Scott R. Looney has been interested in the creation and performance of
compelling sounds across a broad spectrum of contemporary, improvised,
and experimental music. Starting out young as a solo improviser playing
by ear, he eventually widened the scope of his interests to jazz and
the many points beyond in his studies of electronic and modern
classical music. He has studied composition and improvisation with
Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Morton Subotnick, and Frederic Rzewski,
obtaining his MFA in Composition from California Institute of the Arts.
After graduating, moving to New York, and finally to the San Francisco
Bay area, he became more interested in expanding the timbral
possibilities of the piano, and using pianists such as Denman Maroney
as a starting point, has forged a signature style using the inside and
outside of the piano, plucking strings, using metal implements and
other quick preparations, in combination to playing the piano normally.
He has also developed a flexible, expressive voice with electronics
using a computer setup which is as effective as his many piano textures
are.
Now living in Berkeley and Oakland, Scott has recorded and/or
performed with a growing list of world class improvisers, among them
being Oliver Lake, Frank Gratkowski, Wolfgang Fuchs, Jon Raskin (of the
ROVA Saxophone Quartet), Joelle Leandre, Henry Kaiser, Gianni Gebbia,
Gino Robair, Joe Morris, Marco Eneidi, Jeb Bishop, and Paul Smoker, to name a few. He
has played in numerous west coast festivals such as the Olympia
Experimental Festival, Big Sur Experimental Music Fest, Line Space Line
Festival in LA, and the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival. He recently toured Israel and Germany w/ saxophonist Ariel Shibolet and bassist Damon Smith, and is now collaborating with the Savage Jazz Dance company as part of the Atemu Aton Project.
favorite quote:"This guy deserves your attention. He's got power, emotional heft, but
also an abundance of musical intelligence and subtlety." - Ken Waxman,
Cadence
