Bobby Scott: Newly Discovered Early '60s Tracks

Bobby Scott was a fascinating and exceptional jazz-pop composer, arranger, singer and pianist who slipped in and out of multiple music genres. Most people probably know him best as the co-writer of the pop hits A Taste of Honey (with Ric Marlow) and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (with Bob Russell). But for the most part, he’s all but forgotten. [Photo of Bobby Scott in the early 1960s]

Scott had a strong jazz recording career that started in 1953. Born in the Bronx in 1937, Scott was something of a prodigy, learning to play the piano, vibes, accordion, cello, clarinet and bass. He also could sing. He studied music at an early age and began his professional career at 11. At 16 he began touring with Louis Prima, and performed with Gene Krupa and Tony Scott in the 1950s.

Producer Creed Taylor discovered Scott early and recorded him extensively when he became head of A&R at Bethlehem in 1954. Creed recorded him again several times when he headed ABC-Paramount’s jazz department starting in late 1955. Scott went on to record for Verve in the late 1950s and then Atlantic starting in 1960 followed by Mercury, working with Quincy Jones at the label and after Jones left to work in Hollywood.

As a singer, Scott recorded several sophisticated pop albums for Columbia—My Heart in My Hands (1967), Star (1969), From Eden to Canaan (1976) and Forecast: Rain with Sunny Skies (1978). One of his finest late-career albums was For Sentimental Reasons (1989), a superb saloon-song record that was released only on CD. Bobby Scott died of lung cancer in 1990 at age 53.

Last week, I heard from a reader who goes by BGB and sent along a link to newly posted demo tracks by Bobby Scott in the early 1960s. I’ll let BGB pick up the story from here:

“Hi, Marc. When I found the demo disc about 15 years ago, I was able to pull up on the web a 1960’s New York Times article that briefly mentioned an upcoming opera entitled Amarantha, written by Bobby and his brother, Joe Kirland, who wrote the words. The demo songs here were almost certainly written for that opera, which probably never saw the light of day.

“Several days ago, I discovered that two other modern-day operas entitled Amarantha have been produced by other composers.”

“One of the Bobby Scott songs here is How Beautiful With Shoes, so his opera would clearly have been based on the same story. I have no idea why Scott had so much interest in producing an opera based on some old obscure short story. Judging from the songs, I guess it would have been a pop opera.

“I got in touch with Robert Scott, Bobby’s son, who informed me that Joe Kirland recently passed. So the three people who would know best about the Amarantha opera—Bobby, Joe, and Quincy—are no longer here to tell us about it. However, Robert is hoping his mother might remember something about it, and he’ll hopefully let me know if he obtains any more information.”

As BGB also wrote at Steve Hoffman’s online Music Forum, The Prison Yard was released on Scott’s 1960 Atlantic album, The Compleat Musician. The instrumental Amarantha’s Theme appears to have been recorded by Quincy Jones’ recording ensemble, of which Bobby Scott often was a part of and/or arranged for.”

They could be for an opera, but my guess is these demos were recorded by Scott in 1964 for a film treatment of the book, before Herb Alpert’s recording of A Taste of Honey won four Grammy Awards and while Scott was still working in New York with Quincy Jones, who had begun scoring for films. One can envision Natalie Wood or Audrey Hepburn as the woman who crosses paths with the asylum escapee.

Most of the songs are interesting, but there are a few clunkers. For those who appreciate Bobby Scott, they are wonderful additions to his discography, whether they were for a movie or an opera.

A special thanks to BGB for passing this link along…

Let’s check out a bunch of Bobby Scott favorites of mine that show off how hip and versatile he was:

Here’s Betty from The Compositions of Bobby Scott (1954)…

Here’s Scott on piano fronting a trio playing Tenderly from Great Scott (1954)…

Here’s The Creed, for Creed Taylor), with the Bobby Scott Octet from The Compositions of Bobby Scott…

Here’s Scott singing The Days of Wine and Roses from My Heart in My Hands (1967)…

Here’s Lonely Town from Plays the Music of Leonard Bernstein (1959)…

Here’s Bobby on piano with Chet Baker singing Bobby’s A Taste of Honey (1965)…

Here’s the entire Star (1969) album…

Here’s Don’t Let It Go to Your Head, which was released only after his passing…

And from my favorite Bobby Scott album, For Sentimental Reasons (1989), I Keep Going Back to Joe’s…