"I've always been interested in a wide variety of different musical styles" says XEnsemble founder Scotty West.  "My Mom was a classical violinist who also loved Broadway.  She started me with piano lessons when I was 6.  I gravitated toward Rock when The Beatles hit in '64 but I still loved going to my Mom's concerts.  I still love classical music ... particularly the modern stuff.  Growing up around that level of musicianship, I tended to appreciate more complex and sophisticated music even in the Rock genre.  My great hero bands in high school were Yes (with guitarist Steve Howe), King Crimson (with Robert Fripp and later Adrian Belew), Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa,  The Police ... the "Prog-Rock" guys with more chops and broader harmonic sensibilities."

By chance, one night in 1974, Scotty saw Larry Coryell and The 11th House (featuring the Brecker Brothers) at The Shaboo Inn in Storres, CT.  "I sat there with my mouth open the whole night.  I don't know how I missed it, but I didn't know music like that even existed (Jazz Fusion).  I had heard of Miles Davis and John Coltrane even back in high school band, but I had never really heard much of their music.  This stuff had "balls" like Rock but the broader harmonic context of Jazz.  I was totally blown away.  I went out the next day and bought every Larry Coryell record I could find.  Then folks started telling me that if I liked him, I would also like John McLaughlin.  The Mahavishnu Orchestra actually played at the university I attended ... another pivotal night in my career."

"From there, I kinda' backed into Jazz ... through Miles and Coltrane ... Charlie Parker and Monk ... later Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock ... the guitarists Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, ... later Pat Metheny, Frank Gambale, Mike Stern.  I saw Oregon one night and became a huge Ralph Towner fan.  They introduced me to World Music and (smart) New Age."

So when Scotty began writing his own tunes while still in college, he heard himself coming up with compositional ideas that drew on all these influences.  "I still play a couple of things I wrote in college.  Some of it was Rockish ... some Jazzish ... some almost classical ... some just totally nuts!  That's the way it's always been.  We're all over the stylistic map and I like that. You hear the Experimental Ensemble play and it's all these different sounds and textures."

Scotty moved to Cape Cod, MA in 1976 and continued writing.  He studied music theory with Dan May, a young piano prodigy who later introduced him to legendary Jazz violinist Dick Wetmore.  "Dick just blew my mind.  The stuff just gushed out of him like he was "talking" through his instrument ... any style ... any mood ... you could throw a set of RANDOM chord changes at him and he'd come up with these awesome melodic ideas.  I think he liked my stuff because it was a little "out there".  A lot of the gigs he played around here were more Pop music gigs or straight-ahead Jazz standards.  My stuff let him stretch out a little.  Sadly, no recordings exist from those days.  We did some cool stuff!"

Dick and his wife Marge moved to Naples, FL in 1995 where he could be heard many a night at the Ritz Carlton.  Dick passed away in January of '07.  "We had a nice memorial for him back in the spring.  Marge and family came to visit.  All his Cape Cod musical friends were there ... Tom Tracy, Fred Fried, Bruce Abbot, Judy Wallace, Chandler Travis, Bob Pillsbury, Bud Eteson.  He had such an impact on all of us.  We'll miss him always."

Scotty put the first Experimental Ensemble together in 1980 featuring cellist Sandy Spencer, Jim Esposito on sax and flute, Kempton Parker on bass and Cindy Parker on vocals and percussion.  "We played such a diverse set list.  We didn't want one of those typical Rock band names.  We were looking for something a little more "arty".  I was thinking along the lines of The Modern Jazz Quartet or The Art Ensemble of Chicago.  We were doing some experimental pieces ... free form improvisational stuff (including The Mount St. Helens Suite ... a four part musical interpretation of the volcanic eruption and it's aftermath) ... and it just hit me ... The Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod!"

The ensemble has gone through numerous personel changes over the years.  Long time guitarist Brian Oakley co-wrote several of the pieces that the band still plays.  Keyboardists Bob Marr and Brett Saylor helped with many of the arrangements.  Bassist Mike Pachico kept the rhythm section anchored down for several years.  Dave Javu' played drums and electronic percussion off-and-on for several seasons. 

The current line up has been stable for several years now.  Joe Justice has played guitar all his life.  Mostly a Rock and Blues player, Joe started to branch out when he began taking lessons from Scotty about ten years ago.  He's also the bands main "cheerleader", keeping everybody's spirits up when rehearsal gets to be a grind.  A solid rhythm player, Joe has also taken over several of the solo parts as well.  Joe plays a Fender Stratocaster  Delux through a DigiTech GNX-3 floor processor and direct into the board.  This simplifies the stage system allowing the ensemble to set up and take down quickly.

Scotty met keyboardist Paula Hudson when her son took bass guitar lessons from him.  Classically trained, Paula has been playing piano all her life.  Scotty turned her on to the world of modern digital keyboards and helped fill in gaps in her music theory knowledge.  She has great ears and an interest in many different styles of music.  She plays a Studiologic SL-880 MIDI controller plugged into Korg tone modules allowing her to generate acoustic and electric piano sounds, organs, strings, horns and various synth sounds.  She also plays directly into the mixing board.  The ensemble plays in stereo through JBL 4699 speakers powered by a 2400 watt Crown power amp.

Marco Montez anchors the rhythm section with his Pedulla 4 string bass.  He has played in many bands around the New Bedford area for years.  He has to travel the farthest to get to rehearsal each week and we all appreciate his loyalty and dedication considering he has 2 young daughters that keep him pretty busy!   He is a solid and quick study, picking up the complex bass riffs in no time ... including walking lines, arpeggiations and double stops.

Percussionist Steve Lamoreaux has played all over the country from Las Vegas to Nashville ... a powerfull and tasty drummer with a real sence of dynamics and a load of tricks up his sleeve.  Big Funk/Rock grooves ... light, atmospheric cymbal work ... abstract World Beat patterns ... odd time signatures ... Eastern tabla fills.  Nothing phases him.  Always positive even when the odds look bad, Steve keeps the whole band from going off the rails.  His Yamaha electronic kit can sound like any drum or percussion instrument allowing the ensemble to explore textures that no conventional acoustic kit could muster. 

"It's tough for us to find gigs.  Our set list is so diversified that we don't fit into the regular old club scene.  Luckily, we're not in it for the money.  We particularly enjoy playing outdoor festival and gazebo gigs in the summer ... and Cape Cod is the ideal place for that.  We're looking forward to 2008 as our best year yet.  We have some recordings in the works and maybe a video concert to get up on UTube.  We just love to play and the rest is gravy.  We've got a bunch of new tunes we're working on.  Life is good!"

Click here to go to the Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod's performance calender.

Here is a list of original compositions by Scotty West and the Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod.  Some of the items contain links that will take you to where you can hear recordings of the compositions.  We will continue to add more tunes as they become available.