DE NUEVO EN EL INFIERNO

Madrid-based sextet Racalmuto have released a fantastic new CD titled DE NUEVO EN EL INFIERNO, featuring faithful renditions of seven classic Raymond Scott compositions from the 1930s-'40s:

• "Oil Gusher"

• "The Girl With The Light Blue Hair"

• "Birdlife In The Bronx"

• "Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner"

• "A Little Bit of Rigoletto"

• "Suicide Cliff"

• "Tobacco Auctioneer"

An eighth tune associated with (but not composed by) Scott, "Brass Buttons and Epaulets" (from the 1938 film Just Around the Corner), is also included, played in the RSQ arrangement. Other CD tracks include modern takes on vintage tunes by Ellington, Tchaikovsky, and Slim Gaillard, along with one original penned by group leader Miguel Malla.

CD artwork

CD cover artwork

Racalmuto: new RS performance

Racalmuto, our favorite Raymond Scott Quintette tribute band from Spain (OK, the only Spanish RS tribute band) performed at the Universidad Pública de Navarra, April 19-20. The sextet offers a spirited take on Scott's "The Quintette Plays Carmen," and here they provide an original composition, "Le Flamboyant M. Igor," as a makeshift soundtrack for scenes from the climax of Buster Keaton's 1928 silent Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Miguel Malla, the band's tenor saxophonist, informs us that on Friday Racalmuto begins recording their second CD. Their self-titled first contained a half-dozen RS compositions performed with the élan of the original RSQ. Album two will feature Scott's "Snake Woman," "Bird Life in the Bronx," "Sleepwalker," "Suicide Cliff," "A Little Bit of Rigoletto," "Oil Gusher," "The Quintette Plays Carmen," "The Girl with the Light Blue Hair," and "Tobacco Auctioneer." They'll also record "Brass Buttons and Epaulettes," which Scott didn't compose, though it was performed by the RSQ in the 1938 Shirley Temple film Just Around the Corner.

Archeological stunner

Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse," composed in 1937, discovered in 1932 cartoon. Thanks to Miguel Malla, tenor saxophonist of the Spanish band Racalmuto, for the archival alert.

The Marx Bros. meet Raymond Scott

It hadn't even been composed when the Marx Brothers movie A Day at the Races was released in 1937, but thanks to digital editing (and a mischievous disregard for cinematic integrity), the Raymond Scott Quintette composition "Steeplechase" now underscores the final sequence of the film, thanks to the Spanish jazz sextet Racalmuto. Miguel Malla of the band also writes:

"We just finished another successful week at El Café Central and on November 19 we'll play at the opening of Experimental Movie Week in Madrid. We'll have a chance to play with projections on a big cinema screen in an old cinema house from the 1930s, maybe the largest screen in Madrid."

RacalmutoFilms

The Madrid-based Racalmuto sextet has been performing and recording finely crafted renditions of Raymond Scott tunes for the past few years. Their new project, RacalmutoFilms, presents an hour and a quarter of music and cinema, with animation, short subjects, and fragments of legendary silents such as Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. and Yakov Protazanov's Aelita (the first Russian science fiction film). Over these images Racalmuto performs works by the Raymond Scott Quintette, the John Kirby Sextet, and originals.

A five-minute trailer (in Spanish with English subtitles) has been posted at Vimeo. It includes excerpts of Racalmuto's takes on Scott's "Snake Woman" and "The Penguin."

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.

Racalmuto

Madrid-based sextet Racalmuto has released a self-titled CD containing six Raymond Scott Quintette tunes: "Powerhouse," "The Penguin," "Happy Farmer," "Moment Musical," "Steeplechase," and "Square Dance for Eight Egyptian Mummies."

The Scott evocations are joyous and brash, mixing nicely with the band's originals and nuggets by Stuff Smith and Charlie Shavers. The Scott covers sizzle with élan. In paying homage to the RSQ tradition, Racalmuto adds inventive touches that surprise and impress. But don't overlook their composer chops: pianist Pascual Piqueras's "¿Quién Quiere un Tornado?" evokes elegant 1930s modernism and classic cartoon jazz (an equally apt description of the original RSQ); and clarinetist Marco Cresci's "Ataque de Celos en Zakopane" conjures a swing-era outer space fantasy.

Update: Here they perform Scott's "Powerhouse" on Spanish TV.