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Hazel Scott

When she became a celebrity in the 1940s, and even when she had her own television show in 1950; movie producers offered African American actors only stereotypical roles. Long before the civil rights movement made organized protest common for African Americans to register their desire for equal rights, Hazel Scott, defied racial stereotypes, portraying a positive screen and stage image, thus improving the opportunities for other African Americans in the entertainment industry. Even for a celebrity of her caliber, Scott, like most African Americans during the 1950's, was no stranger to Jim Crow segregation. She, however, acted with dignity while promoting American patriotism and racial integration, and denouncing communism. In short, Scott was an astonishing sultry song stylist who created her own concept of black pride and steadfastly adhered to it.

Hailing from Port of Spain, Trinidad, under the guidance of her mother Alma; she began playing piano at the age of two. Hazel began formal music training after the family had moved to the United States in 1924. She made her formal American debut at New York’s Town Hall two years later and by 1929 Scott had acquired six scholarships to Julliard School of Music in New York City. Unfortunately she, at fourteen, was under age (the school admitted at the age of sixteen only). In the meantime she joined her mothers All-Woman Orchestra, playing piano and trumpet.

By the time she was sixteen, in 1936, Hazel Scott was a radio star on the Mutual Broadcasting System and playing at the Roseland Dance Hall with the Count Basie Orchestra. In the late thirties, she appeared in the Broadway musical Singing Out the News and after that, Priorities of 1942. Scott’s film credits include Something to Shout About, I Dood it, Tropicana, and The Heat’s On, all in 1943, Broadway Rhythm (1944), and Rhapsody in Blue (1945).

During this time in one of the year’s most fabulous social events, Scott married the popular preacher and politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr., though they separated several times and divorced in 1956.

During the early 1950s, she became the first black woman to have her own television show, but due to accusations of being a communist; her show was canceled. Scott defended her position in fund-raising events, fighting for groups in the name of equal rights. She was widely recognized for her efforts in the struggle for racial freedom and justice.

She was known for her skill in combining jazz improvisations with a classical piece, and was quite adept at it. She was a consummate performer and her nightclub performances were well patronized and acclaimed. Though Scott recorded for Decca, Signature, Tioch, and Columbia labels, she went into the Debut studios on January 1955 with no less than Charles Mingus and Max Roach. On the aptly titled (and newly expanded for CD) “Relaxed Piano Moods,” the sophisticated lady handles standards, her own blues “Git Up from Here,” and J.J. Johnson’s enduring jazz ballad “Lament” with considerable aplomb and a pearl-like touch. This has proven to be her most enduring jazz date, and is considered her premier effort.

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Radio & Podcasts

New Releases, Birthday Shoutouts To Monnette Sudler, Irene Higginbotham (Good Morning Heartache), Hazel Scott & More

Read "New Releases, Birthday Shoutouts To Monnette Sudler, Irene Higginbotham (Good Morning Heartache), Hazel Scott & More" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast includes new releases from from drummer Ken Serio, guitarist Andrea Lisa, vocalists Marina Pacowski and Chloe Jean, with birthday shoutouts to Monnette Sudler, Irene Higginbotham (Good Morning Heartache), Hazel Scott, Daryl Sherman, Jocelyn Gould, Lili Anel, Janiece Jaffe, Deanna Kirk and Erica Lindsey, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue to distract, comfort, provoke and inspire.Playlist Monnette Sudler ...

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Profile

Hazel Scott: Swing and Silence

Read "Hazel Scott: Swing and Silence" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


Ahmad Jamal is often credited with creating a new spacious sound in jazz. He had a tingling sense of touch on the piano that let each note ring profoundly and famously inspired Miles Davis to explore the effects of silence and space. It was a sound equally admired and belittled as cocktail jazz because of its relaxed sound, perfect for the clubs, but it was more than light easy listening. It was a sophisticated kind of music that married classical ...

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Radio & Podcasts

I Like You Best of All - New Releases from Maria Muldaur With Tuba Skinny, Lauren Henderson, Jill McCarron, Tomoko Omura and More

Read "I Like You Best of All - New Releases from Maria Muldaur With Tuba Skinny, Lauren Henderson, Jill McCarron, Tomoko Omura and More" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast celebrates a new collaboration from Maria Muldaur with Tuba Skinny plus releases from vocalist Lauren Henderson, pianist Jill McCarron and violinist Tomoko Omura, with birthday shoutouts to composer Irene Higginbotham (Good Morning Heartache, This Will Make You Laugh), Hazel Scott, Geri Allen, Jenny Scheinman, Lili Anel, Jocelyn Gould, and Monika Herzig, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music.Playlist Coleman Hawkins “The Bottle's Empty" from In the Hush ...

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Video / DVD

What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott?

What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott?

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Hazel Scott was an enormously talented jazz and classical pianist whose popularity soared in the early 1940s. She appeared regularly at New York's Cafe Society in 1941, performed at Carnegie Hall in 1943, went to Hollywood, married Congressman Adam Clayton Powell in 1945 and was the first woman to have her own TV show in 1950. But later that year, she was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee of being a Communist, which tanked her career. She had a ...

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Book / Magazine

Little Melanie: A New Musical Comedy Television And Children's Book Series Pays Tribute To Jazz Legend Hazel Scott

Little Melanie: A New Musical Comedy Television And Children's Book Series Pays Tribute To Jazz Legend Hazel Scott

Source: MELANIE Greene

London5 Studios' Little Melanie is a new brand of children’s entertainment representing diversity and inspiring kids with “the dream is everything" message by paying tribute to jazz pianist Hazel Scott. Little Melanie children’s books and musical comedy television series centres around the diverse family of our heroine. Melanie is a child prodigy who is passionate about playing her Steinway & Sons Baby Grand Piano and writing songs at every opportunity. This fictitious character will show children that the dream is ...

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Book / Magazine

A Discussion and Reading by Author Karen Chilton of Her New Book: Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC

A Discussion and Reading by Author Karen Chilton of Her New Book: Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC

Source: Michael Ricci

In this fascinating biography, Karen Chilton traces the brilliant arc of the gifted and audacious pianist Hazel Scott, from international stardom to ultimate obscurity. A child prodigy, born in Trinidad and raised in Harlem in the 1920s, Scott's musical talent was cultivated by her musician mother, Alma Long Scott as well as several great jazz luminaries of the period, namely, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday and Lester Young. Career success was swift for the young pianistshe auditioned at the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Round Midnight

Fresh Sound Records
2008

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Relaxed Piano Moods

Original Jazz Classics
1992

buy

Always

Columbia
1979

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Great Scott

Columbia
1950

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