PRESS
"...colorful, engaging music..." – The Philadelphia Inquirer
"...striking...moments both of calm and maximum tension...we've never heard anything like it." – The Berkshire Edge
"...compelling...Lee strikes a balance between catchy grooves and dissonance." – The Wire
"...rigorously contemporary and fully accessible." – AllMusic
"...expertly crafted...Gorgeous composition..." - The Whole Note
"The music consistently stimulates and retains its refreshing originality throughout." – Gapplegate Music Review
Features & Interviews
Florida professor’s ‘Through the Mangrove Tunnels’ is music inspired by Weedon Island
11/23/20 – "There is an illicit, late-night DJ set in an abandoned speakeasy surrounded by 3,000 acres of spindly mangrove roots and mosquito ditches swamped with brackish water. Picture the music floating out to the 1,000-year-old shell mounds left by indigenous Floridians and over the overgrown remnants of the airstrip runway left by those who came much later. You can’t go to this dance party, but maybe composer Scott Lee can take you there..."
UF professor’s new instrumental album perfectly captures the enigmatic essence of St. Pete’s Weedon Island
11/20/20 – "Scott Lee, an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Florida School of Music, will turn 32 next month, but he’s already done things that musicians accomplish over the course of their entire lives. Countless degrees, work experience with some of America’s finest orchestras and artists, and praise from the likes of the Philadelphia Inquirer are all on his resume. And his latest effort is no less extravagant than the said life he has led so far..."
Underwood New Music Readings - Composer Spotlight: Scott Lee
6/15/18 – The American Composers Orchestra interviews Scott Lee for in preparation for the 2018 Underwood New Music Readings.
South Jersey Orchestra Presents a Night to Remember
1/17/17 – Gary Wien previews Symphony in C's concert featuring Scott Lee's Vicious Circles, which was selected as the winner of the Symphony In C's 2016-2017 Young Composers' Competition.
Reviews
Take Effect – March 3, 2021
"A listen that’s capable of being both dark yet ethereal, Lee’s unconventional approach to harmonies and bold approach to songwriting might be quite complicated, but it’s also easily accessible to those willing to embark on the journey."
Gapplegate Music Review – February 10, 2021
"The music consistently stimulates and retains its refreshing originality throughout. I highly recommended this one for all who like to explore the possibilities of genre gap spanning. Bravo!"
The Whole Note – February 6, 2021
"...a welcome escape from my own four walls. This album is great storytelling, an audio film of tales of imaginative discoveries by the composer growing up wandering the swamps and bayous of Florida. Drawn from Lee’s memories of exploring the Weedon Island nature preserve as a youth, from one movement to the next I was captivated....Part historical narrative, and part personal reflection, Lee manages to engage the listener with his blend of contemporary classical and extended jazz techniques, travelling seamlessly between tonalities and polyrhythmic styles without a single extraneous or gratuitous beat. Each track is expertly crafted...gorgeous composition..."
BBC Music Magazine, February 1, 2021
"Lee’s album-length work races through vastly different musical styles. Inspired by his visit to the swamps in Florida, this is a knotty, discombobulating adventure."
Textura – January 1, 2021
"Through the Mangrove Tunnels unfolds like a collection of eight short stories by a Southern writer such as Flannery O'Connor, with each musical treatment telling its own unique tale...a vivid and highly personalized evocation."
AllMusic – December 31, 2020
"The musical construction is eclectic, to be sure, but also logically put together, and overall, this is an exciting work that is both rigorously contemporary and fully accessible."
An Earful – Best of 2020: Classical – December 26, 2020
"Somehow conjuring everything from noirish swagger to chamber jazz with a string quartet, piano, and percussion, Lee has crafted an album-length piece that is a cinematic blast from start to finish...I only hope that when the inevitable Netflix docu-series is made, they're smart enough to use this delightful and highly original music."
The Wire – December 20, 2020
"Compelling...Lee strikes a balance between catchy grooves and dissonance."
The Art Music Lounge – November 22, 2020
"An interesting album, full of novel ideas that are for the most part well crafted and extremely fascinating."
Midwest Record – November 14, 2020
"Great stuff for when you’ve got a taste for something deep that won’t leave you cold."
The Berkshire Edge – July 9, 2019
"The world premiere of Scott Lee’s striking TMC-commissioned work “Slack Tide,” a contemporary tone poem, evoked the moments when the tide is coming neither in nor out, moments both of calm and maximum tension. With its harbingers and nuances of movement, one sensed and felt the creatures of the sea lurking, floating and darting through the waters. We’ve never heard anything like it and, along with Lee’s wildly responsive audience, loved it."
The Philadelphia Inquirer – January 29. 2017
"Symphony in C's annual composer competition cites yet-to-be-established composers, and this year's winner, Duke University doctoral student Scott Lee, has written a crowd-pleaser. Titled Vicious Circles, the multi-episode piece chases and builds on itself with the minimalist intricacy of Michael Torke, but with dramatically horrific interruptions of Christopher Rouse. Early on, the descriptive implications of the title were left behind and he was just writing colorful, engaging music..."