Raymond Scott: Music Man of the Future

[mjzee]

You might not recognize Raymond Scott’s name, but chances are that you’ve heard his music — and that it makes you anxious. That’s because Scott’s “Powerhouse” (1937), easily his best known work, has been used to accompany scenes of mechanized peril in everything from the classic 1940s Warner Bros. cartoons to “The Ren & Stimpy Show” and a Visa check card commercial. As Warner Bros. animator, director and historian Greg Ford notes in “Deconstructing Dad: The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott,” a new documentary film by the composer’s son, Stan Warnow, the disquieting “Powerhouse” became the go-to choice for scoring animated scenes of panic on the assembly line. Raymond Scott (1908-1994) never wrote with animated films in mind (Warner Bros. simply licensed Scott’s back catalogue in 1941), but it’s fitting that he should be forever linked to the image of a swiftly moving conveyor belt — a contraption that makes its operators struggle to keep pace.

A technophile and jazz musician who was out of step with his time, Scott made a living writing for popular film and television of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, but spent his free time experimenting at the frontier of electronic music. As he refined his inventions — early synthesizers and sequencers — Scott envisioned a future in which machines could make music all on their own.

Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/159115/music-man-of-the-future/

[mikeweil]

The first commentator in this blog recommends this, which I second:

Scott's music has no improvisation at all, he was a perfectionist and had everything written out, although he uses jazz elements. Nevertheless ít's great music, if you can dig his type of musicla humor.

Don Byron did a disc of Scott (and Kirby and Ellington) covers, but the originals swing much more, to my ears, Scott's included.

[JSngry]

Very nice, quirky music here:

Elvin Jones, Milt Hinton, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Costa, Sam "The Man" Taylor, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Wild Bill Davis and Toots Thielemans.

Recommended!

[jlhoots]

Very nice, quirky music here:

Elvin Jones, Milt Hinton, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Costa, Sam "The Man" Taylor, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Wild Bill Davis and Toots Thielemans.

Recommended!

Yep - that's the one I return to.

[Chuck Nessa]

While growing up I saw Scott once a week on tv directing the band on Your Hit Parade along with his wife Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms and Gisele MacKenzie. Seems not so long ago. The tv version ran from 1950 (my age 6) through 1959 (age 15). Hard to shake stuff like that.

[paul secor]

I remember him from Your Hit Parade also. Had no idea he did other stuff until years later.

[JSngry]

Hard to shake stuff like that.

You don't. You just reposition it.

[.:.impossible]

Or try it stirred.

[Teasing the Korean]

My parents were in the vocal group on "Your Hit Parade." Imagine my surprise when I recognized my Mom's voice on Scott's "Good Air" jingle collected on the Manhattan Research compilation!

[alocispepraluger102]

While growing up I saw Scott once a week on tv directing the band on Your Hit Parade along with his wife Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms and Gisele MacKenzie. Seems not so long ago. The tv version ran from 1950 (my age 6) through 1959 (age 15). Hard to shake stuff like that.

i agree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI5ef0LfCfo

Edited July 27, 2012 by alocispepraluger102

[Teasing the Korean]

[mikeweil]

Quite a bit of effort to sell a few packages of cigarettes ...

[GA Russell]

My parents were in the vocal group on "Your Hit Parade." Imagine my surprise when I recognized my Mom's voice on Scott's "Good Air" jingle collected on the Manhattan Research compilation!

That's terrific, TTK!

[Teasing the Korean]

My parents were in the vocal group on "Your Hit Parade." Imagine my surprise when I recognized my Mom's voice on Scott's "Good Air" jingle collected on the Manhattan Research compilation!

That's terrific, TTK!

They've both been gone for many years. There are so many things I wish I could ask them based on what I know now. One of them is what it was like to work with Raymond Scott. Maybe one day in the next realm....