Hazel Scott - A Piano Recital (1946 Signature 78 Album)

About three years ago, I was at an estate sale in St. Paul. Among the vintage fainting couches, department store china sets and an unexplained amount of farming tools, the deceased had apparently loved music because s/he had at least 20 boxes full and stacked about six feet tall of nothing but records! Most of those records were not that interesting (Christmas carols, the Andrews Sisters' Greatest Hits compilations, etc.), but I did curiously manage to find this whopper of an album set - with all four discs intact! (Anyone who owns or handles these fragile shellac time capsules knows that's a feat in and of itself!)

I had heard of Hazel Scott (1921-1981) before I went to the estate sale (hence why I picked it up in the first place), but I had not heard a recording by her until I went home and put the first record on my turntable. I was awestruck at how awesome (in terms of sheer command of the keyboard) her playing was, and how the same woman could pull off equally-entertaining driving boogie renditions of classical standards (i.e. "Toccata") yet drip with such marvelous sensitivity and grace on jazz ballads (i.e. "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans".)

Sadly, unlike such other well-known jazz pianists as Erroll Garner and Thelonious Monk, Hazel Scott's name was rather quickly forgotten about after her death. Part of it was due to the fact the she did not easily fit into a strictly "jazz" or "classical" designation, and another part was that at the height of her career, she decided to move to Paris and stayed there for over a decade in order to escape the clutches of McCarthyism which was grasping the record-buying public at that time. Fortunately, she is in top musical ability in this album and I consider it a prime example of her talent, although the percussion and upright bassist are not credited despite their obvious talent as well. I am happy to have brought this album into the 21st century so it can once again be appreciated for the great art that it is!

Check out a few clips from YouTube to hear it for yourself!

From the liner notes on the back cover:

Hazel Scott, one of America’s foremost pianists, was born in Trinidad in 1921. Her training in classical music was received at Julliard School of Music in New York City and her jazz technique, she says, she owes to Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. 

In October 1940, she was starred at the opening of Barney Josephson’s Café Society Uptown, just off Park Avenue, and ever since that date her pianistic pyrotechnics have been acclaimed, not only throughout the United States but in Europe as well. 

She appeared twice in the production, “Priorities of 1942” and has played twice at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City. Her motion picture career included the following pictures: SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT, I DOOD IT, BROADWAY MELODY, THE HEAT’S ON, and RHAPSODY IN BLUE. 

Hazel Scott is married to the Rev. A. Clayton Powell, Jr., noted Congressman, preacher, and editor. 

Miss Scott offers a work of her own composing. It is highly melodic, free in form and, harmonically, shows an influence of the MacDowell-Delius school of tonal color. This is a premier performance. 

The combination of two approaches to piano keyboard mastery in this Signature album of classical and jazz music, played by Hazel Scott, make it an outstanding contribution to every music lover's record library. 

-MURIEL REGER

The songs on this album are as follows:

1. "Fantasie Impromptu, Op. 66"

2. "Nocturne In B-Flat Minor, Op. 9, No. 1"

3. "Sonata In C Minor"

4. "Toccata"

5. "How High The Moon"

6. "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans"

7. "Idyll"

8. "A Rainy Night In G"

9. "Valse In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2"

Download (14.2 MB, 80 kbps)