A Rhythm Ballet

NPR's "Songs We Love" premieres "A Rhythm Ballet," a track from the forthcoming Raymond Scott electronica album, Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961–1971. The track is "performed" by Scott's Electronium—the "Mark II" version he built for Berry Gordy of Motown. Three Willow Park will be issued on June 30, on Basta.

Artifacts from the Archives

We are offering a FREE 349-page pdf compendium of Raymond Scott artifacts and ephemera, including previously uncirculated historic material. The contents of Artifacts from the Archives are intended as informational supplements to the Scott albums Three Willow Park, Manhattan Research Inc., and Soothing Sounds for Baby.

The chronological, annotated documents and images spotlight Scott’s career in the field of electronic music, from his 1920s Brooklyn high school days to his 1980s post-Motown years in Los Angeles. Much of the content focuses on Scott’s most productive period, from 1958 (when he began working on electronic music full-time) to 1972 (his first year at Motown). The collection features Scott’s handwritten and typed technical notes, photographs, sketches, correspondence, art, schematics, patents, circuit diagrams, vintage news articles, and family ephemera. The pdf is offered for download in two formats: high resolution (for viewing and printing), and reduced resolution, suitable for paging through on-screen.

The Portofino Variations

Raymond Scott's 1962 tune "Portofino" has become a belated "hit." It's been licensed for the TV show Narcos, the film Best of Enemies, used in a Gucci commercial, and garnered more single-track downloads than any track on Manhattan Research Inc., the Y2K anthology of vintage Scott electronica on which it was first released. Basta has commissioned 20 contemporary versions of the composition and collected them on a new album, The Portofino Variations. The album, officially released today, features "Portofino" recorded by Fay Lovsky, Arling & Cameron, the Metropole Orchestra, Ocobar, Davide Rossi (Goldfrapp, Coldplay, The Verve), Jacco Gardner, Eva Auad, and others. The tune is interpreted in a wide array of styles: surf guitar, whistling, electronica, chamber ensemble, minimalism, pop, rock guitar, and scat vocals. The compilation even contains two song versions with original lyrics. The album is available on CD and digitally on Basta, and on LP by Music on Vinyl (a limited edition of 1,000 numbered LPs on gold vinyl, featuring two previously unreleased 1962 takes by Scott). The cover art features an adaption of a painting by Jim Flora entitled Portofino—which by coincidence was rendered in 1962.

Listen here on Spotify.

Limited-Edition Color-Vinyl LPs

Basta's historic compilation of early Scott electronica, MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC., has been reissued in a tricolor 3-LP set by Music on Vinyl, under license from Basta. The newly designed package is officially available today. MRI, first issued in 2000, contains 69 tracks recorded 1953–69 — over two hours’ worth of Scott’s groundbreaking electronic work. Forays into abstract musique concrete are heard alongside film soundtrack collaborations with a young Jim Henson, and pan-galactic sonics seemingly beamed down from hovering UFOs. In addition, MRI presents some of the first TV and radio commercials to feature electronic music. ORDER: HERE

SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR BABY, Scott's 1963 proto-ambient music for infants and stressed-out adults, has been reissued in a 3-LP set by Music on Vinyl (also via Basta). Explore the overlooked roots of rhythmic minimalism, predating works by Eno, Fripp, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. Limited edition of 1,000 copies on silver vinyl, with liner notes and download coupon for all tracks. Purchase link in Euros, but if you're outside EU, Paypal will make the conversion. ORDER: HERE

Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961–71

THREE WILLOW PARK: ELECTRONIC MUSIC FROM INNER SPACE, 1961–71, a new collection of previously unreleased Raymond Scott electronica, will be issued June 30th by Basta Music. The album features 61 tracks, many showcasing the Motown-era Electronium — Scott's invention that composed using programmed intelligence — which will be heard for the first time on disc. This long-awaited followup to Manhattan Research Inc. (recorded 1953-69) will be available in 3-LP, 2-CD, and digital formats, and includes a 20-page book, plus a free 350-page downloadable PDF of archival artifacts. Produced By: Gert-Jan Blom and Irwin Chusid • Associate Producer: Jeff Winner • Art Direction: Piet Schreuders • Order from Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2q2NZ11

Miles Davis & Raymond Scott

Miles Davis was born on this date in 1926. Although there's no indication that Davis met Raymond Scott, it appears he may have been a fan. About 4 years-ago, I found a Miles Davis 'Blindfold Test' from 1968 — listening to Sun Ra (a tune titled "Brainville"), Davis said: "That's gotta come from Europe. We wouldn't play no shit like that. It's so sad. It sounds funny to me. Sounds like a 1935 arrangement by Raymond Scott. You mean there's somebody around here that feels like that? Even the white people don't feel that sad."

I've discovered another Davis 'Blindfold Test,' this one from 10 years earlier, in which he also mentions Raymond Scott. Here is a brief audio clip I excerpted from the complete 35-minute recording (and I transcribed it because Davis can be difficult to understand):

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

1958 “Blindfold Test” (excerpt)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

MILES DAVIS: Well, now it’s sickening because everybody plays the cliches that they played 5 years ago.

LEONARD FEATHER: Hmm, or 10 years ago.

MD: And them ‘modren’ (sic) musicians. I really can’t stand to hear too many of those guys now — very few.

LF: What do you think about the West Coast guys?

MD: They can have that. They got all of that… on the West Coast.

LF: Do you think it lacks emotion?

MD: Yes, I think it’s the heat out there. (both laugh) And the movies. I really don’t understand that. You know, I like [jazz drummer and bandleader] Chico [Hamilton], he’s a good friend of mine, ya know, but his band makes me sick!

LF: Well, a lot of it is not Jazz.

MD: I don’t know what it is. I’d rather listen to Raymond Scott’s old quintet.

LF: (laughs)

Dorothy Collins: Experiment Songs

In 1961, veteran songwriters Hy Zaret and Lou Singer produced an entertaining and educational series of LPs entitled Ballads for the Age of Science. Marketed at curious youngsters, the songs explained nature, energy, motion, outer space, and weather in a variety of musical arrangements, delivered by folksingers Tom Glazer, Dottie Evans, and the husband-wife duo of Marais and Miranda.

One volume, Experiment Songs, was sung by Raymond Scott's then-wife, Dorothy Collins. In a warm, endearing voice, Collins sang about magnets, rainbows, planetary orbits, vibration, and minerals. To our ears, this is some of the most charming singing by Dorothy Collins ever captured on disc. She is accompanied by a small orchestra led by guitarist Tony Mottola (who formerly played with Raymond's big band).

The albums have long been out of print. However, earlier this year I came to an agreement with the late Hy Zaret's son Robert to reissue the series. Working with best-available source recordings, I digitally restored all six albums, which are now available at iTunes and elsewhere. We're hoping to reissue the series on vinyl at some point.

You can hear samples and purchase tracks (or the complete album) of Experiment Songs here.

BOB MOOG's memories of his friend and colleague Raymond Scott

Although the late Bob Moog was more than 25 years younger than Raymond Scott, they were professional colleagues, and friends. Here, in his own words, are Bob's memories of Raymond:

In the mid-1950s, I was in my early twenties, living with my parents, and attending Columbia University. In the evenings my father and I would make theremins as something between a hobby and a business. One day we got a call from Raymond Scott, who we knew from radio and television. He invited us to come out and see his place in North Hills, on Long Island, New York. We shot up Northern Boulevard and eventually we got there. It was a beautiful, big, four-story mansion surrounded by elegant grounds. Raymond greeted us and showed us in. First, he showed us his recording studio. Then a very large room with a cutting lathe, and all sorts of monitoring and mixing equipment on the main floor of the house. I remember the amplifiers that drove the cutting head of this disc lathe were behind a screen, and they were big, fat vacuum tubes that would glow yellow like the sun at sunset. Next he took us downstairs and showed us around. There was an elevator going from one floor to the other. The entire downstairs of the house was a dream workshop. It consisted of several rooms. A large room with nothing in it but machine tools of the highest quality. Everything you could want. There were four or five lathes, drill presses, milling machines, and on, and on. The next room was a wood-working shop. Once again, completely equipped. Next was an electronics assembly room, and off that there was a large, thoroughly equipped stockroom of all kinds of electronic parts. So there my father and I were with our mouths hanging open! It looked like heaven to me. My father was an electrical engineer who worked for Consolidated Edison, and I was a twenty year-old electronics nerd who found himself on the track to becoming an engineer... ''It was the size of a football field! More than half a dozen big rooms, impeccably set-up. The floors were painted like a high class industrial laboratory. He had a whole room of metal-working equipment, a room full of wood-working equipment, and this huge barn of a room for electronics.'' —BOB MOOG Raymond then brought us into the big room downstairs where he had music synthesis equipment. He had rack upon rack of stepping relays that were used by the telephone company. The relay would step through all positions when dialed. He had them hooked up to turn sounds on and off. It was a huge, electro-mechanical sequencer! And he had it programmed to produce all sorts of rhythmic patterns. It looked like something out of a science fiction movie. First, we heard all these funny sounds coming from all over the place — 'beep-beep, boomp, bop-bop' — and then 'click-click-click-click-click' on top of that — dozens and hundreds of things going 'click-click-click.' We were standing right in the middle of it. It was disorienting. I'd never seen anything like it! Never tried to imagine anything like it. And I'm sure it gave me something to think about over the years. Raymond also showed us his "Circle Machine," which was a big disc, and a rotating arm with a photo-cell at the end of the arm. There was a series of lights on the circumference of the disc that this arm would pass over, and you could adjust the brightness of each lightbulb. As the arm swung around, and the photocell was illuminated and got darker, the different sounds would come on and off. Obviously, not everybody could do these things. It required a huge amount of imagination, a huge amount of money, and an impressive amount of craziness too! ''Raymond Scott bought a theremin from me in the early 1950s. A couple of months later, he invited us to see his prototype of a keyboard instrument. This was NOT a theremin anymore. Raymond quickly realized there were more elegant ways of controlling an electronic circuit.'' —BOB MOOG The evening ended by Raymond placing an order for a theremin with us. But he wouldn't tell us what it was for. Many months later, we delivered the theremin. Several months after we delivered, he calls again and asks us to come and see how he had used our theremin. Once again we got in the car and headed eastward on Northern Boulevard. Off in one corner of his electronics workshop was our theremin that we had sold to him, with the pitch antenna cut off! In place of the pitch antenna there were wires going off to an assembly of parts in the back of a keyboard. Raymond called this his "Clavivox." This was not a theremin anymore — Raymond quickly realized there were more elegant ways of controlling an electronic circuit. He used a very steady source of light instead of a theremin for subsequent models. There was a shutter consisting of photographic film that got progressively lighter as it went up. This produced a voltage which then changed the pitch of the tone generator. Raymond had everything adjusted so that, sure enough, when you played the keyboard you got the notes of the scale. But the really neat thing, as he pointed out, was that now you could glide from note to note — you could play expressively — you didn't have to play discrete notes. The waveform of the sound determines the tone-color, and there are several different ways of changing the waveform that are characteristic of, but not identical to analog synthesizer. Much of the sound producing circuitry of the Clavivox resembles very closely the first analog synthesizer my company made in the mid-'60s. Some of the sounds are not the same sounds that you can get with an analog synthesizer, but they're close. The Clavivox also generated a vibrating voltage, or "vibrato," which can be turned on and off from the left-hand control. There are three controls under the finger of your left to produce a fast attack, a slow attack, or a silence between notes. There's a lever you can press to extinguish a note so you can go very fast on and off. Although it has a three octave keyboard, there's a range switch on the front panel so you can play very low to very high. The Clavivox looks sort of like a synthesizer too; it has a three-octave keyboard, some left-hand controls, and a few knobs in the front. And this was all very impressive. Raymond said that he wanted us to see this because he was going to design a commercial product based on it. Over the years, from time to time, Raymond would ask us to design a circuit for him. Then he'd come up from New York City and pick it up, or tell us what else he'd want. This happened every couple of months, and we became fairly good friends... ''Raymond Scott had brilliant intuition. He once said to me, 'The trouble with you is that you believe just because you think about something, then it's done.' I was having a hell of a problem managing my time. Raymond put his finger on part of the problem.'' —BOB MOOG Now we cut to 1964. We began building synthesizers in Trumansburg, near Ithaca in central New York State. He used to come up to Trumansburg periodically, to give me new assignments and check up on how our work was coming. We built circuits for Raymond, but often he wouldn't tell us what they were for. He was always very protective of his ideas and current projects. And he wasn't ashamed of it. He'd tell me, 'It's none of your business. Just build this circuit, and I'll take it from there.' The listening public first became aware of the electronic music medium subliminally, through radio and TV commercials. Raymond Scott explored electronic sounds in widely-heard commercials during the 1950s and '60s, well before electronics infiltrated pop music through the Rock and Roll idiom. Raymond got a lot of his electronic music into radio and television, but he also went much further out and did pieces of music with the equipment he built. They don't sound as weird anymore, they sound similar to what artists are doing today. Raymond Scott was definitely in the forefront of developing electronic music technology, and in the forefront of using it commercially as a musician. He was the first — he foresaw the use of sequencers and electronic oscillators to make sound — these were the watershed uses of electronic circuitry. He didn't always work in the standard ways, but that didn't matter because he had so much imagination, and so much intuition, that he could get something to work. And do exactly what he wanted it to do. Raymond Scott was one of those rare people who was influenced by the future. Not by the past, not by the present, but by the future. He did things that later turned out to be directly for the future. I think Raymond was tuned into the celestial, cosmic network — the one that is out there in time as well as space — to a greater extent than the rest of us. Text above is © Bob Moog

On this date, Raymond Scott passed away at age 85: THE NEW YORK TIMES obituary

On this date in 1994 Raymond Scott passed away at age 85 — obituary from THE NEW YORK TIMES:

RAYMOND SCOTT, 85, COMPOSER

FOR CARTOONS AND THE STAGE, DIES

By William Grimes

Published: February 09, 1994

THE NEW YORK TIMES

• click above for larger view •

Raymond Scott, a jazz composer, pianist, band leader and inventor whose music found its way into dozens of Warner Brothers cartoons, died yesterday in the Country Villa Sheraton Nursing Home in North Hills, Calif. He was 85 and lived in Van Nuys, Calif.

The cause was pneumonia, said Irwin Chusid, the director of the Raymond Scott Archives in Hoboken, N.J.

Mr. Scott, whose original name was Harry Warnow, was born in Brooklyn to Russian immigrants. His father was an amateur violinist who owned a music shop. Mr. Scott played piano from an early age but planned to study engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. His older brother, Mark, a violinist and conductor, steered him to the Institute of Musical Art (later renamed the Juilliard School) by offering to pay his tuition and buying him a Steinway grand piano.

Songs of Quirky Humor

After graduating from the institute in 1931, he was hired as a pianist for the CBS Radio Orchestra, which his brother conducted. When not performing, he composed quirky comic tunes, with evocative musical effects, like "New Year's Eve in a Haunted House," "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals" and "War Dance for Wooden Indians."

In late 1936, he changed his name to Raymond Scott and formed a six-man jazz group (he insisted on calling it a quintet) that performed his compositions and achieved considerable popularity for two years. In the 1940's Mr. Scott led several of his own orchestras.

In 1943, Carl Stalling, the music director of Warner Brothers, began incorporating Mr. Scott's evocative music into the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons. His quintet's music from the late 30's is now used as background music for "The Ren and Stimpy Show" on Nickelodeon.

Mr. Scott composed the music for the 1946 Broadway show "Lute Song," composed and performed music for films, and led the band on the television program "Your Hit Parade" from 1950 to 1957.

Early Synthesizer

In the late 1940's, he turned his hand to inventing electronic instruments, such as the Karloff, a machine that imitated sounds like kitchen noises, the sizzle of a frying steak, or a cough. Another of his inventions was the Clavivox, a keyboard instrument that imitated the sound of the human voice. He also created an early version of the synthesizer.

In the 1970's, Berry Gordy Jr., who had seen some of Mr. Scott's electronic instruments, hired him to head the electronic music division of Motown Records. After retiring in 1977, Mr. Scott continued to experiment with electronic instruments.

His best-known compositions were recently released by Columbia on "The Music of Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights."

Mr. Scott's first two marriages, to Pearl Winters and the singer Dorothy Collins, ended in divorce.

He is survived by his third wife, Mitzi; three daughters, Carolyn Makover of Fairfield, Conn., Deborah Studebaker of Los Angeles, and Elizabeth Adams of Watervliet, N.Y.; a son, Stanley, of Mamaroneck, N.Y., and 10 grandchildren.

YO GABBA GABBA! and DJ Lance Rock:"What’s In My Bag?" — watch the video

DJ Lance Rock is the host of YO GABBA GABBA!, a live-action TV show on Nick Jr. geared towards children, yet has a strong adult following too. The show regularly features guests like Biz Markie, Leslie Hall, Elijah Wood, the Shins, and Mark Mothersbaugh.

In this segment, DJ Lance Rock goes to Amoeba Records for presents for the show's characters. For Plex, he chooses the 3-LP vinyl version of the "MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC." 2-CD/144-page hardcover book set of Raymond Scott's electronic music. Watch it on YouTube: here <<<

NOTE: A slight but important correction to Mr. Rock's info — although the compilation does indeed contain recordings from the 1950s and '60s — there's in fact nothing from the 1970s. 

Don’t Overvalue The Present

LuvSound have released a new various artists collection of ambient music in tribute to Marc Weidenbaum, founder of Disquiet. Weidenbaum recently became a father, and the theme of the sampler is Raymond Scott's groundbreaking 1963 three-volume SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR BABY, which Marc declared one of the '16 albums that changed his life':

For a fan of electronic music, hearing this material by innovator Raymond Scott is akin to a comics fan discovering Windsor Mccay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland or Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix for the first time. The lesson is simple: Don’t overvalue the present. Often the innovations of the past are simply overlooked and under-acknowledged.

Listen to or download the new album here.

102 Years: Happy Birthday, Raymond!

Raymond Scott was born on September 10th of 1908. Today, as we celebrate his 102nd birthday, his fans have a lot to be grateful for (including, for example, the new documentary that is currently making the film festival circuit, and soon to be a DVD release).

One Scott fan, Amy Thyr, who is also an Exotica music aficionado, and founder of TourDeTiki.com, plans to toast Raymond with a special birthday drink recipe along with 20 other partiers and Tikiphiles, tomorrow, during her TikiTour:

“We will drink a toast to Raymond Scott! We can’t forget him and all he has given us … and the world of Exotica music. Scott has been recognized as a precursor to Exotica. Several of his songs were written with the intent of transporting the listener to exotic locations by use of innovative instruments and sound effects. Twenty years before Exotica became a musical genre, Raymond Scott was mixing swing jazz and classical forms, Exotica-style sounds, and his own unique style — forming the groundwork to the atmospheric moods of the Exotica movement. Tunes such as 'Suicide Cliff,' 'Snake Woman,' 'Ectoplasm,' and several others qualify Scott as the 'great-granddaddy' of Exotica. The Exotica genre of the '50s and '60s, even today’s Exotica sounds, all have their DNA rooted in the music of Raymond Scott.”

For the toast, Ms. Thyr has prepared a drink inspired by Scott's 1940 hit tune, “Huckleberry Duck.” Amy explains her new daiquirí creation, which she has dubbed the Huckleberry Duckuirí:

Though “Huckleberry Duck” is not Exotica in the musical sense, it’s now a “tropical” drink as I made it with rum, a little lime and huckleberries … why not? So here’s to Raymond … Happy Birthday … and thanks!

Amy's recipe:

          HUCKLEBERRY DUCKUIRI

           • 2 ounces Puerto Rican rum
           • 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
           • 1 ounce macerated huckleberries
           • Approx. 4 ounces huckleberry-flavored tea
              (any good blueberry tea may be substituted)
           • Ice cubes

          Combine the first three ingredients and shake with ice.
          Pour contents of shaker into a highball glass.
          Add huckleberry tea to half full.
          Add ice to fill glass.
          Garnish with blueberries if you like.
          [Complete recipe: here.]

Jean Shepherd:"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid!"

Although best-known as writer and narrator of the classic 1983 holiday movie, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Jean Shepherd began a long radio career in 1948. He was not a traditional DJ who kept silent while playing records; he was a monologist who carefully chose music beds to underscore his unique narrative style. At least twice he pontificated over Raymond Scott:

 • In 1965 Shep, fascinated by Scott's SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR BABY electronic lullaby series, built an entire program theme around it, according SSFB perhaps its only airplay until the CD reissues more than 3 decades later.

 • The following year, Shep delivered one of his trademark rants about amusement parks as he spun "In An 18th Century Drawing Room," which Scott composed in 1937: listen here.

She's A Doll!

Volume 3 of Raymond Scott's groundbreaking ambient electronic album series, SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR BABY, features a track titled "Little Miss Echo." In 1962, about a year before the series was released, a high-tech doll of the same name was introduced by the American Character Doll Company. Built into the Little Miss's chest was a miniature battery-powered tape machine controlled by a knob styled to look like a bow; the device would repeat up to 25 seconds of speech.

Scott had two young daughters at the time, and I speculated they might have owned the doll, but they don't recall it. Considering his lifelong fixation with all aspects of sound recording, it's likely Scott was intrigued by the novelty toy. Perhaps he was inspired by this creepy TV commercial, or maybe it was just a coincidence. At any rate, Raymond would be shocked to know he himself is now a doll.

Dorothy Collins website launched

Dorothy Collins (1926-1994) was a singer, an actress, a broadway star, and she was also the second Mrs. Raymond Scott. Together the couple owned and operated a record label, released countless songs, and during the 1950s they appeared on TV to millions every week on NBC's Your Hit Parade. Dorothy's daughters, Deborah, Elizabeth, and Melissa, have created an excellent new site dedicated to their mother's multifaceted career:

• RememberingDorothyCollins.com

Dubby Sounds for Baby

Boston-based musician/producer DJ Flack (aka Antony Flackett), who is the father of young twins, has released DUBBY SOUNDS FOR BABY. The mix mashes tracks from Trigga, Mouse On Mars, & music from Raymond Scott's original SOOTHING SOUNDS FOR BABY records.

>> Listen: here

Egg Money

These two clever commercials for the UK-based Egg Bank have been perched on the web (and forgotten about, by us) for several years. Both spots feature super furry animals—in fact, some of the top names in the guinea pig acting community.

The musical scores are by Raymond Scott—specifically, two licensed tracks from Manhattan Research, Inc.: "Domino" and "Baltimore Gas & Electric," both composed and recorded in the early 1960s. Ironic that two works intended by Scott for commercials wound up almost 50 years later being used in ... commercials.

Dancing Machine

Excerpts from THE WORLD OF SOUND, a chapter I (Jeff Winner) contributed to the SOUND/UNBOUND anthology, compiled by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky:

In August of 1970, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy read an article in Variety magazine about Raymond Scott and his Electronium. Along with The Beatles and The Beach Boys, Motown virtually controlled the 1960s pop charts with stars like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Diana Ross & The Supremes. And with THE JACKSON 5 as his latest smash supergroup, Gordy was at the height of his influence. ... 

Hoby Cook was a technician at Motown’s MoWest facility who tested Scott’s Electronium extensively. “I wanted some reactions, so as an experiment, I’d open the door and turn the volume up — loud.” Cook’s technique worked. Motown personnel heard the curious sounds and wandered in. “Cal Harris did a lot of recording with it, and MICHAEL JACKSON was fascinated,” Cook recalled. “He was just this kid sitting there, staring at the flashing lights. He said he wanted THE JACKSON 5 to use the Electronium somehow.”

historic paper

A classy piece of ephemera: blank stationery from Scott's electronic music lab, Manhattan Research, Inc., ca. 1960s. At the time, Scott lived in a Long Island industrial development, Willow Park, Farmingdale, New York. Reams of this stationery were still on hand at the time of Scott's death in 1994. For years my correspondence from Mitzi Scott (then living in Los Angeles) arrived on these sorts of artifacts.

Mrs. Raymond Scott at 90

Mitzi Scott belongs to a generation among whom it is considered improper to give a woman's age. However, we've been advised by her family that she won't mind us revealing that she turns 90 today. What we won't divulge is her birth name. Just call her "Mitzi."

Mitzi and Raymond met in July 1966—he was recently divorced from his second wife, Dorothy Collins—and they were married six months later. That Raymond was an idiosyncratic man obsessed with music and technology was a fact of their marriage. They lived together at Three Willow Park, a Long Island industrial development which Raymond was comfortable calling home.

"He would come into the living quarters for lunch, and I would put his lunch on the table and go back to the kitchen to get my lunch," Mitzi recalled. "By the time I returned to the table, he was gone. He was back in the lab.

"If he awoke at four in the morning and had a great idea, he would get up. Then he might work until 7:00 or 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning, and then go back to bed. One night I woke up—it was around three or four in the morning--and he was hanging over the side of the bed reading some notes, with the lamp on the floor so he wouldn’t wake me up."

Not content merely having Mitzi prepare lunch, Raymond recruited her for projects. "Even before we got married, he had me wiring," she laughed. "He taught me soldering, and to attach the red wire to the blue wire, and the yellow wire to the green wire. I didn’t like doing it—but I got pretty good at it."

Of course living with Scott meant music was part of the package—although it might not be Mozart or Chopin.

"We would be having lunch, with the Electronium on in the next room," she recalled. "He would just leave it on—it was a self-working machine. It composed and performed at the same time. Sometimes it would play something lovely, and I would say, 'Oh my, isn’t that a pretty phrase!' And it would repeat it as though it had heard me and said, 'Well, if you like it that much, I’ll play it again!' It was so out of this world."

When Raymond was hired by Berry Gordy to work for Motown in 1972, Mitzi oversaw the move to Los Angeles. They settled in Van Nuys, remaining in the same home on Valerio Street until Raymond's death in 1994. Two years later she sold the house and moved to Santa Clarita.

Besides living with and taking care of an eccentric musical genius, over the years Mitzi also took in dozens of stray dogs and cats, many rescued from local shelters.

Mitzi was a dancer in the 1940s. Here's a publicity photo from back in the day. She still dances—not professionally, but with a group of spry senior gals.

Thanks to Bianca Bob for 1993 living room photo above.