Night Flight more…
“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, to get this out of my head and onto vinyl, disc, cassette, whatever,” says keyboardist/composer Brian Scott of the first release from The Brian Scott Group, entitled Night Flight and Other Journeys. Asked to describe his sound, Scott notes the keyboard heavy compositions similarities with today’s “smooth jazz” but with a rock/pop feel as well.
“I called this conglomeration The Brian Scott Group because I’ve been a sideman all my life, and I wanted to take responsibility for the music, for better or worse.” Scott feels especially fortunate that his son, Kevin, has emerged as a strong multi-instrumentalist, comfortable on guitar, bass, and drums. “It’s weird, but he knows just the feel for every song I do, there’s this 6th sense about what I want without a lot of trial and error, he just nails it right away,” Scott remarks. “There must be something to the blood connection, either that or he’s been listening to my old record collection.” Well grounded in old school and classic, Kevin’s “young, brash, and fearless” and brings that energy to the music.
“Art Burke does so many things well, it’s hard to know where to start,” says Scott of Burke, who is a classically trained piano player but “a rock guitar god at heart.” Art handled all of the technical side of recording and mixing and creating the CD as well. “It’s the old ‘I couldn’t have done it without him’ routine” when it comes to Burke, according to Scott.
“There’s a lot of pop sensibilities because I like a melody mixed in there somewhere,” he says of both Night Flight To Rio and Malibu, the two feel-good tunes with the most commercial feel. “There’s some room to stretch out too,” Scott adds, featuring his keyboard work, and the work of fellow BSG members, son Kevin Scott (drums, bass) and Art Burke (guitar).
“Night Flight To Rio was the first song we did, and we learned a lot in the process,” says Scott. “It’s intended to be an upbeat, ‘let’s have a good time’ party song with a little bit of a Latin feel.” Eastern Point Light was written in the early seventies, but the uptempo portion evolved from several jams, with Kevin kicking it up a notch. Eastern Point Light is the title of a painting by John Singer Sargent, showing a lighthouse on a spit of beach. “The song had a floating feel, it doesn’t really anchor into any key, which reminded me of water and the reflection of light off the sea and sand,” Scott recalled.
In addition to things of the East, Scott has an affinity for journeys, hence the title of the album and Malibu in particular. “I was driving along the Pacific Coast highway toward Point Reyes one summer afternoon, out of San Francisco, and come around a bend I saw hundreds of wind surfers in the breakers, scurrying about like water bugs, all with brilliantly colored sails,” he says. “Malibu is a relatively recent composition, and I just pictured that as I was writing it.”