Mabel Scott

Born on April 30, 1915, in Richmond, Virginia, Mabel Scott grew up in New York City, where her vocal skills took shape inside the Metropolitan Baptist Church as she directed the all-girl gospel ensemble known as the Song Cycles. Around 1932 the seventeen-year-old performer began appearing at Harlem’s Cotton Club alongside Cab Calloway’s Orchestra and the dancing Nicholas Brothers. After relocating to Cleveland in 1936, she traveled to England with pianist Bob Mosley and cut her debut sides there in 1938 for Parlophone. European tours followed shortly afterward, with additional visits taking place repeatedly between 1940 and 1942.

The outbreak of the Second World War prompted another move, this time to Los Angeles, which positioned her at the center of the region’s postwar West Coast jazz and R&B activity. Following a brief engagement with Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra, Scott had become a regular presence by 1943 at Central Avenue’s Club Alabam, where she shared the stage with master of ceremonies Wynonie Harris. During the middle of the decade she performed with a unit directed by Lorenzo Flennoy and resumed recording, first for the Hub label and then for Excelsior in 1947. The next year brought further touring and Billboard R&B chart success with the songs “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” and “Elevator Boogie.” In 1949 she wed her pianist Charles Brown, though the marriage endured for only about three years.

Additional recordings appeared on King Records in 1950, on Coral the following year, on both Brunswick and Coral in 1952, and on four sides for the Parrot label in 1953, the latter featuring trumpet work by King Kolax. A 1955 visit to Australia yielded her final studio work, issued by Festival Records and supported by Les Welch’s jazz band. Disenchanted with the music industry and unsettled after her second marriage, Mabel Scott eventually returned to her gospel beginnings and performed exclusively in church settings for the remainder of her life. She died in Los Angeles on July 19, 2000.