Watch The Closing Doors:A History of New York’s Musical Melting Pot

Watch The Closing Doors: A History of New York’s Musical Melting Pot is a new double CD and LP series, released today, and compiled by renowned journalist and author Kris Needs:

Needs’ frighteningly-ambitious project aims to capture the fast-vanishing magic of New York City, documenting major musical landmarks and developments. The first volume focuses on the 1940s and 50s, and is accompanied by a book containing the relevant musical and social history, artist biographies, illustrations and Needs own stories and recollections of the city that once never slept. It includes jazz giants such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and Thelonius Monk, while John Cage and Raymond Scott represent the avant garde. Among the other artists are Billie Holiday, Allen Ginsberg, Nina Simone, and Cab Calloway.

MOJO magazine: “An intoxicating aurel evocation of a lost world” 4-STARS

RECORD COLLECTOR: “One of the most fascinating compilations series we’ve ever encountered” 5-STARS

THE WIRE: “Essential”

VILLAGE VOICE: “A dream soundtrack of every book you ever read, or wanted to read, about postwar New York City” 

"Europe's most important film festival"

The new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened 3 times during the 46th annual Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, on July 3rd, 4th, and 8th, at 4pm. Director Stan Warnow, who will attend, adds: "It has a reputation as a Woodstock-like film festival — but it also has the glitz and glamor of a major festival with A-list actors and films on display — this year Judi Dench and John Turturro are getting awards, and John Malkovich will also be in attendance."

The Karlovy Vary IFF is one of the oldest film festivals of all time (the first year took place in 1946). It is the most important international film festival in Central and Eastern Europe and the only festival in the Czech Republic. The festival is open to the public and is visited by thousands of young people.

You are Invited to An Acoustic Dinner with a Pack of Hungry Cannibals

This is your invitation to An Acoustic Dinner with a Pack of Hungry Cannibals. Well, three Acoustic Dinners with a Pack of Hungry Cannibals, in fact: "A collaboration between some of the Front Range's finest musicians on some of the wildest, funkiest music of one of most progressive composers of the 1930's. An evening of the music of the great American composer Raymond Scott, whose music is familiar to millions because of its adaptation by Carl Stalling in over 120 classic Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and other Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts. Scott also created numerous spoken word pieces and soundscapes, which will be presented, alongside original music from Schepps, Aller, McCormick, Pelta-Tiller, and Hutchison." Details: here

• Thursday, June 9 at 8pm: Avogadro's Number, 605 South Mason Street, Fort Collins, CO

• Saturday, June 11 at 8:30pm: The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO

• Sunday, June 12 at 7pm: The Dazzle Showroom, 930 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO

White (Brain)Wash Concerts in Norway

MeaNensemble presents:

"Don't Beat your wife (every night)"

White (Brain) Wash in concert
A Tribute To Raymond Scott &
the Perfect World of Commercials

Bubbly and crazy cartoon music in the best Bugs Bunny-style, mixed with absurd advertising fantasies from 60 Years in the United States ... This is the MeaNensemble, a 9-man's All Star Band in this concert version of the critically acclaimed show "White (Brain) Wash" as was played on stages all over Norway and was set-up in three weeks at the Kaleidoscope Theatre in Copenhagen: "A sparkling witty, visually and musically superb virtuoso performance at the European level!"

Friday June 10th and Saturday 11th will be the exclusive prepremiere for Liland and Narvik before tour starting this fall. Then there will be visits to both festivals and live recording in Studio Store in Bodø. More info: here

There is no open ticket sales, but to reserve a place to experience the spectacular ensemble mean, you can contact by phone 95 92 77 91 or email: vibeke.forshaug.min@nfk.no

Friday at 8:00pm — Liland brygge

Saturday at 7:00pm — Mørkholla, Narvik kulturhus

Urban Dictionary

Finally, Raymond Scott has hit the big-time:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Powerhouse+B

Google presents West Point Band concert

As part of their "Musicians@Google" series, Google® hosted a special hour-long multimedia concert of Raymond Scott tunes, performed by The West Point Band's "Quintette 7," in New York City. Watch and listen to the entire show: here

Passport to The Future

Dana Countryman's new biography detailing the life and career of French electronic pop music legend, Jean-Jacques Perrey, includes Perrey's memories of meeting Raymond Scott. Here's an excerpt:

"My sponsor, Carroll Bratman, drove me to the studio of Raymond Scott, the famous bandleader and composer," Jean-Jacques recalls. "I knew he was the man who had composed 'The Toy Trumpet,' and many other famous melodies, so I was very impressed to meet him. He had a huge studio in his home that was filled with his electronic music inventions. It looked more like a scientific laboratory, than a recording studio!"

"I played the Ondioline for Raymond Scott, and immediately he wanted to play it. He was very interested in how it worked. He didn’t offer to buy it right away, so Carroll suggested that we leave it in his studio. 'If you decide you like it, then you can buy it,'" Carroll said.

"Not long after, Mr. Scott called up Carroll, and said, 'Okay, I’ll buy the instrument from you.' But instead, Carroll decided to give the Ondioline to him — for free! The only other time that I remember him giving an Ondioline away, was the time he gave one to Arthur Godfrey."

• More memories of Raymond Scott from Perrey: here
• Book details and ordering info: here

Together Festival in Boston

The Together Festival in Boston will host a screening of the new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, on Friday, April 22nd at the Berklee College of Music. Professor of Music Synthesis, and former Raymond Scott colleague, Thomas Rhea, Ph.D will attend, speak, and conduct Q&A. Sponsors and partners include Grooveshark®, Ninja Tune, Live Nation®, Vitamin Water®, and Red Bull Music Academy®. Details: here. Address of venue for this screening is: 22 The Fenway, Rm F12.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: "Techno has grown up, and so have its fans. David Day, 35, is such a regular that he started his own festival, Together, in Boston. 'I go to these festivals to be with like-minded people who also live and breathe electronic music.'"

 

Center for the Digital Arts in New York

The new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be shown as part of the "Meet the Filmmakers" series at the Center for the Digital Arts in Peekskill, New York on April 19th. This event is open to the public and all enrolled students, but registration is required. Details: here

Twilight(s) in Turkey

We offer a free pdf of Raymond Scott charts (which are available in pdf format for token sums). Recently, while scanning new additions to our inventory—which contains arrangements for solo piano, sextet, dance band, accordion, and some miscellaneous instruments and configurations—we discovered three identical solo piano arrangements of Scott's 1937 "Twilight in Turkey" with different covers. Herewith the scans (slightly restored) of published versions from (respectively) Australia, the UK, and the US: We've got most of your Scott favorites—"Powerhouse," "In an Eighteenth Century Drawing Room," "The Penguin," "War Dance for Wooden Indians," "Siberian Sleigh Ride," etc.—as well as more obscure Scott titles, such as "Dead End Blues," "Tenor Man's Headache," "Circle Themes," "Kodachrome," and "Coming Down to Earth." We even have a computer printout of Scott's last known composition, "Beautiful Little Butterfly," which he composed using MIDI software in 1987 shortly before a debilitating stroke.

THE ONION Gets Serious

The hilarious news satire organization, THE ONION, got serious recently when they reviewed the new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, in their non-satirical entertainment section, The A.V.Club:

"Given his ubiquitous-yet-anonymous presence in everything from Warner Bros. cartoons to the experimental works of Jim Henson to the hip-hop instrumentals of J Dilla, the late Harry Warnow chose an appropriately nondescript pseudonym for his adventures on the cutting edge of music and technology: Raymond Scott. An enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a lineage of fantastical electronic gadgets, Warnow isn’t a fascinating figure to tech heads and crate diggers alone — to this day, he continues to mystify even his own son, veteran film editor Stan Warnow. Through interviews with the likes of Mark Mothersbaugh, John Williams, and Moog synthesizer pioneer Herb Deutch — as well as his own family members — the younger Warnow pieces together a portrait of an artist neither he nor his father’s fans fully understand."

Unsound Festival in New York City

The Unsound Festival in New York City will feature a screening of the new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD on April 10th. Director Stan Warnow will attend for Q&A. Update: Irwin Chusid and Wayne Barker will also attend. Details: here

THE NEW YORK TIMES said the festival "claims a shrewdly amorphous domain: a zone in a virtual Europe where electronics, arty, multimedia experiments, chamber-music meticulousness, punk impulses and DJ dance beats may all appear amid clouds of noise. This festival’s aesthetic: high-tech, allusive and not to be pinned down.” 

URB magazine described Unsound as "scene-shifting" and declared that the festival instantly "cemented its status as one of the most important cultural festivities in New York City."

Cinématte Film Series in Switzerland

The Cinématte music cinema in Berne, Switzerland, will host a screening of the new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, this Thursday, March 24th at 9:00 PM. The film series is programmed by the "Song & Dance Men." Details: here

"Mad March" Concerts: Mr McFall’s Chamber

"MAD MARCH: Six new works in two weeks, with a shot of ZAPPA, PIAZZOLLA, BRYARS, and RAYMOND SCOTT to help it all go down."

Described by The Herald as ‘the most important single development on the Scottish music scene,’ Mr McFall’s Chamber are joined in these programs by renowned clarinettist Maximiliano Martín, and jazz musicians Paul Harrison (piano) and Stuart Brown (drums). The concerts features two world premieres from two of the UK’s best-loved jazz composers Tim Garland (Chick Corea band) and Martin Kershaw (Trianglehead, Martin Kershaw Quartet), alongside numbers by ASTOR PIAZZOLLA, RAYMOND SCOTT and others.

Described recently in the Scotsman as ‘the jewel in the Scottish musical crown,’ Mr McFall’s Chamber are musical adventurers, traversing from a base camp in classical music into tango, progressive rock, traditional music, electronics and, on these occasions, jazz. These events brings together the distinct worlds of the string quartet and jazz trio (piano, drums, bass) with clarinet thrown in – an instrument which sits happily in either sound world. Two shows:

March 24th · 8:00pm

The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

100 Renfrew Street

Glasgow, United Kingdom

March 25th · 8:00pm

The Queen's Hall

85-89 Clerk Street

Edinburgh, United Kingdom