Scott Dubois

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American jazz guitarist and composer, is one of the most important figures on the young New York jazz scene. The New York Times has praised the way that DuBois “has begun to make waves” with his “exploratory yet melodic sensibilities, serious compositional ambitions,” and “cohesive looseness against complex subtleties.”DuBois studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He made his first mark alongside saxophonist David Liebman, who appeared on DuBois's albums for the Soul Note record label, “Monsoon” (2005) and “Tempest” (2007). DuBois's quartet, with whom he has now been working for the past decade, consists of some of the world's most in-demand improvising musicians: German saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, American bassist Thomas Morgan, and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood. This regul…

There is something entrancing about the natural cycle of water. There is the constant ebb and flow.

Art inspired by work in another medium can be difficult to successfully resolve—the old adage, "dancing about architecture," comes to mind. In the hands of a truly talented and empathetic artist however, such creative cross-pollination can bear surprisingly fruitful results, occasionally developing new potential for expression beyond the preconceived limitations of each respective form.

In a period in which the boundaries between musical genres are rapidly dissolving, there still exist major differences between what we still call a “jazz” band and those of other musical classifications.Perhaps the most significant of these is that longevity in a jazz ensemble will nearly always have an entirely positive effect on the music. That’s clearly a huge factor when listening to the high-caliber international quartet put together over a decade ago by the New York-based guitarist-composer Scott DuBois.

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American Jazz guitarist and composer is one of the most important figures on the young New York Jazz scene. His quartet plays original compositions which point to future trends. The group's focus is on collective improvisation, interaction and creating the unexpected. The album 'Winter Light' is programmatic, and marks his debut on ACT. 'Winter Light' transports the listener on a day's journey.

My vision for this album came as I drank coffee in a German train station. I was returning to New York after touring with my quartet. My idea: To use three quartets to create a conversation between the world of contemporary classical composition and that of modern jazz composition and improvisation. Autumn would be my theme. Carrying out my plan, I first composed twelve pieces for my quartet and recorded them in Copenhagen. Each piece begins with a different note, generating a twelve-tone row I used in various parts of the compositions. Later, in New York, building on the fluid performances and improvisations in those recordings, I composed, conducted and recorded pieces for classical string and woodwind quartets to be superimposed on the jazz performances.