I was so so shocked and deeply saddened to hear of Scott’s passing last via the NY Times last night. We had been good friends and colleagues since we met in the early 1980’s, around the time of the release of “John Somebody”. As we were both composer/guitarists, we were often playing the same concert series or festivals and hanging out with Scott was always fun. He always came to whatever show we might have been doing in NY and I know that if we had lived in the same town, we would have done a lot more hanging out together.
Last time we worked together was in 2015, when the Dresher Ensemble performed and recorded his amazing work “Pact” , a score that was commissioned by choreographer Risa Jaroslaw. While it had premiered in NY some years before that, Risa had moved to the Bay Area and remounted the work at ODC Theater, with our group performing the score live. And then right after, we went into Fantasy Studios for a day and recorded the work. (I don’t know if he ever got around to mixing it). That trip, Scott stayed with me up in the North Berkeley Hills for our rehearsals, the performances and recording. He was religious about his daily hike in Tilden Park or some other Bay Area location. He was always trying to get me to join him on some major back-packing trip in the Sierras.
Avant Music News
Avant Music News
One reply on “RIP Scott Johnson”
I was so so shocked and deeply saddened to hear of Scott’s passing last via the NY Times last night. We had been good friends and colleagues since we met in the early 1980’s, around the time of the release of “John Somebody”. As we were both composer/guitarists, we were often playing the same concert series or festivals and hanging out with Scott was always fun. He always came to whatever show we might have been doing in NY and I know that if we had lived in the same town, we would have done a lot more hanging out together.
Last time we worked together was in 2015, when the Dresher Ensemble performed and recorded his amazing work “Pact” , a score that was commissioned by choreographer Risa Jaroslaw. While it had premiered in NY some years before that, Risa had moved to the Bay Area and remounted the work at ODC Theater, with our group performing the score live. And then right after, we went into Fantasy Studios for a day and recorded the work. (I don’t know if he ever got around to mixing it). That trip, Scott stayed with me up in the North Berkeley Hills for our rehearsals, the performances and recording. He was religious about his daily hike in Tilden Park or some other Bay Area location. He was always trying to get me to join him on some major back-packing trip in the Sierras.