Hazel Scott

[Jazzrook]

"And what about Hazel Scott?" You go on YouTube and you'll see her with people like Charles Mingus... She plays like Art Tatum really. She has a technique that you wouldn't believe. It's out of this world but she's virtually unknown."

Archie Shepp being interviewed about his recent duet album with Joachim Kuhn, 'Wo!man'(ARCHIEBALL) in the current 'Jazzwise'(July).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWX8Tlu8Bqg

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for posting the clip, JR: more I'd say in the Nat Cole piano, and the Ella voice departments. How come we don't hear more about Ms Scott: plenty of what Bristolians would call chrismal in a bun dance, too.

[Ian Thumwood]

Interesting clip although I would have to admit that I thought that this was going to be the organist / wife of Stanley Turrentine before realising that she was Shirley Scott. The piano playing is very similar to Nat "King" Cole albeit her singer reminded me of a less capable Sarahn Vaughan. Like the piano but found the singing a bit ordinary which probably reflect the fact that I've been listening to Roberta Gambarini this week with the neww Dizzy Gillespie alumni big band. (This singer's vocal chords now recognised as probably the equal of Ella's.)

It is funny to look at Mingus' origins as they were often part of bands vastly different from the groups he would go on to lead whether it was as a member of Lionel Hampton's chaotic big band, Red Norvo's exquisite trio or this outfit. Several years ago I heard the Mingus big band perform some of his very earliest arrangements which even pre-dated his days with Hampton and the music sounded like Ellingtonian torch-songs.

The telling thing about this clip is that it would have been considered as "pop" in it's day and the jazz component wouldn't not have been quite so obvious due to the abundance of jazz or jazz-related material. It's funny the way that the music fragmented like this at the end of the Swing Era with R n, B, singers, Be-bop and experimental jazz writing all having their origins within the big bands of an earlier vintage. Someone commented at work this week that Lady Ga-Ga had started off in jazz but I somehow can't imagine that it would be a fraction as good as this clip which, even then, would have been eclipsed by more famous names. An interesting discovery and thank again for Jazzrook's peerless efforts to find long-forgotten jazz gems.

[Jazzrook]

Hazel Scott recorded with Mingus & Max Roach in 1955 on 'Relaxed Piano Moods'(OJC)

https://www.allmusic.com/album/relaxed-piano-moods-r147092/review

[amateur51]

Confession: I had never heard of her until this mention and now I'm listening to/watching as much as I can find - what a great personality, effortless technique and bubbly presence once she gets going - I like her singing style too, it has a touch of parody that I like. There's a biography on Amazon too.

How did a presence like this get lost?

Many thanks for the heads-up, jazzrook