Hazel Scott forged a distinctive fusion of jazz and classical elements without any connection to the third-stream movement or its terminology. She built improvisations around classical pieces, carrying forward an approach that stretched back to ragtime days. Listeners especially embraced pairings such as Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody, no. 2” coupled with Chopin’s “Valse in D Flat Major, op. 64 no. 1,” even though reviewers occasionally dismissed the approach as gimmickry—and at times the criticism held. Beyond those selections, Scott proved herself a capable bebop soloist, an expressive ballad interpreter, a competent blues performer, and an underappreciated singer. Her live sets in nightclubs generally outshone her studio recordings, where the lack of an audience and room atmosphere left her compositions exposed to closer inspection than they could withstand.
Beginning at age eight, Scott trained in classical piano at Juilliard while simultaneously performing jazz in clubs. By the late ’30s and early ’40s she had become a regular draw at both the downtown and uptown locations of Cafe Society. In 1936 she hosted her own radio program, reached Broadway in 1938, and appeared in five films throughout the ’40s, one of which was Rhapsody in Blue. Among the songs she composed were “Love Comes Softly” and “Nightmare Blues.” She later starred in her own television series and was married to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Intense public scrutiny of Powell’s conduct, power, and personal life eventually strained the high-profile marriage, leading to divorce.
Scott’s recording career included sessions for Decca, Signature, Tioch, and Columbia, yet her strongest jazz album, Relaxed Piano Moods, appeared in 1955 on Charles Mingus’s Debut label. Mingus and Max Roach accompanied her during that date, which remains her sole session currently issued on CD.
