Bobby Scott

Although Bobby Scott stepped away from the stage to concentrate on composition by the close of the 1950s and remained largely absent for years afterward, the music he created remained lively and engaging. A capable pianist and convincing singer, he also handled the vibraphone with notable assurance and doubled on accordion, bass, cello, and clarinet. In 1945 he attended New York City’s La Follette School of Music, where his teacher was Edvard Moritz, who had studied with Debussy as a boy; by age eleven Scott was already working professionally. At fifteen he joined Louis Prima’s group and began traveling with experienced players. Mid-decade he appeared alongside Gene Krupa and the unrelated Tony Scott, scoring a pop success with his reading of “Chain Gang.” Regular engagements at Cafe Bohemia followed, along with performances at the 1958 Great South Bay Jazz Festival and the 1959 New Haven Festival of Arts. He subsequently taught theory and harmony while resuming studies with Moritz, yet gradually resumed performing and recording. His final project, the Nat King Cole tribute For Sentimental Reasons, was taped in 1989 and issued in 1990, the year he succumbed to lung cancer at fifty-three. Scott led dates for Verve, ABC-Paramount, Bethlehem, and Musicmasters; later reissues include Collectables’ 2000 two-fer A Taste of Honey/The Compleat Musician and Fresh Sound’s 2007 anthology The Compositions of Bobby Scott.