Who Was Bobby Scott?

Bobby Scott is one of those virtually unknown jazz artists today who had a brief career as a top-flight pianist, composer and arranger in the 1950s. Then he moved into the pop world and disappeared from the jazz scene as a leader, working instead mostly as a studio sideman. In the 1960s and beyond, Scott worked extensively with Quincy Jones and wrote the music for two enormous pop hits: A Taste of Honey with Ric Marlow and He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother with Bob Russell. But before his pop success, Scott was a fascinating jazz player, composer and arranger, as evidenced by three albums now on one CD from the early 1950s. Yesterday I spoke with Ira Gitler and Hal McKusick, both of whom knew Scott.

Born in 1937, pianist Scott was a music prodigy. By age 8 he was studying composition intensively, and he worked his first professional gig at age 11. By the time he was 15, Scott had performed with Louis Prima and other name bands. In the mid-1950s he played with Tony Scott (no relation), Hal McKusick and Gene Krupa. He also recorded as a leader on his own trio dates. In the late 1950s he resumed his studies, and recorded several albums as a singer.

In 1960, after A Taste of Honey was released, Scott recorded with Jackie Paris (The Song Is Paris), Coleman Hawkins, Wes Montgomery, and Quincy Jones, appearing on a dozen or more of the West Coast arranger's albums. In the 1970s and beyond, Scott turned up as the arranger and pianist on albums jazz-pop albums. Scott died in November 1990.

It's a shame Scott's jazz work isn't better known today. In late 1954 he recorded The Compositions of Bobby Scott Vol. 1, which featured Ronnie Woellemer (trumpet), Eddie Bert (trombone), Hal McKusick (alto sax), Al Epstein (baritone sax), Scott (piano), Milt Hinton (bass) and Osie Johnson (drums). A little over a month later, Scott recorded Vol. 2 in Los Angeles with an all-star West Coast personnel: Conte Candoli (trumpet), Frank Rosolino (trombone), Charlie Mariano (alto sax), Bill Holman (tenor sax), Jimmy Giuffre (baritone sax), Scott (piano), Max Bennett (bass) and Stan Levey (drums).

In 1956, Scott recorded Bobby Scott and Two Horns for ABC Paramount with John Murtaugh (tenor sax), Marty Flax (baritone sax), Scott (piano), Whitey Mitchell (bass) and Howie Mann (drums).

All of these sessions have a certain understated confidence and charisma that sound terrific today. Clearly inspired by Gerry Mulligan's writing of the time, Scott had a seductive way with counterpoint, choosing to have instruments function as choral voices rather than relentlessly resolving competitors. He also had a fine ear for the distinct sounds of individual instrumentalists and where each should solo. You also can hear the kind of restlessness in the writing that comes from someone whose intellect is ahead of his years.

Recalls jazz writer and historian Ira Gitler...

"I knew Bobby very well. When we'd meet in the supermarket on the Upper West Side from time to time in the 1950s, that would be the end of shopping. He'd jump into subjects, and we'd cover many topics in a single chance meeting. Bobby had a brilliant mind that went far beyond music. He was tall and lanky and also a bit manic. He had kind of a hyper edge, going a mile a minute on a topic. When I think of Bobby I remember a guy who was very passionate about jazz." [Photo of Ira Gitler by Michael Wolff]

In 1955, Scott wrote and arranged Immortal for Hal  McKusick's In a Twentieth-Century Drawing Room LP (RCA). The composition was an elegy to Charlie Parker just months after the alto saxophonist's death. Scott also teamed up with Hal on Triple Exposure (1957), arranging Saturday Night, A Touch of Spring, Con Alma, and The Settlers and the Indians. This Prestige album is staggeringly great and features Billy Byers (trombone), Hal McKusick (clarinet, tenor sax and alto sax), Eddie Costa (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Charlie Persip (drums).

Recalls Hal:

"When I first started working with Bobby in the early 1950s, he was 16 years old. He put together a band for a summer job at a hotel in the Catskill Mountains. Bobby was playing piano and composing and arranging—at that age. The rest of us were already in our 20s, so seeing Bobby in action was amazing. I remember Jack Eagle was on trumpet. Jack [pictured] went on to do a lot of work in advertising as an actor, including playing a monk in ads for Xerox in the 1970s.

"Up in the Catskills, Bobby wrote all these wild, far out things in strange keys. It was a nice Jewish hotel, and the people vacationing there couldn't figure out what he was doing. But they liked him because of his energy and spirit. We had a blast.

"Soon after we did those sessions for Bethlehem Records [The Compositions of Bobby Scott]. I remember Bobby as being proud, self-confident and cocky. He was friendly, but as time went on he became more and more concerned about being perfect. I remember sitting with him in his Upper West Side apartment for many hours as he'd crank out charts.

"Toward the end of his life in the late 1980s, I was going to play a concert at Southampton College [on the east end of New York's Long Island]. Bobby called and I asked him to play with us. He said he wasn't in the best of health. I urged him to come out to Southampton, saying that playing would probably make him feel better. So he did, and it raised his spirits. He played piano with my quartet, a few piano solo numbers, and he sang a few. I remember he didn't like the position of the enormous concert grand on the stage, so we had to turn it and set up the mikes in a special way for him. That was the last I saw of Bobby. He passed away not long afterward. What a great talent." [Pictured: Hal McKusick]

Brash and musically mature beyond his years, Scott's writing in the early 1950s was lyrical and compelling. As arranger Sy Oliver said at one of Scott's early recording sessions, "How did he get so good so young?"

JazzWax tracks: Scott's two albums for Bethlehem, in November 1954 and January 1955, as well as Bobby Scott and Two Horns in 1956 for ABC Paramount, have been issued on one CD: The Compositions of Bobby Scott (Fresh Sound). The material is terrific, using a patient linear approach that meshes both East and West coast jazz sounds of the time. The "Birth of the Cool" recordings by Mulligan and Miles Davis were certain influences. Scott also had a marvelous ear for voicing and texture. Arrangements have horns coming and going in harmony and then uniting to gently move a composition's rich melody forward. Tender stuff with edgy soloists.

The Compositions of Bobby Scott can be found here used from independent sellers. 

As for Scott's work with Hal McKusick, you'll find In a Twentieth-Century Drawing Room as part of a two-CD set from Lonehill Records here, and Triple Exposure is here. Both are shrewd examples of mid-1950s small-group writing, arranging and playing, featuring leading first-call musicians of the day.

Comments

[Larry Kart]

Don't know the two Bethlehems but used to have a copy of the ABC-Paramount and recall liking it, for the writing and John Murtaugh, an interesting but obviously not that well-known player who IIRC sounded a bit like Jack Montrose. Also, again IIRC, there was something a bit Montrose-like (and/or Jimmy Giuffre-like) about Scotts writing -- a clever, cute (arguably too cute at times), folksy-bluesy, at times programmatic strain. I've ordered the Fresh Sound and will reacquaint myself with the ABC music and hear some Scott that's new to me. Finally, though I don't recall where, I read some Scott reminiscences about working and hanging out with Lester Young that were touching, though I recall thinking as I read them that, as Ira Gitler said, Scott must have been a very tightly wound guy.

[Michael Steinman]

I think the beautiful prose that Larry remembers -- Bobby hanging out with Pres on a JATP tour -- was first printed in Gene Lees' JAZZLETTER, and it may also have emerged in Frank Buchmann-Moller's irreplaceable biography of Lester, YOU JUST FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE. Bobby Scott saw Pres in a most endearing personal way.

Keep on keeping on! Michael

[Jason Crane]

Darn it! Now I've got to go buy more music. Knock it off, wouldja?

[David Brent Johnson]

Scott's remembrance of Pres came to my mind as well when I read this post. I first encountered it in the Robert Gottlieb-edited anthology, READING JAZZ. Beautiful prose indeed.

[Arnaldo DeSouteiro]

Hi Marc,
Firstly, I must congratulate you for the excellent post about Bobby Scott.
Secondly, I must tell you that Bobby was a dear friend of mine - sadly, mainly during his last years, when we increased our correspondence.

Luiz Bonfá, another close friend I miss so much, introduced us in the mid-80s, when I starting to work as Bonfa's producer. Bonfa and Scott were very close since the early 60s. Bonfa always referred to Scott as a genius. And Scott referred to Bonfa as a... genius!

From 1987 to 1998, Bonfa and I were neighbors at the Barra da Tijuca area in Rio de Janeiro, we used to visit each other at least three times a week.

Many many times when I was at Bonfa's home, he showed me works (songs, albums, arrangements) by Scott. "Listen to this cello passage, listen to this flute detail," he used to say while listening to Bobby's scores. Bonfa always was all smiles. He was particularly fond of Scott's brilliant arrangements for an album titled "Braziliana," which Scott arranged/conducted/produced (besides having played piano too) for Bonfá in New York back in 1965; a CD reissue came out last year on Verve's "Original" series. It's a sublime album, with the most subtle piano backing and the most subtle string arrangements I've ever heard.

Later on, Bobby Scott produced Bonfa's groundbreaking "The Gentle Rain" soundtrack for the Mercury label. Oddly, despite the fact that the film was a big fiasco, its soundtrack became very popular, to the point that its main theme achieved the status of a jazz standard, having received over 200 recordings (from Jimmy Smith to Diana Krall).

Bonfa also loved Scott's orchestrations to his song "Non-Stop To Brazil," recorded on Quincy Jones' "Quincy Plays for Pussycats" (Bobby was the uncredited arranger and piano player throughout the album...)

In the late 80s, Bonfa also introduced to Scott his guitar protegé Carlos Barbosa-Lima, with whom Bobby immediately started a strong musical partnership, writing many guitar pieces for Barbosa-Lima (even beginning a guitar concerto that was never completed and many other solo pieces recorded on the guitarists' albums for the Concord label) and recording many chamber-music sessions with him that remain unreleased. Among them, such fantastic suites like "Solitude Book," "Book of Hours" and a trio masterpiece with Eddie Daniels (playing flute!) titled "All About Amber" aka "Suite Informal."

However, no label showed interest in releasing such material. Not to mention the magnificent works for NY harpist Gloria Agostini, great songs written to (and performed by) Jackie & Roy and so on.

I invited Scott to perform at a jazz festival in Rio, but he politely refused. "I'm not one to be lumped together with others, and my first inclination is to say no to the trip. But I will give the festival some thought and maybe change my mind. I have had a very different type career than have most of the players you know. I have avoided being part of such affairs in the past, including even the Newport Festivals. And I do not have much interest in the other players on a bill, frankly. I had something entirely different in mind. I had desired to play a few concerts with Carlos, a couple even with strings if possible, to show the breadth of what we've been doing over the last few years. Its hard to explain, Arnaldo, but if I had my own way it would not be as it looks like it may be..." he wrote me in a letter dated October 1st, 1989.

One of the dozens (maybe over one hundred) letters we exchanged for years. Attached, please find scans of some of them.

In another letter, he suggested me: "What about a Scott/Bonfa album as well? To play/sing in a nightclub with Brazilian musicians of a jazz bent would also be something worth doing for myself. It isn't for monetary reasons I suggest all these things, Arnaldo. Its just that its a long way to Rio, and it seems like I should do more than a concert."

When I was finally able to prepare "the big plan," a big tour, Bobby was beginning to lose his battle against cancer. He was not allowed to travel anymore.
But he kept sending me many private tapes of new (and still unreleased) recordings I treasure, as well as copies of two of his books unpublished, "Not By Sail" and "Retrospect." Both are very haunting.

On April 29, 1990, he wrote me a letter to thank for a review I had published about his latest CD, "For Sentimental Reasons," and he added: "Fifteen years ago I wanted to record an album and call it 'The Last Bobby Scott Album'! I was so tired of being avoided by the critics, and tired of the companies not working to sell my efforts. So, I wanted just one more swing at the bat, and then I'd call it a day, and go back to purely composing and forget entertaining the club. But life is odd. The people from Musicmasters now want a new album, plus two more, one of all my comps, and a totally 'blues' album, of whatever I deem ought to go into it! And they're working on my albums, so things, like life, can change, and DO change for the better, I happily report."

Still referring to "For Sentimental Reasons," he mentioned about the superb version of the standard "That's All":
"I am indeed proud of my faith, and proud I am a Catholic. And most of all I am enriched by the gift of Belief God Himself has instilled within me from my birth. So, Arnaldo, there is what is in the album. The joy of pleasing God with the gifts He has given me... The lyrics of 'That's All' have always been to me the voice of Christ speaking to life from the Cross. If you listen to it again, and note ecah word you'll see what I am driving at. He is in everything, wheter we hear Him or not!"

I've mentioned all of that and have enclosed copies of such letters because I felt I should share such meaningful and insightful commeents with people like you and Ira Gitler, who are not only jazz historians, but above all jazz lovers. Music lovers!

Last but least, a curious detail: I was the one who told Creed Taylor that Bobby had passed away. It happened when Creed invited me for lunch, back in October 1990, at a restaurant near the CTI office - the Gotham, at 12th Street, between University Place and 5th Ave. As you certainly know, Creed and Bobby worked together many times, even on a Wes Montgomery album ("Movin' Wes") for Verve.
Woosh, 'nuff said.
Take care,
Arnaldo DeSouteiro (heading to NY for Diana Krall's concerts at Carnegie Hall)

[joey Altruda]

Does anyone out there know of his Verve single with Gene Krupa's trio of "She's Funny That Way" and "Danny Boy" ?
It's incredible and I've never seen another copy other than mine (on 78 rpm).
I'm wondering if he cut more material from this session. I have seen no mention of it in my net search so far.

[Anthony Virgilio]

Bobby Scott was one of my heroes. I am fortunate to have in my library two of his LPs, My Heart In My Hands and Star. They're almost impossible to find and show off his singing and arranging for big band and strings in a style uniquely his own. There is so much to listen for in his work it would take forever to realize every nuance.
Unfortunately, I never saw him perform in front of a live audience,
I do have some albums and all of his work released on CD and that will have to suffice. Thanks to all who posted and related their experience and friendship with Bobby. All of my life I wanted to be an composer/arranger, in my sixties that came to fruition, but nothing like Bobby Scott.

[D. J, Then]

I am trying to find a copy of Bobby Scott's recording of The Young Years....if you have a copy or can tape a copy for me, please let me know; [email protected]

[Ray Murray]

I was a radio DJ in the 70's when I met Bobby. We became fast friends - I even served as his manager for a moment. He was as sweet as he was brilliant. One fond memory is when he took me into St Pats bought me a holy ring and had it blessed.
Ray Murray