Racalmuto Rides Again

Miguel Malla, tenor saxophonist of the Spanish band Racalmuto, writes:

We have added more Scott tunes to our repertoire: "Snake Woman," "A Little Bit of Rigoletto," "Sleepwalker," "Bird Life in the Bronx," "Tobacco Auctioneer," and "Suicide Cliff." We just finished a week-long stay at Café Central in Madrid. It was amazing — packed house every day and great success. Check out our videos uploaded on YouTube. All the best from Madrid.

VIDEOS here:
Steeplechase
Tobacco Auctioneer
The Penguin

And at dailymotion.com, their take on The Quintette Plays Carmen (with comic false start).

When it comes to Scott, these hombres GET IT. Sparkling performances.

Learning to count

"Raymond Scott, left, sits out a session at the Village Vanguard with trombonist Benny Morton, a possible, later addition to his band. Harry Lim, who runs the jam, gives paternal advice." (Metronome, September 1942)

Let history note: this sextet had SIX players.

And because my new scanner can't execute OCR, here's a scan of the accompanying column by Barry Ulanov (click to enlarge):

Playlist: Elf Power, The Killers, Ted Hawkins, Cat Power, and ...

I've been sucked DeeperIntoMusic 24/7 since discovering the DJ-free web station a few weeks ago. I buy every third track in the iTunes store because DIM has excellent taste and serves a feasty gumbo of popular and obscure rock, covering five decades. (Motto: "Music that doesn't suck ... from the 60s-70s-80s-90s and today." Other than a bit too much Paul Simon, believe it.)

Understand -- the "music" you're getting "deeper into" is narrowly defined. DIM doesn't program jazz, the only country is "alt," and forget experimental, world, show tunes, 78s, vintage R&B, or hardcore anything.

But tonight, following the strains of Neil Young, out of nowhere came this (click to enlarge screen grab):

Hair-Raising Discovery

It's been long established (since the mid-1930s, in fact) that Raymond Scott was an innovative composer and musician, but less known is his pioneering role in establishing trendy hairstyles. Case in point -- this photographic evidence proves Scott invented the faux-hawk ca. 1950s.

If you're not a Seclusionist ...

... come to Boston on Monday for the concert.

Chesterfield artwork by the brilliant Kellie Strøm.