Scott, Raymond (originally, Warnow, Harry)

Scott, Raymond (originally, Warnow, Harry), jazz leader, pianist; b. Brooklyn, N.Y, Sept. 10, 1910; d. Feb. 8, 1994. Scott studied at N.Y.’s hist, of Musical Art during the early 1930s, then began working at CBS studios in N.Y. During the mid-1930s, he led a studio novelty quintet. He was well known for clever novelty arrangements such as “An Eighteenth-Century Drawing Room,” “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals,” and “When Cootie Left the Duke.” After leading on the West Coast and scoring for and appearing in several films, he formed his own big band in 1939. The band toured regularly and also played several residencies, including the Blackhawk, Chicago, in 1940. He returned to the CBS staff in 1942 and August of that year began directing an all-star studio group, which at various times included Charlie Shavers, Cozy Cole, Ben Webster, Emmett Berry, Johnny Guarneri, George Johnson, and Jerry Jerome. While he was a staff musician, Scott also was music director for the radio and TV versions of Our Hit Parade; he married Dorothy Collins, a regular on the show that he discovered when she was a teenager. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was mainly active as an arranger-composer and musical director. In the early 1970s, he moved to Van Nuys, Calif., where he retired. In the 1990s, his music was re-recorded by Don Byron. Scott has become a favorite among N.Y.’s downtown avant-garde jazz scene.

Dlscography

Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights (1937); Powerhouse, Vol. 1 (1949); D. Byron: Bug Music (1996).

—John Chilton , Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter