Now this is decidedly odd and quite brilliant. Brought to my attention by this article from The Guardian.
The 101 strangest records on Spotify: Raymond Scott – At Home With Dorothy and Raymond
Raymond Scott was a composer, engineer, recording studio pioneer, an inventor of electronic instruments whose influence lives on
A January 1943 Billboard magazine feature headlined The Negro Makes Advances noted how black performers are doing relatively well in radio and films, but “better than ever in music.” Further into the piece we met (white) bandleader Raymond Scott who, the entertainment business bible marvelled, “uses four [black artists] in his CBS group.”
Known throughout the 40s as “the master of the rhythm novelty”, Scott was so much more. Born Harry Warnow in Brooklyn in 1908, he was a composer, engineer, recording studio pioneer, an inventor of electronic instruments and a forward-looking bandleader who was, during his heyday, on a par with Duke Elliington and counted Igor Stravinsky among his millions of fans. This was a man so in love with the power of rhythm he even chose his own moniker because he liked its flow.
During the 50s, Scott became a huge star. Then rock’n’roll happened and it was game over. However, that’s Raymond Scott you hear illuminating the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, while The Simpsons and Ren & Stimpy have both featured his work, so his reach and influence live on everywhere.
There is a brilliant At Home With feature in Popular Mechanics from 1959 that describes Raymond and Dorothy’s NY dwelling as, “not a home in any ordinary sense, [but] a 32-room musical labyrinth” which was full of Scott’s incredible creations which included a rudimentary sampler, a self-built synth-like device and his own “Videola” which projected movies into other rooms by remote control. Heady stuff indeed for 1959.
The feature ends with the quote, “The Scotts are definitely in tune with each other” which, sadly wasn’t true as they divorced a few years later - but let’s not let that spoil this utterly brilliant collection on Trunk Records. Somewhere between post-war big band jazz and the in-coming exotica wave, this album is endlessly inventive, amusing and, oh yes, exciting.
It’s an LP that positively vibrates with energy and a peculiarly mad-cap, perfectionist joy – Ectoplasm has the most incredible arrangement, Snake Woman is B-Movie gold – as the rehearsed-to-within-an-inch-of-their-lives band stretch out and gyrate around you.
Known throughout the 40s as “the master of the rhythm novelty”, Scott was so much more. Born Harry Warnow in Brooklyn in 1908, he was a composer, engineer, recording studio pioneer, an inventor of electronic instruments and a forward-looking bandleader who was, during his heyday, on a par with Duke Elliington and counted Igor Stravinsky among his millions of fans. This was a man so in love with the power of rhythm he even chose his own moniker because he liked its flow.
During the 50s, Scott became a huge star. Then rock’n’roll happened and it was game over. However, that’s Raymond Scott you hear illuminating the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, while The Simpsons and Ren & Stimpy have both featured his work, so his reach and influence live on everywhere.
There is a brilliant At Home With feature in Popular Mechanics from 1959 that describes Raymond and Dorothy’s NY dwelling as, “not a home in any ordinary sense, [but] a 32-room musical labyrinth” which was full of Scott’s incredible creations which included a rudimentary sampler, a self-built synth-like device and his own “Videola” which projected movies into other rooms by remote control. Heady stuff indeed for 1959.
The feature ends with the quote, “The Scotts are definitely in tune with each other” which, sadly wasn’t true as they divorced a few years later - but let’s not let that spoil this utterly brilliant collection on Trunk Records. Somewhere between post-war big band jazz and the in-coming exotica wave, this album is endlessly inventive, amusing and, oh yes, exciting.
It’s an LP that positively vibrates with energy and a peculiarly mad-cap, perfectionist joy – Ectoplasm has the most incredible arrangement, Snake Woman is B-Movie gold – as the rehearsed-to-within-an-inch-of-their-lives band stretch out and gyrate around you.
This comes from his Get Happy album.
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