American musician, composer and arranger Scott Kinsey is one of the finest keyboard players of his generation. As a matter of fact, he has performed with some of the finest progressive jazz and fusion acts in the United States, including Tribal Tech, Human Element, The Zawinul Legacy band and The Arc Trio. Kinsey’s latest project is a collaboration with an excellent multifaceted vocalist named Mer Sal. Their new album is Adjustments on Blue Canoe Records.
Scott Kinsey talked to Progressive Rock Central about the new album and his background.
What are your fondest musical memories?
Listening to Keith Jarrett CD’s in the car in Michigan with my dad was always really fun.
Another of my most memorable experiences was performing Joe Zawinul’s music – for Joe – in Leverkusen Germany. That was very special.
What do you consider as the essential elements of your music?
Well the synthesizer as a primary voice is important of course. But the same things are important in my music that are important in any music .. melody, harmony and very importantly rhythm. All the musicians I work with have a deep understanding of these things.
Your new album Adjustments is a collaboration with a fantastic vocalist Mer Sal. How did the two of you meet and when did you decide to start collaborating?
We met in the studio – Jimmy Haslip and I were producing an album for the Parkinson’s therapist Karl Sterling. Jimmy was really set on bringing in a Colorado vocalist he had worked with .. And I have to admit I wasn’t so crazy about the idea, but he just said “trust me”.. and of course if Jimmy Haslip says trust me, you listen. So I came to the vocal session and proceeded to meet Mer. We really hit it off on the session and got some really great vocal takes – her professionalism really knocked me out .. anyway we had a bit more to do so we stayed in touch over the next couple of months. I was really impressed by just how good she actually is .. so I started formulating the idea of making an album with her.
Tell us a little about Adjustments and how you and Mer came up with such a wonderful collection of songs.
Mer is a prolific poet and lyricist. She literally writes all the time. She had just gone through some heavy stuff in her life and it was very natural for her to write about it. So that’s the majority of the original tunes. The covers we picked were tunes we both liked and then Jimmy Haslip had suggested Time out of Mind! I thought it would be fun to combine Down to You with Jungle Book, since Zawinul told me that Joni always wanted to be in Weather Report!
Your keyboard style is highly recognizable and eclectic as well. What keyboardists have inspired you?
Well Lyle Mays and Joe Zawinul in a big way, and tons of pianists since the beginning of time.. especially Ahmad Jamal. But really anyone that makes it look and feel like magic.
There is still a lot of great progressive jazz and fusion out there. However, my impression is that there are too many saxophone players and less keyboard and guitar soloists. Are you encountering new talent in the keyboard area inspired by your work?
I’m very impressed with Louis Cole. He’s primarily a drummer – but also a keyboardist and a fantastic composer.. he’s fearless and just in general amazing. Another phenomenal keyboard player I’ve been coming across quite a bit these days is James Francies. He really has his own thing which I really like.
What keyboard instruments did you use on Adjustments?
Lots of things.. but mostly a Prophet 6, Prophet XL, Nord Electro 5, Korg wavestate, Nord Lead 4.. and a bunch of synth plugins like Keyscape and I really like the Scarbee instruments.
Do you still have any of your earlier keyboards? Is there an all-time favorite?
Yes, I still have my first synthesizer, a Sequential Prophet 600. I’m not sure if it works though.My all time favorite is the Prophet 5 but I never owned one.
Your keyboard work is a delight. Will you be doing more progressive fusion in the future?
Of course! I’ll make music until I absolutely no longer can. I’m working now on finishing an upcoming solo album. Mer is on it, Pedro Martins, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Gary Novak, Jimmy Earl, Cyril Atef, Tim Lefebvre and many more.
I’m also planning a new record with Danny Carey from Tool.
What advice would you give to beginners who are anxious and want to make music outside of the pop mainstream?
Just do it any way that you can. Everyone will say otherwise .. but do it anyway .. If it’s in your head, it’s your job to get it out. The hip people will hear it.
If you could gather any other additional musicians, or bands, to collaborate with, whom would that be?
Oh well, outside of the musicians I regularly work with – whom are my absolute favorites – dream collaborations could be with John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette or Pat Metheny. It’s OK if it never happens though, I really like what I’m doing and I’m really primarily interested in following my own path.
Aside from the release of Adjustments, do you have any upcoming projects to share with us?
There’s a new album of the Arc trio (myself w Jimmy Haslip & Gergo Borlai) with the John Daversa big band playing the music of Michael Schmidt .. it’s called Arceology.
Mike Miller made a great new album – I played on one tune as well as mixed and mastered it.
I also played and co-wrote a song on Thundercat’s new Grammy winning album It Is What It Is, called “Lost in Space / Great Scott / 22-26”.
Discography:
Solo
Kinesthetics (Abstract Logix, 2006)
Near Life Experience (Abstract Logix, 2016)
No Sleep (Kinesthetic Music, 2017)
Arc Trio (Blue Canoe, 2018)
We Speak Luniwaz (Whirlwind, 2019)
With Mer Sal
Adjustments (Blue Canoe Records, 2021)
With Human Element
Human Element (Abstract Logix, 2010)
With Kurt Rosenwinkel
Do It 1992 (Heartcore, 2019)
With Tribal Tech
Illicit (Bluemoon, 1992)
Face First (Bluemoon, 1993)
Reality Check (Mesa/Bluemoon, 1995)
Thick (Cream, 1999)
Rocket Science (ESC, 2000)
X (Tone Center, 2012)