A tribute to Jimmy Scott – 1925-2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Jimmy Scott, the singer who possessed one of the most hauntingly beautiful instruments in jazz, died at his home in Las Vegas on 12 June.
He was 88.
Born on 17 July 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, Scott had the rare congenital condition Kallmann's syndrome, which prevented the onset of puberty – as a result, his voice never deepened.
He toured with Lionel Hampton in the 1940s and recorded for Savoy Records. In 1962 Ray Charles produced and played on Scott's Falling In Love Is Wonderful, a ballads album which found the singer at the height of his powers. But less than a month after its release, Savoy Records boss Herman Lubinsky threatened legal action, claiming that Scott was still under contract. The record was removed from the shelves. Another major label release The Source met a similar fate, and between 1975 and 1990 Scott withdrew from recording entirely, returning to Cleveland and a series of menial jobs.
A remarkable second act in Scott's career came about when the 65-year-old vocalist sang at the funeral of long-time friend Doc Pomus in 1991. His otherworldly alto caught the ear of record exec Seymour Stein and by the following year he was back on tour, promoting his Grammy-nominated comeback album, All The Way.
Between 2000-2003, Scott released four acclaimed albums for the Milestone label, produced by Todd Barkan. Then, four decades after Lubinsky effectively prevented its release, Falling In Love Is Wonderful finally saw the light of day in 2003. It is undoubtedly his masterpiece: featuring beautifully sympathetic orchestral charts by Marty Paich and Gerald Wilson, Scott's seraphic singing, exquisite timing, and inimitable phrasing – plus that elusive quality he conveyed of intense loneliness or sorrow – combine to extraordinarily powerful effect.
Written by David Ritz with Scott's cooperation, the singer's biography Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott was published in 2002. A career-spanning 2CD anthology of 28 songs extending over half a century, Someone To Watch Over Me - The Definitive Jimmy Scott provides a useful conspectus of his singular oeuvre.
– Peter Quinn