Jimmy Scott Transcript

March 22, 2008

Kent: Welcome back to “Sound Authors.” On the fourth part of each show we like to feature an author of sound and it’s my pleasure today to welcome one of the great authors of sound, Jimmy Scott. He got his start in the Lionel Hampton band quite a long time ago, the 1940s.He’s signed the Ray Charles Tangerine Record Label. In the ’60s he faded out of the music scene and worked in a hospital as an elevator operator. And came back in the ’90s and has put out several albums since.Welcome so much to the show “Little” Jimmy Scott.

Jimmy Scott: My pleasure.

Kent: Now, I saw you sing out here in Stony Brook, New York. You sang at the University and that was a real pleasure. You have so much soul. I shouldn’t say that you’re getting up in years, but it seems like you have still got the same soul that you’ve always had.

Jimmy: Well, thank you. Thank you.

Kent: And do you sing every day?

Jimmy: Ah, yeah, just about. I do a little silent singing to myself that’s my way of reviewing certain tones and I do that within myself.

Kent: In your head?

Jimmy: Yes.

Kent: Where are you talking to us from? Do you live in Las Vegas now?

Jimmy: Yes.

Kent: How’s that?

Jimmy: Oh, wonderful. Well, for me, healthwise, it’s good. I couldn’t take winters anymore in Cleveland.

Kent: I hear you.

Jimmy: So getting terrible, you know, for me physically. So, I decided that I’d find somewhere where it was warm and that I could still survive.

Kent: You’ve recorded with Charlie Parker, Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus…

Jimmy: Yeah, Lionel, Charlie Parker…

Kent: What was Charlie Parker like?

Jimmy: Oh, Charlie was fabulous man. He was a really strong educator, I believe. Now that’s my belief about him. I felt that I was being educated by whatever he would play or do. And he put it in life to you, you know. The way he expressed it all, it was lifelike.

Kent: Yep. And now, your voice is… we’re going to listen to a song called “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” from an album that was never released until 2001, I believe, “The Source.”But you recorded it back in the ’60s.

Jimmy: Huh, yes.

Kent: And it’s a beautiful song. Your sound is so much like the jazz greats we love. You know, Billie Holliday an….

Jimmy: Oh, yes. Well, I’ve had many tell me that.

Kent: Did you interact with all of them back in the ’50s and ’60s?

Jimmy: Huh?

Kent: Did you go on tour with these people and interact with them after the shows and…

Jimmy: Did I interact with them? Yes.

Kent: And did you know Billie? Did you know…

Jimmy: Oh, definitely. Billie was a kin to my second wife. That came about because her mother was a cousin to Louis McKay, you know?

Kent: Right.

Jimmy: And, when they would come to Cleveland, sometimes they would stay with Mrs. Gates. Her name was Mrs. Gates, my mother-in-law, Mrs. Bessie Gates. Yeah. And that was Louis’ cousin. They were cousins.So, that was how I sort of became related to her. That was of course late in her career, not too long before she died. But I had the honor of knowing that in some way I had contact with her. That even raised and encouraged my idea of singing more and more.She was another one that, when she told the story in a song, it was truth. Miss that song that she you’d hear thing. She lived that. She went through that.

Kent: And that’s something that…

Jimmy: … and knowing this I say hey this is fabulous because it was just strange for her to be so close, you know. And it was amazing to me.

Kent: And your music, too, is so emotional. We’re going to listen to just a little bit of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” from the source.[music]

Jimmy: all right.”I feel like a motherless child.Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,A long way from home. A long way from home.This world out here is lonely and cold.This world out here is….”

Kent: That’s a beautiful tune. There is so much soul in your voice. Jimmy Scott is our guest.

Jimmy: That’s one of my favorite songs.

Kent: Ah, it is so stunning.

Jimmy: Yes, because I think people maybe they don’t realize it but I think everyone goes through that period in their life. Feel like they are lost. And no one cares. You know?Not that it always has to be true, but it’s just a slight moment of feeling alone.

Kent: It’s a beautiful song. It’s been such an honor speaking with Jimmy Scott. I could speak to you for weeks. This has been a great honor. We’re going to listen to just a little bit of “Embraceable You” from Rhino Records High Five, Jimmy Scott.Thank you so much for being on the show and for everything you have done for jazz.

Jimmy: My pleasure.

Kent: Let’s listen to a little bit of “Embraceable You.”[jazz music]”Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you.Embrace me, you irreplaceable you.Just one look at you, my heart grows tipsy in me…”

Kent: Thank you so much to my guest today, Jimmy Scott, with the most beautiful voice in jazz. Jessica Keqorak with video production book and talk to you with this fascinating story in full circle came from Baghdad and the return.Thank you to Anthony sir and everybody at World Talk radio. Be safe. Let’s listen to a little more of Jimmy Scott singing on the way out.[music]”Those many charms about you.And above all I want my arms about you.Don’t be a naughty baby, some to daddy, do.My sweet embraceable…”

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