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.

Raymond Scott Songbook (the Video)

Our friend and fellow Scott scholar Takashi Okada, of Tokyo, has produced a 3-1/2-minute video showcasing THE RAYMOND SCOTT SONGBOOK, which he produced in cooperation with the Scott estate.



This is part 1 of a 2-part series; part 2 next week.

February 20, 1937

Raymond Scott music travels at various velocities. It can be delivered on LPs that spin at 33-1/3 revolutions per minute. There are a handful of rare 45 rpm singles. His electronic music was captured on tape that rolled at 3-3/4, 7-1/2, or 15 inches per second. The rotational speed of a Basta compact disc of Scott's Soothing Sounds for Baby varies from 210 rpm (outer edge) to 480 (inner edge). But Scott's music first came to prominence on fragile platters that whirled at 78 rpm.

It is therefore fitting that 78 years ago today, Raymond Scott entered a New York studio with his legendary Quintette to record his first commercial sides. It was a productive day. While no one knows how long the February 20, 1937 session lasted, by the time Scott and his cohorts mopped their brows and went home, they had recorded two timeless classics — "Minuet in Jazz" and "Twilight in Turkey" — and two immortal works — "The Toy Trumpet" and "Powerhouse." Not only were these four recordings all approved for commercial release, they are inarguably the definitive versions of all four works.

How long did it take Brian Wilson to complete Smile? Is it done yet?

Al Brackman, an associate producer for the Master label, which signed the RSQ, told historian Michèle Wood: "Our studio at 1776 Broadway was basically just an office with a seven- or eight-foot ceiling. There was a long hall leading to it from the elevators. Opposite the office door, there was a men's room lined with tiles. Scott insisted on recording at night so he could put one mike in the hall and another in the men's room. With that and the other mikes in the office he achieved what they call 'echo' and gave the recordings a big auditorium sound."

We don't have any photos of that makeshift Broadway chamber, but we have lots of photos of the RSQ during radio gigs (see above—saxophonist Dave Harris was cropped out by the cameraman). 

The first RSQ release was "Twilight in Turkey," backed by "Minuet in Jazz." The disc sold out within a week. "It had nothing to compete with it," said Brackman. "If you liked Scott, you had to buy Scott."

Fans first bought "Powerhouse" on the Master label, which went bankrupt in late 1937. The track was reissued on Brunswick in 1938, and in 1939 on Columbia. Same recording each time.

New Deluxe 2-CD Box Set from Japan

The new 2-CD set titled "SONGBOOK" from Daisyworld in Japan includes previously unreleased vintage recordings, with a second disc of new covers by Benoît Charest featuring Kid Koala, Optiganally Yours, Jean-Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman, Ego Plum, Mint-Lee & many more. The deluxe box-set package designed & produced by Takashi Okada comes with a 100-page book packed with photos & info, replica reprints of classic sheet music, posters, and ephemera, and is housed in a retro-inspired 7-inch tape-reel box. ORDER here, and please note: prices include shipping from Japan for this unique collectors item.

Click image above for larger view

It's Alive: Electronium Restoration Update

Yesterday I received an email from Darren Davidson, who is attempting to restore the Motown Electronium:

On Nov 28, 2012, at 1:18 PM, Darren Davison wrote:

Good Morning!
 
Last night a few Electrical/Engineering friends of mine and I were trying to get to the bottom of why the Electronium would still not utter a sound. After about an hour of tinkering and following the initial setup procedure Raymond wrote up, the machine began to make very simple and crude sounds. We recorded the sounds and although they are hardly musical, it is a fantastic milestone.
 
Most of the tone generators, but of course, there are more questions than answers. The voltages delivered by the power supplies are still not quite right and many of the pot switches are so sticky, that adjusting them is like steering a car in ice with a flat tire. The recording and "Auto-composing" portion is still not working and my feelings were "just get it to make some kind of controllable sound" first, then work on getting fancy.
 
I am sure this will accelerate things, and I have been in contact with Alan Entenman and am sending him photos of the internals of the Electronium in hopes of refreshing his memory of how some of it should work on the recording and keyboard side.
 
Anyway, I am hoping that by March, even if it is not recording or auto composing, the sounds are less harsh and that some of the other features such as the "Bass generators, "counterpoints", and other features are working.
 
I will send a copy of the sound files as soon as I can, most likely this evening. It's on the Engineering guys phone and he is having trouble sending vide for some reason. The whole thing was recorded on an Iphone and there is a 4 min? video of me adjusting knobs and such. In all fairness to their help, their names are Guy Lewis and Pete Levno.
 
Now I think we will start picking up steam!
 
—Darren

"YOUR EASTER PARADE"

1956 newspaper:

"Bandleader Raymond Scott and his wife, singer Dorothy Collins, of television's 'Your Hit Parade' fame, give a preview of their Easter finery with their daughter, 2½ year-old Debbie, as they prepare in their Manhasset home to join tomorrow's Easter Parade in Nassau. The outlook is for sunny skies and mild weather tomorrow as thousands of Christians on Long Island prepare to attend special midnight and dawn services to celebrate the most joyous of all Christian holidays."

Happy day of technicolor hen-fruit

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.

"J Dilla Changed My Life"

Happy birthday to the late James Dewitt Yancey, aka Jay Dee, and J Dilla, who would have been 38 years-old. NPR said the Detroit-based producer and rapper was "one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists," working with De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, Janet Jackson, Macy Gray, Common, The Roots, D'Angelo, and Erykah Badu. Dilla released his solo album, DONUTS — which he wrote and recorded while in and out of the hospital — only 3 days before his tragic passing in 2006 at age 32. (He'd been battling Lupus for 3 years.) 

DONUTS features several samples from Raymond Scott's vintage electronic tracks, including "The Tomorrow People," and "Melonball Bounce." But, as the LA TIMES reported this morning, "one of Dilla's most accomplished works comes via the idiosyncratic use of the Raymond Scott composition 'Lightworks,'" which has since been re-reworked by Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, MF Doom, Peanut Butter Wolf, Questlove, and Busta Rhymes. Along with other modern artists who cover Scott tunes (Gorillaz, El-P, Madlib), Dilla's work steers new fans to Raymond's originals. And like Scott, Dilla was a studio pioneer whose music and influence lives on. The J Dilla Foundation is hosting a series of global tribute concerts during the coming week, with Busta Rhymes and others. Info: here

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Arrangements: "2 Pianos, 4 Hands"

In 1943, LEONARD BERNSTEIN wrote this piano duet arrangement of Raymond Scott's 1938 hit tune, "In An 18th Century Drawing Room," published under Bernstein's pseudonym Lenny Amber. (Bernstein is a German and Jewish name meaning "amber.") Bernstein, who, according to THE NEW YORK TIMES, was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history," also arranged versions of Scott's classics, "Huckleberry Duck," "The Toy Trumpet," "The Penguin," and "Powerhouse," seen below:

New painting by 13-year old art student

Bronwyn Cragg writes:

"I painted this portrait of Raymond Scott for my high school art portfolio! I did a series of similar paintings with people who have influenced me in the different arts: film, music, and literature. I also did portraits of H.P. Lovecraft and Stanley Kubrick. Raymond Scott rules!"

Hear & See:"All Around The Christmas Tree"

Raymond Scott's first hit was "Christmas Night In Harlem," written in 1934 at age 25. His second holiday tune, "All Around The Christmas Tree," released on Columbia Records, accompanied this special illustrated songbook section of the December 1940 issue of Coronet magazine. The label credits the performance to Scott's "New Orchestra," with vocalist Clyde Burke. Listen to this rare song here, and click the images below for full-sized views to read the intro and sing along with the lyrics:

JIM HENSON:Watch rare experimental film collaborations with Raymond Scott

Muppet master JIM HENSON

More than a decade ago, before I began to work with Gert-Jan Blom on the book and 2-CD set, "MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC.," few details had emerged about Jim Henson's collaborations with Raymond Scott. We now know that in the mid-1960s, Scott began creating a series of experimental films with Henson, who was an emerging artist. He would later have success with Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Hollywood movies, but the Henson/Scott projects were not intended for children. Instead the films are often serious, even creepy, and although they are nearly a half-century old, they have a surprisingly modern feel.

Despite the 28-year difference in age, Raymond clicked with the Muppet master, and here you can watch five examples of their creative output:

Their first project was an ambitious puppetry/film combination titled, "LIMBO: THE ORGANIZED MIND." Henson was intrigued by thought processes and idea sources, and wanted to visualize these concepts. "Limbo" is a character he created using eyes and mouth, made from foam rubber, that seemed to float in front of images that evoke the mind's inner-workings. Henson narrates Limbo's thoughts while Raymond Scott's electronic music and sound effects articulate how and where his thoughts are filed. "THE ORGANIZED MIND" was performed on television at least twice; in July of 1966 on The Mike Douglas Show, and again on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1974. • Watch "LIMBO: THE ORGANIZED MIND" >> here

The "Organized Mind" concept was later reworked into a TV commercial for Bufferin® brand pain-reliever, titled "Memories," which was also scored by Scott. • Watch "MEMORIES" >> here

In 1966-'67, Jim created two short films for a contest at Montreal's Expo 67. One of these was "Ripples." Shot on 16mm film, it explored the process of creative inspiration, and was accompanied by an electronic score created by Raymond Scott. Shot in January of 1967, it featured an architect, played by future Sesame Street colleague Jon Stone, tossing pebbles into water making ripples. • Watch "RIPPLES" >> here

Also created for Expo 67,"Wheels That Go" is a short film made by Jim Henson in 1967 that explored motion and movement and was again accompanied by an electronic score created by Raymond Scott. It features Henson's son Brian playing with things with wheels. • Watch "WHEELS THAT GO" >> here

In 1967, Henson was contracted by IBM to make a film extolling the virtues of their new technology, the MT/ST, a primitive word processor. The film would explore how the MT/ST would help control the massive amount of documents generated by a typical business office. "Paperwork Explosion," produced in October 1967, is a quick-cut montage of images and words illustrating the intensity and pace of modern business. Once again, Henson collaborated with Raymond Scott on the electronic sound track. • Watch "THE PAPERWORK EXPLOSION" >> here

See also:

• Film soundtracks, and more details about the Jim Henson/Raymond Scott projects are featured in the "MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC." 144-page hardcover, full-color book and 2-CD set  >> info here

• Jim Henson's "RED BOOK" >> here

NOTE: The now iconic color photos, such as the one used in the header of this blog, were taken by Jim Henson during a visit to Raymond Scott's New York studios.

Demotivational Poster

“A motivational poster is commonly designed for use in schools and offices. This kind of poster has been repeatedly parodied, and parody motivational posters have become an Internet meme.”

The mischief-makers responsible for "I Can Has Cheezburger?," "FAIL Blog," and other popular comedy sites, have published this on their VeryDemotivational.com:

Selected comments:

"It’s Raymond Scott, Not Hausmann"

"OMG! He’s tormenting Dorothy Collins!"

"They were married. Doesn’t that go with the territory?"

"I believe this Raymond Scott and he produced many of the beats off of loneytunes. Also if this is the track I Think he is doing it is light works, search it. Its a hell of a track."

• SEE ALSO: "Urban Dictionary"

Mark Mothersbaugh and The Electronium

Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) with the Motown version of Raymond Scott’s instantaneous-composition invention, THE ELECTRONIUM (and a Yamaha DX-7), in Scott’s guesthouse in Van Nuys, CA, 1993. [Photo by Mr. Bonzai, published in BILLBOARD magazine]

“Raymond Scott was like an audio version of Andy Warhol. He preceded Pop-Art sensibilities, and he played with that line between commercial art and fine art, mixing elements of both worlds together. I love and respect Raymond Scott's work, and it influenced me a lot. I'm a big fan.” —Mark Mothersbaugh

UPDATE — Synthtopia.com reblogged, and adds: 

Saturday Synth Porn:
There are multiple layers of music history captured in the photo. Scott’s work was an inspiration to Bob Moog, who created the Minimoog that was used extensively on Devo’s early albums. The Electronium is now owned by Mothersbaugh, but is not in working order.
Image: Mr. Bonzai, via Jeff Winner’s Raymond Scott blog

Powerhouse Road

During a research mission in April of 2001 to locate Raymond Scott’s Manhasset mansion, Piet Schreuders and I found only this evidence of its previous existence — the access road to the house that Scott named in honor of his classic tune. The mansion can be seen in its full glory here:

Caption on this photo reads: "On the sloping backyard lawn of their Manhasset, Long Island, home, singer Dorothy Collins and her husband, composer-conductor Raymond Scott, hoist daughter Debbie, 2½, aloft for a giddy dash downhill. Their 30-room home is in the background. Credit (United Press Photo) 5/3/57"

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.

What A Character

A few years ago David Garland, host of WNYC's SPINNING ON AIR, wrote to me:

I'm about a third of the way into Michael Chabon's [Pulitzer Prize winning novel], The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (published by Random House), and to my surprise Raymond Scott shows up as a character in the story. The novel is set in New York City, and at this point in the story it's 1940. They've just gone to a party for Salvador Dali:

"Most of the names were unfamiliar to Joe, but he did recognize Raymond Scott, a composer who had recently hit it big with a series of whimsical, cacophonous, breakneck pseudo-jazz pop tunes. Just the other day, when Joe stopped at Hippodrome Radio, they had been playing his new record, 'Yesterthoughts,' over the store PA. Scott was feeding a steady diet of Louis Armstrong platters to the portable RCA while explaining what he had meant when he referred to Satchmo as, 'the Einstein of the blues.' As the notes fluttered out of the fabric-covered loudspeaker, he would point at them, as if to illustrate what he was saying, and even tried to snatch at one with his hands. He kept turning the volume up, the better to compete with the less important conversations taking place around him."

A few pages later, Dali, who was wearing an old-fashioned diving suit, begins to suffocate, and Raymond Scott tries to remove Dali's metal helmet. In that scene, when someone suggests they remove Dali's helmet, Scott shouts, "What the f*ck do you think I'm trying to do?!" That seems uncharacteristic to me, but what the f*ck do I know about how much d*mn cursing Raymond did? So far, I'm enjoying the book a lot.
—David Garland

Another email I received today:

Hi: I am a librarian in San Bruno, CA and I have a patron who is trying to find the sound/music for something he thinks Raymond Scott wrote. Michael Chabon, in his "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," writes, "The doorbell played its weird tune, Raymond Scott's shortest composition, 'Fanfare for the Fuller Brush Man.'" Does such a composition exist and if yes, can I get the sheet music or do you know where the patron could hear it?
 Thank you in advance.

Although Scott released a tune titled "Yesterthoughts" in 1940, the events depicted in this novel, as well as the composition "Fanfare for the Fuller Brush Man," are creations from Chabon's imagination. Scott did, however, invent an electronic musical doorbell.

• Order the book from: Amazon

The Reel Thing

Irwin Chusid was quick with his camera when he captured this exciting moment during a research mission at the Marr Sound Archives in Kansas City. Peering through metal shelving in the stacks, Gert-Jan Blom (right) and I are thrilled to discover this Raymond Scott tape reel with the famous Motown logo:

The engineer ID'ed as "CLH" is Cal Harris, whose credits include The Beach Boys ("Good Vibrations" in 1966 at Gold Star studios), Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and The Commodores.

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.

Electronium Restoration

Although Raymond Scott designed and built several versions of his automatic composing-performing machine, The Electronium, the only surviving model was one commissioned by Berry Gordy for Motown. Following Scott's death in 1994, the non-functioning instrument was purchased by Mark Mothersbaugh, who promised to restore it. That resurrection is now being attempted by engineer Darren Davison.