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QUOTES

Scott Collins is wildly eclectic, blazingly virtuosic, and fearless in making bold connections between far-flung musical influences. His playing is both finely-honed and utterly unpredictable, whether shredding on distorted electric, sculpting ambience with digital processing, or navigating lines on a bare-bones acoustic. His work (as both a player, teacher, and writer) draws on deep creative, conceptual, and philosophical influences, but never loses sight of its emotional impact.”

— Andre LaFosse

Current Releases:

Take It From The Ground

Scott Collins Guitar

After years of playing in various projects, I wanted to release a recording under my own name that highlighted a lot of music that hasn't been documented before.

My playing on fretted and fretless guitars draws from a wide range of western and non-western music, but improvisation is always a core component at the heart of my process. It's
After years of playing in various projects, I wanted to release a recording under my own name that highlighted a lot of music that hasn't been documented before.

My playing on fretted and fretless guitars draws from a wide range of western and non-western music, but improvisation is always a core component at the heart of my process. It's attractive to me as a performer because there's a real immediacy in giving a voice to something that can only exist in that moment. It's a kind of mindfulness that's communal with the audience and it can create a truly special moment of resonance and transcendence.

The title of the CD, 'take it from the ground', was really an acknowledgement of the recording process. All of the tunes (except the last song) were improvised and recorded as it was performed. The title is about capturing and preserving what happened in a specific room in a specific moment in time. The result is almost an anti-acoustic or post-acoustic recording, that is more about exploring a philosophical mindset than merely showcasing technical skill. Some of these pieces were really challenging to pull off live, but it's more about serving the song and the mood instead of saying, "Look at what I can do!" There's a certain amount of that in any CD release with craving attention, but with this recording, I wanted to create something unique, an immersive environment that transports people somewhere and gets them thinking about the music after it's done playing."

I have to give full credit to Daby Zainab Faidhi with altering the musical direction of the CD. I met her through an international film festival where she had submitted a fantastic animated film called,Ardh Al-Sawad (The Black Land) and approached her about the artwork for the recording. She and I talked through a number of ideas and processes and ultimately she came up with the idea of using a set of stairs as guitar frets and then running strings down them. The starkness of the image really moved me.

I had recorded a number of tracks previously, but I felt like much of the music didn't really work with the new artwork, so I saved a few of the live tracks from the previous sessions and then took the recording in a different direction."

A return to an old process yielded surprising results. I had a few freeware applications on an older Mac computer that allowed me to record multiple layers of guitars and mix them in real time to a stereo file. 'In that late hour' was the first track that was done that way and '21st century blues' was the second. Like the previous tracks, those were improvised and recorded in real-time and that just set the aesthetic for the rest of the recording.
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I Come From The Mountains

I Come From The Mountains

I come from the mountains is an acoustic instrumental duo consisting of Scott Collins on fretted and fretless guitar, and Dean Mirabito on tabla and Middle Eastern percussion. The group brings meditative and cerebral elements to their captivating fusion of Eastern Silk-Road sounds and Western improvisation.

I Come From The Mountains as a name,
I come from the mountains is an acoustic instrumental duo consisting of Scott Collins on fretted and fretless guitar, and Dean Mirabito on tabla and Middle Eastern percussion. The group brings meditative and cerebral elements to their captivating fusion of Eastern Silk-Road sounds and Western improvisation.

I Come From The Mountains as a name, comes from the English translation of the Icelandic phrase, "Ég kem alveg af fjöllum." which means, "I have no idea what you're saying / what's going on."
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Embe Esti


Rough Hewn Trio


KoriSoron



Latest News

If only News was "Knews" or "Knows"

Some shows coming up (See below).  A number of  things in the pipeline.

I struggle with social media as I find a lot of it toxic and not helpful.  I have a more craftsman approach lately of just doing the best work I can and letting people find me as they need to.  That being said, we are in the infancy of the 21st century so I suppose I can go full on temper tantrum and kicking and screaming into putting things up online.  I've been thinking about how with the Guitarchitecture site I was just really determined to say a lot, and now I find it much more interesting to listen.

There's a lot to update on my CV and more links to put in, but for now, i'll move things along as they are.  I have a lot of projects that remain in various states of limbo so getting those out into the world is a priority right now.

If you're here you found me - and I'm grateful you took the time to do so. Thanks for dropping by.

 PS - I've been having issues with my Contact me button.  So if you sent something that isn't spam and needs a reply and haven't heard back from me - I'll offer apologies and just ask you to send it again.

Be kind.  Be well.  Bring light to the world where you can.

Oh my word...

What to say in this upside down world?

A pandemic came and life happened, and things went a little off the rails.

But, after a number of things stalling out for a bit - it's getting back on track, there's gas in the tank, whatever illustrative you want to use.

Before I took a lot of things down, the was something like close to a million words on the old guitarchitecture site, I don't see myself writing anything like that here right now.  I'd rather just play music with Diana Domingo, I come From The Mountains, Embe Esti and the solo stuff I get to eek out on occasion - but for those luddities (like me) that still occasionally want to read something online - I'll have things here eventually.

Some shows coming up (See below) and some other things in the works I can't talk about yet but I'm excited about the music none of you all have heard.

Things I'm into right now:
Pen and paper
Koloss guitars (Surprisingly good once tweaked)
HX Stomp and PodGo (also Surprisingly good once tweaked)
The Body Keeps The Score
Isometrics
Acoustic IRs
Deep belly laughs at inappropriate times

Most of my releases are listed above except for TubTime - which I'll fix when I can but here's a link for now.

TubTime, We Bleed The Sun And Make It Pay


 
SHOWS (Present and Past):

 

Previous events

Move Music Festival 2023

Lark Hall, 351 Hudson Ave, Albany, NY

Playing with Embe Esti at Lark Hall. We go on at 9:30

12noon-3pm

The Fuze Box ($15)

12 Central Ave

  • Black Belt Jones

  • Ike’s Wasted World

  • The Frozen Heads

  • Trebled Youth

3pm-7pm

Move Down Madison & Lark (FREE)

Center Square Businesses Host Local Musicians

8pm-12midnight

Lark Hall ($18)

351 Hudson Ave

  • Seize Atlantis

  • Embe Esti

  • The Sugar Hold

  • featuring a Discussion with Michael Baish and John Olander on their experiences in the local music scene

Both Venues = $25 Ticket Package

Intimate Kirtan with Girish

Inner Bliss / Stockade Inn, 1 North Church Street, Schenectady

Girish, an accomplished musician, former monk infused in spiritual practice, loving wordsmith linking lyrics and rhythm in a blissful musical event, sings traditional Sanskrit mantras with a modern, funky, yet deeply devotional twist. Accompanied by an amazing band, Girish invites his audience at his kirtan concert to participate by singing along, call and response chanting, and dancing. Girish has been recommended and featured in "The Oprah Magazine", "Yoga Journal", "Spirituality and Health Magazine", "LA Yoga Magazine", "Common Ground" and "Yogi Times." Girish's original music catalog of seven albums is popular in yoga studios and music festivals all over the world, and his "Mantras and Music" book will be published by Simon and Schuster January 2016.

Be immersed in an energizing, healing and revitalizing evening of music with "I Come From The Mountains", a Schenectady based acoustic instrumental duo consisting of Scott Collins on various fretted and fretless guitars and Dean Mirabito on tabla and Middle Eastern percussion. Their original musical collaboration, inspired by traditional music from around the globe, brings meditative and cerebral elements to a captivating fusion of Eastern Silk-Road sounds and Western improvisation. Light fare and warm non-alcoholic beverages will be served. Sign up and Get your Tickets for this special performance here: https://www.wellnessliving.com/.../yoga_bliss_on_the_blvd...

$20

Gongs Along the Mohawk

Mabee Farm, 1100 Main Street, Rotterdam Junction

A Sound Immersion…The Gong is one of man’s most powerful and oldest transformational and therapeutic instruments. Gong Artists Tim Bell and Charles Adinolfi will share with you an experience of wonder and relaxation. Gongs, tubular bells and chimes will resonate to create a calming,centering,energizing place of transformation and healing inside the Dutch Barn. Joining them in this immersive journey is guitarist Scott Collins creating with his tremendous musical passion sound pyrotechnics that will at once transport you into the stillness where all healing lives. To that, Diana Domingo will bring her gifts as an artist, a singer, and sound voice healer. Blair Davis, Percussionist, will provide the all important pacing for the proceedings. Opening the Event will be a beautiful dance piece, choreographed by Erika Pujic, faculty member of the Skidmore Dance Department to the music of the Director of Skidmore’s Music Department, Carl Landa. Closing the Event will be Zelda Hotaling, a member of the Haudenosaunee, promoting healing and grounding through her chanting, toning, and drumming.A truly magical experience awaits you. Come join us for an afternoon of wonder! Suggested donation to the Musicians: $15. You may wish to bring a yoga mat/ and or blanket to get comfortable

Full Moon Music & Mantra

Inner Bliss / Stockade Inn, Union Street, Schenectady

Join Diana Domingo to awaken to your divine wisdom and connect to the power of sound and your voice, along with featured musical artists Scott Collins (fretted and fretless guitar and ambient soundscapes), Mahbub (percussion) and Charles Adinolfi (voice and sound healing instruments). Together, we will work with breath, sound frequencies, movement, music & mantra to bathe the space in ambient, ethereal and expansive soundscapes. We will create space for opening our hearts, expression and understanding the complete cycle of giving and receiving. This will be a unique, one of a kind event that will leave you feeling open to the love that surrounds you in myriad ways. Full Moon Meaning & Forecast This Harvest full moon is a time to acknowledge our ancestors and pay homage to all those who have walked before us and to ask for and grant forgiveness of others and ourselves, in order to create space within our hearts. When we do this, we open-up to the fullness of receiving all of the blessings we have received throughout the year and our lives, while offering blessings and good wishes to others. It is an opportunity to truly learn to harvest and enjoy our bounty. Dress comfortably, bring your friends and make it a night…

Full Moon Music & Mantra

Inner Bliss / Stockade Inn, Union, Schenectady

Join Diana Domingo to awaken to your divine wisdom and connect to the power of your voice, as featured musical artist Scott Collins weaves his magical and healing ambient Soundscapes. https://www.wellnessliving.com/rs/catalog-view.html... Together, we will work with sound frequencies, movement, music & mantra specific to shifting consciousness, balancing your energy and clearing the path to expressing anything you have been holding back and need to release. This will be a unique, one of a kind event that will leave you feeling relaxed, cleansed and uplifted… like an emotional weight has been lifted. Dress comfortably, leave those heavy bags behind, bring your friends and make it a night… Full Moon Report “This Full Moon (Sun in Cancer forms an opposition to the Moon in Capricorn) is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. In some ways, this polarity deals with the balance between unconditional love and conditional love. Cancer encourages us to value our home base and our roots, while Capricorn persuades us to consider our sense of duty and responsibility along public or professional lines. Ideally, a balance should be found between the two energies, and this is what the Full Moon invites us to do. This Full Moon is about balancing our commitment to our career and families. Something has been building inside of us, and now is the time when the energy of the cosmos fairly demands that we let it out. Over the next two weeks, we will discover what this means for us. For now, we can’t sit on our feelings. We need to express them. The Full Moon illuminates this conflict between roots and direction. With the Moon full and bright in the sky, symbolic “illumination” occurs in our own lives. However, these new feelings and revelations are emotional ones, as there is a sense of emotions bursting forth into our consciousness. It’s time to express ourselves and to let things out of our systems. Of course, we might want to exercise some care while doing so, knowing that what is coming out of us is fresh, unrefined, and not particularly rational as yet. This lunation connects with Mercury and Uranus, suggesting novel ideas associated with realizations and epiphanies occurring now.”

Solo guitar and Looping at Inner Bliss Open House

Stockade Inn, Union Street, Schenectady

To celebrate the opening of the wellness studio, the Stockade Inn and Inner Bliss are partnering to host an Open House on November 13th from 11:00am to 3:00pm. This “soft launch” will be the first of numerous events and happenings planned around the revitalization of the Inn and will offer a sneak- peak and first-hand experience of the studio’s offerings, as well as a preview of the progress happening inside of the hotel. The public is invited to participate in a sampling of 20-minute classes, including Introductions to Beginner’s Yoga, Meditation, Breathwork, Vocal Toning and Chanting, Yin and Prenatal Yoga, The Benefits of Massage, Belly Dancing, Intro to Essential Oils, Restorative Yoga, The Inner Power Flow and Health and Nutrition Coaching. Throughout the event, there will be light fare, live music and tours of the first floor

Embe Esti brings the globe to a Hivestream!

Jive Hive, Albany, NY

Join us in welcoming Embe Esti to a Hivestream that's sure to impress, intrigue and infiltrate your musical membrane. Embe Esti is a New York Capitol-Region intercontinental fusion band that incorporates Afrobeat, North African and other global traditions into their soulful dance music. The group consists of: Lady T: Vocals Scott Collins: Guitar Carl Blackwood: Guitar, Percussion, Keyboards Mike Dimin: Bass Aaron Shields: Drums

Join us in bringing world music to the stage at The Schenectady Trading Company. "I Come From The Mountains" is a Schenectady-based acoustic instrumental duo consisting of Scott Collins on various fretted and fretless guitars and Dean Mirabito on North Indian tabla and Middle Eastern percussion. They play original music inspired by traditional music from around the globe. The group brings meditative and cerebral elements to their captivating fusion of Eastern Silk-Road sounds and Western improvisation. "I Come From The Mountains" comes from the literal English translation of the Icelandic phrase, "Ég kem alveg af fjöllum." The expression means, "I have no idea what you're saying / what's going on." The concert is part of an ongoing series of outdoor performances (performing arts, literary arts, visual arts, etc.) on the front patio of The Schenectady Trading Company at 609 Union Street and is sure to be a treat for passersby, nearby diners, and store customers, as well as for the musicians struggling to find venues to share their talents. Event is free to the public; masks are required and can be provided

Embe Esti is the New York Capital Region’s premier intercontinental fusion band that mixes Afrobeat, North African, and other global traditions with rock, funk, and blues. Their songs combine message-based lyrics with the raw improvisation of jazz and polished writing and performances to create original soulful dance music that will get your hands clapping and feet moving. Group members include vocalist Taunya Hannibal-Williams, guitarist Scott Collins, bassist Mike Dimin, and drummer Robert Morris, with special guest jazz trumpeter Rob Fisch.

I Come From the Mountains performance

Camphill Village Green, 84 Camphill Road, Copake N.Y

Hi everyone, So... Scott and I will be in Copake NY this Friday, 12/6 at Camphill Village in the Village Green Cafe playing tunes you may have heard already as well as a few new ones Scott and I have worked out. As always our tunes take on a new life each time we play them. So even if you have been to a few of our performances you will be hearing something new. So if you have a mind to take a little trip and brave the cold, come see us do what we do; play great music inspired by cultures from around the globe. 84 Camphill Rd, Copake N.Y Admission is only $5.00 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. We hope to see you there. Thanks, Dino

Glenn Branca Ensemble

St.Vitus, Brooklyn

TONIGHT! SUN 10/6. Bar opens at 6. Doors at 7. Tickets available at doors. Performance by Glenn Branca Ensemble at 830 sharp. A special performance commemorating the Posthumous release of his album the Third Ascension on what would've been his 71st birthday.

The Music of Glenn Branca Live

MIT Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue,, Cambridge, MA

The Music of Glenn Branca Live: The Glenn Branca Ensemble/Ambient Orchestra September 20, 2019 / 8:00pm MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA The Glenn Branca Ensemble, led by Reg Bloor, concertmaster and Branca’s right hand since 2000, will perform the soon-to-be-released The Third Ascension and Branca’s last composition, “The Light (For David).” Also on the program will be two of Branca's rarely performed orchestral works, Free Form and the first movement of Symphony No. 14: 2,000,000,000 Light Years from Home, performed by the Ambient Orchestra, a People's Orchestra for the 21st Century, under the direction of Evan Ziporyn. This performance is part of the 2019–20 MIT Sounding series, an annual concert series curated by Evan Ziporyn, faculty director of CAST and professor of Music and Theater Arts, and presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and MIT Music and Theater Arts. Bloor will also present a public lecture: Reg Bloor: Composer Forum September 19, 2019 / 5:00pm Lewis Music Library, Building 14 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA Free and open to the public, no reservations necessary Learn more about the Glenn Branca Ensemble at MIT: http://bit.ly/2kEtVlJ See less

Jul27

Highwheeler Coffee is pleased to host local musicians and comedians the last Saturday of each month of June through September for a summer series. On Saturday July 27th, I Come From The Mountains brings their acoustic instrumental global fusion to Highwheeler Coffee in Fort Plain, NY from 7-8pm! Featuring Dino Mirabito on tabla and middle eastern percussion and Scott Collins on fretted and fretless guitars. The group brings meditative and cerebral elements to their captivating fusion of Eastern Silk-Road influenced sounds and Western improvisation. With a great night of music and the amazing coffee and food at Highwheeler - it's going to be a unique, fun and memorable evening! We're really excited to be debuting a lot of new material here and we look forward to seeing you there! Tickets are available at Highwheeler in advance, or at the door as space allows. $5 per person. Drip coffee is included with your ticket, and full menu will also be available.