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Tony Scott
Sung Heroes

(Sunnyside, 1989)

Tough guy jazz clarinettist seeks pastures new.

Tony Scott

God knows I want the record shops to survive. I'm the kind of aged music fan who still gets excited about popping into HMV of a lunchtime and coming out with an unknown gem plucked from the more obscure corners of the "downstairs" categories. But when a trip to my local Walthamstow branch of HMV reveals a thin corner-rack gruel of "Classical/Jazz/World/Easy Listening" (Mac Davis next to Miles Davis) and even a casual walk through the specialist racks of yer major Oxford Street CD emporium only shows up the classics and standards you do wonder how exciting a trip to the record shop will continue to be. Take Tony Scott. After years of scouring the jazz section of HMV Oxford Street I've only ever seen one Scott CD, 1964's Music For Zen Meditation. Granted, it's a unique and strange record - the sound of a tough guy Italian-American bebop clarinettist (born Anthony Sciacca) who, having inexplicably fled the New York jazz scene in 1959, travelled the world, immersing himself in alternative folk and world melodies and the religions of the east - but it's an unlikely place for the curious jazz fan to start. Better by far is Sung Heroes, which showcases Scott's last 1959 date before scarpering for Europe. A series of chamber-jazz requiems for his jazz heroes (Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, Hot Lips Page), his father and Ann Frank, its melancholy, valedictory feel explains why this "Noo Joisey" Juilliard graduate felt the need to leave New York behind: too much death and darkness. "The clarinet is dead and I hate funerals," said Scott. "All my friends, my inspirers are dead and for me the creativity in jazz died with them. I'm looking for new sounds, new feeling and a change of thought. Japan will be only the first stop to fill my soul for my creative spirit, I must get out and search for new sources." The set is certainly heavy with sadness, but also innovation in its quest for new sounds. Bringing together the classic Bill Evans trio for the first time (Evans on piano with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian) Scott affects a lazy, breathily sentimental style that sits somewhere between Ben Webster and Jimmy Giuffre, with Evans, Motian and LaFaro tiptoeing gingerly between Scott's bluesy ambiguities and haunting abstractions. Japan did turn out to be his next stop, and then came albums like Homage To Krishna and Astral Meditation, followed by retreat to Italy and some kind of inner peace. But for truly moving music, it's this album, which finds Scott at the despondent point of departure, which is truly worth seeking out.

Andrew Male

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 23/11/2009

Further Listening

Tony Scott - Music For Zen Meditation (Verve, 1964)

Bill Evans Trio - Watlz for Debby (Riverside, 1961)

Jimmy Giuffre - 1961 (ECM, 1992)

Related MOJO content:

Bill Evans , Tony Scott

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