off the grid” writing, controlled and notated improvisation, spatial and box notation, layered counterpoint have in common? Scott will have the answer!

Join ASMAC for an exciting Master Class
with Grammy nominated composer
SCOTT HEALY!

Saturday, September 23, 2017 – 11am-2pm

“Writing Outside the Box
Techniques for Expanding Jazz Composition”

The master class on September 23rd will explore some of the ways a composer can extend the harmonic, rhythmic, orchestrational and emotional language of large ensemble jazz writing. Topics will include linear harmony, plastic meter, “off the grid” writing, controlled and notated improvisation, spatial and box notation, layered counterpoint, and techniques borrowed from 20th century classical composition. Musical examples will include excerpts and full works from studio and live recordings, with accompanying scores and analysis.

Los Angeles-based Scott Healy is a multitasking, Grammy-nominated composer, recording artist, producer, bandleader, pianist and multi-keyboardist. He is best-known for playing in the house band for Conan O’Brien: first on Late Night in NYC, then moving out to LA in 2009 for The Tonight Show, and now Conan on TBS, where he holds down the keyboard chair in the Basic Cable Band. His 2013 release, Hudson City Suite, by the 10-piece Scott Healy Ensemble garnered worldwide praise, stellar online and print reviews, national jazz radio airplay, and a 2014 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition. He was featured on the cover of the February, 2015 issue of Keyboard Magazine, and he was also profiled in the March, 2013 issue of Downbeat.

Scott’s work reflects his classical piano, composition, conducting and orchestration training, as well as his years in the studio and on the stage. He has recorded and performed with many of the greats in rock, blues, R&B and jazz, from Tony Bennett to BB King to Bruce Springsteen. He has worked as an arranger for major label releases, received commissions from orchestras and chamber ensembles, and composed and produced music for film and TV. He is also a busy session player in NYC and LA on piano, organ, electronic keyboards and accordion.

Scott is a contributing editor to Keyboard magazine, where he wrote a long-running advice column, “Session Sensei”, and to which he continues to contribute feature articles and lessons. His blog, Professorscosco, explores various aspects of composing, listening, and arranging. He organizes and leads the ongoing Ellington Study Group LA, an informal workshop in jazz composition and theory. He has taught master classes and seminars at Eastman School of Music, Brown University and Boston University. In addition to the Grammy nomination he has received awards from BMI, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the “Distinguished Artist” award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio and an alumnus of Hawken School, Scott studied classical piano as a teenager with the legendary James Tannenbaum at The Cleveland Institute of Music. He attended Eastman School of Music from which he received a degree in Composition, studying with Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, Rayburn Wright and Warren Benson. He taught at the New School in NYC, and was an Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY from 1990 through 2001.

Discover more about Scott at bluedogmusic.com