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Scott Routenberg (born 1978) is an American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and orchestrator. Currently Associate Professor of Jazz Piano at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, he has published both full-length compositions for jazz ensembles and several studio albums. His 2003, 2006, and 2020 releases "explore jazz-influenced electro-acoustic hybrids." He has won a number of songwriting contests, including the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Maxell Song of the Year in 2004 for his song "Bandwidth", which also won the JLSC's Grand Prize in the Jazz Category.
Ensembles such as the Metropole Orkest and conductors such as Vince Mendoza have commissioned pieces by Routenberg, and he has performed at international venues such as the Montreaux Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Stated jazz violinist Christian Howes, "Scott Routenberg is a rare musician with both the experience to play modern jazz piano on the highest level and the discipline to write elegant, long-form symphonic pieces."
He went on to earn three graduate degrees from 2001 to 2008 at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. First he worked on his master's degree in jazz piano performance from 2001 to 2003 in the studio of Vince Maggio (a student of pianist Oscar Peterson). Routenberg then earned a Master of Music in media writing and production in 2005, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in jazz composition in 2008. His jazz piano teachers have included Ted Howe, Dr. Scott Warner, Chip Crawford, and Vince Maggio among others. In Miami he studied composition and arranging with Gary Lindsay and Ron Miller. Lindsay was his doctoral advisor, while Routenberg has cited Miller's modal jazz concepts as an influence on his own songwriting. Miller has also taught guitarist Pat Metheny, among others.
His doctoral essay was titled Americana Suite: A Composition for Full Orchestra, Big Band, and Jazz Chamber Ensembles Inspired by American Master Paintings, and was published by the ProQuest Learning Company. He has also authored material for INform Magazine, published by the Indiana Music Educators Association.
"Bandwidth" was released as a single by EMI Records in 2005, and later included on Routenberg's full album Jazztronicus. Jazztronicus was released in 2006, and most of the tracks were written and arranged by Routenberg. All the tracks were published by Denmaster Music, excluding "Bandwidth", which had already been published by EMI April Music. Routenberg handled keyboards and programming, with Billy Contreras again on violin and Sofia Kraevska on vocals and co-writing several songs. Spanning both the genres of jazz and electronica, a digital version was released in 2010.
His orchestral pops arrangements have been commissioned by the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and Michael Krajewski of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, among other conductors and ensembles. His jazz arrangements have been commissioned and performed by composer Vince Mendoza, during Mendoza's tenure as chief conductor of the Metropole Orkest. Other commissioners include pianist Howard Levy of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and Singapore jazz pianist and big band leader Jeremy Monteiro, among others. Since 2011 Routenberg has been an arranger for the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands. His orchestral pops arrangements have been performed by American symphony orchestras including those of Atlanta, Houston, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Orlando and Naples. World premieres include Ukraine, the Netherlands, and China, and his music has been premiered in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Fox Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles.
One of his more popular orchestral works is his Concerto for Jazz Violin and Orchestra. It premiered in Lviv, Ukraine on June 21, 2014, by American jazz violinist Christian Howes, on invitation from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv as part of a "cultural diplomacy mission." U.S. Embassy Cultural Attache Andrew Paul was quoted saying at the concert that "the piece is groundbreaking with the use of improvised violin solos."
In 2016 Routenberg was chosen as the recipient of the second annual ASCAP Foundation/Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize, which honors the legacy of George Duke.
As a jazz pianist Routenberg has performed at international venues such as the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, and the North Sea Jazz Festival, and he has performed with musicians such as Howard Levy and Billy Contreras. He often performs live with a rotating lineup of musicians.
Routenberg is associate professor of Jazz Piano at Ball State University School of Music in Muncie, Indiana, where he teaches a variety of performance, theory, and history classes.[3] Ball State University, Jazz Faculty, Scott Routenberg, Retrieved 2019-02-14.
He has stated that influences on his work in jazz piano include Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Benny Green. Stated Routenberg's collaborator and jazz violinist Christian Howes, "Scott Routenberg is a rare musician with both the experience to play modern jazz piano on the highest level and the discipline to write elegant, long-form symphonic pieces."
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| + Selected songs by Scott Routenberg ! scope="col" rowspan="1" | Year ! scope="col" rowspan="1" | Title ! scope="col" rowspan="1" | Album ! scope="col" rowspan="1" | Certifications |
| 2004 !scope="row" | "Through Your Eyes" | Miami Winner, The Heineken Music Initiative | ||
| + Selected scores and compositions by Scott Routenberg ! Year ! style="width:18em;" | Release title ! Debut ! Role, notes |
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| 2003 | Hilton Head Jazz Society Scholarship | Scott Routenberg | Piano Performance | ||
| 2004 | John Lennon Songwriting Contest | "Bandwidth" | Maxell Song of the Year | ||
| Best Jazz Song | |||||
| Heineken Music Initiative/ ASCAP | "Through Your Eyes" | R&B Songwriters | |||
| 2006 | Downbeat Student Music Awards | The Dove | College Original Extended Composition | ||
| 2007 | University of Miami Concerto Competition | Concerto for Jazz Violin and Orchestra | Composition | ||
| 2016 | ASCAP/ Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize | New Commission | Composition | ||
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