“Little” Jimmy Scott was an R&B vocalist with a high contralto voice who specialized in deeply sensitive ballads. Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, held his height at 4 feet 11 inches until he was 37, when he grew by 8 inches. The syndrome prevented him from reaching classic puberty, leaving him with a high voice and unusual timbre, which he put to good use. Now the Modern Harmonic label has re-issued 24-bit remastering of Doesn’t Love Mean More? for a digital download and vinyl release. It’s a tender, touching work that is a must-listen.
The album was recorded in 1990 and self-released by Scott on his J’s Way Records. He was backed by the Jazz Expressions: Kenichi Shimazu (p), Alvin Flythe Jr. (ts), Hilliard Greene (b) and Brian Kirk (d). Scott and the quartet are superb.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1925, Scott learned to sing at his mother’s side when she played piano and then sang at his family church’s choir. Then his mother was killed by a drunk driver when he was 13, leaving him orphaned.
Scott sang professionally locally until and was hired by Lionel Hampton in the late 1940s, landing an R&B hit in 1949 with Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool. As Scott’s visibility grew with bands and labels, he was cheated out of credit and royalties, and exploited by Herman Lubinsky, the founder of Savoy Records. Albums recorded were shelved and left unreleased for decades.
When his career bottomed in the 1960s, Scott returned to Cleveland and worked as a hospital orderly, shipping clerk, and elevator operator. Singing at the funeral of songwriter Doc Pomus in 1991 led immediately to singing Sycamore Trees in the final episode of TV’s Twin Peaks. Lou Reed had him sing backup on the song Power and Glory.
Scott has been praised by a long list of singers who admired his sensitivity and all-in singing style as well as his unusual phrasing. These artists include Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, Madonna, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.
On Doesn’t Love Mean More?, Scott sings originals and obscure ballads with a top-notch jazz quartet. His tenderness and passion on songs are both startling and addictive. As Nancy Wilson told me during my interview with her in 2010:
JW: How did you learn to sing?
NW: I listened to the radio a great deal and heard a lot of male singers. My dad listened quite a bit to records by singers like "Little" Jimmy Scott, Billy Eckstine and Nat Cole.
JW: Which pop singer taught you the most about phrasing?
NW: “Little” Jimmy Scott. I used to love how he made one word sound like three, just bending the notes. I heard him when I was 10, when he was with Lionel Hampton’s band. Jimmy is from Cleveland, and my father owned Scott’s early records, like The Show Must Go On and Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.
JW: You two share an artistic closeness, don’t you?
NW: Oh, yes. We are very much soulmates as far as the lyric and delivering them is concerned. In 1966, I recorded a song that I had never heard Jimmy sing. It was I Wish I Didn’t Love You So. When I finally heard his 1962 version some years later, I realized that our intros and first 15 bars were identical. We had approached the song the exact same way. We feel the same way about songs.
JW: And you both have that deep passion.
NW: Oh yes.
The beauty of Jimmy Scott was that he could squeeze every last tear out of a song and gave new meaning and intimacy to ballads through his solid understanding of jazz. If you let him in, he’ll change your life.
Jimmy Scott died in his sleep in 2014. He was 88.
To listen to and download “Little” Jimmy Scott’s Doesn’t Love Mean More?, go here. To buy the album on vinyl, go here.
To read my complete interview with Nancy Wilson, go here.
Here’s I’ll Love You Just the Same from the album Doesn’t Love Mean More?…
Here’s Scott with Lionel Hampton singing Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool in 1950…
Here’s Scott in 1955 singing When Did You Leave Heaven? backed by Budd Johnson (ts), Howard Biggs (p,arr), Mundell Lowe (g), Charles Mingus (b) and Rudy Nichols (d)…
From the same session, here’s Scott singing Everybody Needs Somebody…
Here’s Scott singing Address Unknown in 1958…
Here’s Scott singing Our Day Will Come from his 1970 album The Source…
Here he is live in Japan; watch what he does to the audience there…
Here’s Scott in Umbria, Italy, in 2001…
Here he is in 2013 with actor Joe Pesci while making the 2016 documentary I Go Back Home…
Here’s the documentary’s trailer. It is currently unavailable to stream, rent or buy on any major online platforms. The tracks were released as an album…