Position: Lecturer in Composition
School and/or Centres: School of Music
Scott Saunders has a diverse and highly successful musical career as a composer, performer, musical director, producer, researcher, and educator.
Best known as the founder of dig (Direction in Groove) who in the 1990s established a unique place in Australian musical history by synthesizing contemporary dance grooves with jazz to create a hybrid style with wide appeal, inspiring many young musicians.
Dig was signed to the prestigious Verve record label releasing an EP and three albums. Dig toured extensively in Australia and internationally and performed at clubs including, London’s Jazz Cafe and Bass Clef, Berlin’s Boogaloo, and international jazz festivals including Montreux, North Sea and Vienna, Phoenix Festival, Heineken and Thailand International.
Dig received a Gold Record, a Mo award for best live jazz act, two APRA awards for most performed jazz composition and several ARIA Nominations.
Dig is one of only three Australian jazz acts to achieve a gold album.
Scott has also performed with prominent Australian acts, Eurogliders, Deckchairs Overboard, Yothu Yindi, The Reels and Dale Barlow.
He has composed and produced scores for screen (with over 30 credits), theatre and, as composer/musical director on large-scale projects for Sydney Festival and regional community-based projects for Queensland Music Festival. This work involved scoring and directing music for choirs, brass bands, highland pipes and drums, Alpenhorn, Taiko Drums, handbells, chamber ensembles and opera singers. These projects require successfully bringing together diverse communities of all ages and backgrounds and varying musical abilities., an indication of Scott’s passionate commitment to the democratization of music.
In 2019 Scott co-devised and performed in Opera Queensland’s touring production “Songs to Die For” combining operatic death scenes with contemporary popular music. Scott has collaborated with prominent artists including Dave Mason for the VIVID festival and Touch Sensitive (Future Classic). In 2024 he performed on keyboards as a guest artist with prominent US DJ Fred P at Sydney Opera House.
In 2025 Scott produced and released an album of original compositions for his Soul Jazz organ trio Par3 which has been performing around Sydney since 2023.
Scott began his teaching career in 1985 at Sydney’s Long Bay Jail in he has taught composition, music production, music theory, contemporary performance, cultural studies, and improvisation at University of Technology Sydney, University of Western Sydney, The Australian Institute of Music and TAFE Eora and Ultimo. He was also Academic director at the Abbey Road Institute at Studios 301 in Sydney.
He has a Master of Philosophy (Music) thesis; “An Aesthetics of Groove” (2015).
His recent projects are co-writing with Lamonay Brown a Koori vocalist and songwriter, and developing an improvising trio with synthesizers, drums and pedal steel guitar.