Breaking News from 1910

Front-page item (below the fold) in the Brooklyn Standard, July 16, 1910. Harry recovered and went to engineering school and a career in music. No word on the conditions of Mr. Stander or his errant horse.

Jeff Winner: Three Willow Park interview

Layne Weiss recently wrote a fine article for the L.A. Weekly about Raymond Scott's electronic music years. The online version can be read at "Can Synthesizers Compose Music? Nearly 50 Years Ago, This One Could."

Weiss conducted many interviews, and editorial space invariably limits each respondent to a few choice quotes. Last week we posted the full interview with Irwin Chusid, the co-producer of Three Willow Park, the new 3-LP/2-CD collection of vintage, previously unissued Scott electronica. This week we offer the complete interview with Three Willow Park Associate Producer Jeff Winner (who also co-produced Manhattan Research Inc., 3WP's Scott electronica predecessor).

Layne Weiss: When and where did Raymond Scott develop his Electronium?

Jeff Winner: Raymond had been developing Electroniums out of the public eye throughout the 1950s. He moved to L.A. in 1971. He was nearing his mid-60s, had lived his life in New York, and was willing to make a major transition at that stage. He had his third wife, Mitzi, and this was like a whole new start. It ended up being his final professional gig because his health declined during the period.

LW: How long did he work before his health started declining?

JW: He started having heart trouble much earlier—in the 1950s. Later he had a stroke and heart attacks. The span of his Motown tenure was about 7 or 8 years from the time he started working for them under contract on Long Island, through moving west and getting a full-time position with Motown. They retired him around 1977 because of his health.

LW: When did he start working for Motown and how did he transition to L.A.?

JW: In 1969 he started to publicize the Electronium. In 1970, Motown owner Berry Gordy and his entourage arrived at Scott's Three Willow Park facility in Farmingdale, Long Island, to see a demonstration of what was, at the time, Scott's state-of-the-art Electronium.  Gordy was so impressed that he said, “Here’s a check for $10,000 to get started and build one for me.”  That one that you see in the color photograph with the beautiful wooden cabinet—that’s the one Raymond made specifically for Motown.

When Gordy ordered the Motown Electronium, he stipulated that it was his exclusive thing. Raymond was not allowed to publicize the deal. He couldn’t even put out a press release declaring that he was employed by Motown. Gordy did not want word to leak out that hits were being generated by robots. Raymond was disappointed about that.

LW: When did all this info start coming out?

JW: It was known prior to Scott's death but hadn’t been explored in detail. We’ve made attempts over the years to reach Gordy for comment, but we’ve received only polite declines. Hopefully someday that will change. We would love to know how he looks back on it now.

LW: How did the other Motown artists react or warm up to Scott being there?

JW: Some of the studio musicians — when they attempted to play along with the machine, they didn’t like it. They resented being told to play to a click-track. Musicians rely upon their own internal metronomes, their own sense of rhythm—and these guys were amazing instrumentalists. For them to be asked to subordinate their talent to a machine, to let the machine be a leader, some resented that. On the other hand, Michael Jackson was fascinated by the Electronium and wanted to use it. He thought it was the future. And he was right.

Others? We don’t know. We don’t have any evidence. But we know they were all working at the same facility and we presume that everybody was at least given the opportunity to utilize the technologies that they were bringing in. This all goes to a broader wave of technology. Motown had the best recording equipment. As a new decade was dawning, there was buzz about this new thing called a "synthesizer." In 1970 Bob Moog introduced the Minimoog to the consumer market. Now you had a mobile synth. It could go from city to city on tour for the first time. That was the year when the revolution really coalesced in terms of technology, availability, price and mobility. It’s probably not a coincidence that Gordy was so turned-on by the Electronium at the same time.

LW: Do you have any examples of artists that weren’t thrilled by working with Scott or his Electronium.

JW: Hoby Cook, an engineer, was assigned to record session musicians playing along with the Electronium. He provided an interesting chronicle of the musicians rebelling against the experiment. We don’t know of any high-profile names who were not into it. People have speculated that Stevie Wonder would be a logical candidate to use it because he loves synthesizers. I don’t think he was a great prospect. For one thing, he’s blind and probably couldn't operate it. Second, the main purpose of the Electronium was to come up with its own bass-line, grooves, melodies, and rhythms. The last thing Stevie Wonder needed was help generating musical ideas.

ABOVE: Berry Gordy in Motown studio, 1960s.

LW: Scott was not very sociable and he created a lot of his devices so he wouldn’t have to deal with people. What was it like for him having to meet people and demonstrate how this stuff worked?

JW: He was fine with that — as long as there was something technical as a conduit. He was probably in his element at Motown. He respected them, and they respected him. They were fascinated by the technology and he was the grand wizard who was trying to give them the keys to the future. He taught studio staff at Motown how to help musicians use the device, so he wouldn't have to keep doing it. He was happier in that later stage of life because he was doing what he really wanted to do. He explained that in a letter to a fan in 1980. He said it was the most enjoyable time of his life, working with electronic instruments and electronic music.

LW: Do you know how his family felt about relocating?

JW: Mitzi, his third wife, loved him tremendously and she would have done anything he wanted. It was a lot of work for her because he was so busy — it fell on her to return to Three Willow Park to close down the facility. He had tons of equipment, and tape reels, and she had to sell some of it. Some stuff got thrown away and the rest of it she had transported to L.A. They rented a furnished apartment while Gordy and Raymond worked at Gordy’s house. He had an amazing estate in Bel-Air. They set up a laboratory above the garage, and then it all got moved to the Motown facility. Mitzi and Raymond eventually settled in Van Nuys. After Raymond passed in 1994, Mitzi moved to Santa Clarita. Raymond stayed in California for the rest of his life. He loved the weather and taking long drives through the mountains and near the coast.

LW: Was he star-struck at all?

JW: Not at all. He'd been a celebrity since he was young. He wrote his first hit tune at age 25. His older brother was a CBS radio star before he was. He rubbed elbows with everybody from Sinatra and Crosby to Smoky Robinson, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. He collaborated with Jim Henson. He was part of the 20th century entertainment industry. There were artists he admired, but the idea of him, say, asking for an autograph seems unfathomable. He was a celebrity himself, but he didn’t go out and party with other stars. He was a recluse who focused on work.

LW: Were Raymond and Gordy friends or was it just professional?

JW: They got along great. Raymond was at his house from 9 to 5 every day. They were close the first couple of years. Gordy was aware of Scott's early career as a hit-maker, starting in the 1930s. Gordy was aware that he was getting not just a technological wizard, but a guy who knew how to compose hit tunes. And of course Scott was aware of Gordy’s amazing accomplishments. In the 1960s Motown was unstoppable. They dominated the pop charts. Even in the ‘70s they continued to be potent with the Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Marvin Gaye.

ABOVE: 2-CD and 3-LP versions of 'Three Willow Park'

LW: How about some info on the new album, 'Three Willow Park'?

JW: This is the first time the public will be hearing the Motown Electronium. The span of the recordings is from 1961 to 1971, so there’s material that pre-dates the Motown Electronium, when Raymond was still living in Manhasset, New York, in a giant 32-room mansion, with then-wife Dorothy Collins. There’s material from #3 Willow Park after he moved there in 1965. And there's some material from the early part of his Motown tenure in L.A. through 1971. So the 1970-’71 recordings feature the Motown Electronium. All prior recordings with the Electronium feature earlier versions of the device. It’s a progression in terms of chronology — from the material on Manhattan Research Inc. to Three Willow Park.

The non-working Motown Electronium was purchased in 1996, a couple of years after Scott passed away, by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo. He’s also a successful film composer. He's done Wes Anderson movies and Disney projects, such as The Lego Movie. Mark kept the Electronium in his L.A. studio for a long time. It was moved to Portland for restoration. It’s now coming back to L.A. because a new restoration attempt is being undertaken by Brian Kehew. Among many other roles, he’s a keyboard tech for The Who. He’s working with Wally de Backer (a.k.a. Gotye), who’s providing financial assistance.

Irwin Chusid: Three Willow Park interview

Layne Weiss recently wrote a fine article for the L.A. Weekly about Raymond Scott's electronic music years. The print version, genuflecting to Thomas Edison, bears the clever title "The Wizard of Willow Park." The original online title, "In the '70s, Motown Hired a Synth Wizard to Build Them a Songwriting Machine," was later changed to "Can Synthesizers Compose Music? Nearly 50 Years Ago, This One Could."

Weiss interviewed me two months before the release of Three Willow Park, the new 3-LP/2-CD collection of vintage, previously unissued Scott electronica, which I co-produced with Gert-Jan Blom (with Jeff Winner as Associate Producer). Weiss conducted many interviews, and editorial space invariably limits each respondent to a few choice quotes. Below are the full replies I sent to Weiss, provided here for additional background on the development of Three Willow Park.

Layne Weiss: Why is now the time to release this project? 

Irwin Chusid: Because we finally finished it. The followup to Manhattan Research Inc. (released in 2000) was long overdue, but for a number of reasons, was repeatedly postponed. The additional time made it a better project because we were able to collect more material and construct a more detailed chronicle about Scott’s years at Three Willow Park Center. 

LW: What should listeners expect as far as sounds, music, and content, and why is this release special for Raymond's family, you, Gert-Jan, Jeff, and for music fans in general?

IC: It’s different than MRI. For one thing, it features the sounds made on Scott's Motown-era Electronium, which was the "Mark 2," refined version. There was no "Mo-tronium" on MRI. An earlier, less-refined incarnation was featured. That album also included dozens of early TV and radio commercials with electronic music and effects soundtracks. There are no commercials on 3WP, although there are a handful of sound effects from ads. 3WP features a wide array of music and sounds. Some are accessible and pleasant. Others will peel layers off your cerebral cortex. We tried to program the tracks for constant surprises. Everything we used we consider listenable. There's something for everyone, but we can’t guarantee that everyone will enjoy it all. The moods range from relaxing to brutal. 

LW: Can you explain the significance of the title? Maybe give some insight on Raymond's life at Three Willow Park or just explain what it was and why it's so important. 

IC: Number 3 Willow Park Center was a large rental bunker in an industrial development in Farmingdale, New York. Built in the early 1960s, Willow Park Center was a patch of suburban real estate where corporations based headquarters, small companies leased office space, and manufacturers kept warehouses. Sometime after the summer 1964 demise of his marriage to singer Dorothy Collins, Scott moved to Willow Park to set up his electronic music lab. When I say "moved," I mean "moved in." He lived there. Residential occupancy wasn't legal under local zoning regulations, but Scott paid his rent and outfoxed the lease police. It was at Three Willow Park that he built the Electronium. He was living there when he met and married his third wife, Mitzi—who besides cooking his meals, kept his books and learned how to solder circuitry. She’s an important part of the story, and there’s a photo of her on the back of the LP set. This makeshift compound remained Scott's atelier and bedroom until around 1971, after which Raymond and Mitzi decamped for Los Angeles, where he went to work for Berry Gordy at MoWest.

LW: Why did you choose these particular ten years of music (1961-1971) to have on the album?

IC: It's a nice, tidy decade. The earliest tracks we considered date from 1961. Anything earlier was on MRI, whose oldest track dates from 1953. The recordings on 3WP end at 1971, because in 1972 Scott went to work for Motown. Gordy hired him to develop the Electronium—which composed by itself using programmed intelligence—as an "idea generator." In particular, the Electronium was great at improvising complex melodies and rhythms. While Scott was employed there he was under a strict gag order. Motown contractually prohibited him from publicizing the nature of his employment. They were worried that their fans might think that Motown’s instrumental stylings were being performed by “Mo-bots.” As far as we know, the Electronium was never used on any Motown recordings, but we know that a young Michael Jackson would occasionally drop in Scott’s on-site studio to watch the device work. We don't have a direct quote, but someone who worked there with Scott said Jackson was quite excited by the machine's possibilities. 

LW: Has this music been previously unheard by the public? How do you feel about releasing it?

IC: 98% of the music on 3WP has never been publicly circulated, altho a few pieces have been played on the radio or previewed for inquiring journalists.  

LW: Where will people be able to buy it?

IC: Anywhere fine music is sold. We have expressly forbid it to be sold where bad music is purveyed.  3WP will be available as a 3-LP set, 2-CD package, and digital. We will also offer a free 349-page downloadable pdf consisting of documents, photos, and ephemera chronicling Scott’s career in electronic music and engineering.

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.

A memorial anniversary

Raymond Scott passed away 21 years ago today, at the age of 85. His death was not unexpected—he had been stroke-ridden since 1987, and his wife Mitzi had struggled for years as his caretaker at their home in Van Nuys. The above photo was taken in 1985, when Raymond was 76 or 77; he had already suffered a series of heart attacks and had not worked professionally in almost a decade.

If I recall correctly, at some point in late 1993 or early '94 Raymond was admitted to a nursing home in North Hills, where he suffered a fall, broke his hip, and eventually contracted a fatal bout of pneumonia. I was notified by Mitzi, and promised to get word to the press.

Memories are vivid, because 1994 was a brutal winter in the northeast; in early February I was largely housebound due to extraordinary accumulations of snow and ghastly banks of ice around town. The internet had not yet become a medium of instantaneous communication—no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no blogs. I didn't even have an email (huh?) account. There were only two options for getting the news out: telephone and fax. I spent the entire day calling, informing, leaving messages, fielding incoming calls, writing obit drafts, and faxing. Coverage was extensive: the New York Times (reproduced below); Los Angeles Times; Billboard; Variety; and the wire services. 

Despite my best attempts to present facts to the media, one erroneous claim made it into many stories, and that untruth remains in circulation to this day. It is plainly evidenced in the NYT headline: "a Composer for Cartoons."    

THE NEW YORK TIMES and WALL STREET JOURNAL praise new live bioplay in New York City

The new live bioplay based on Raymond Scott's life, POWERHOUSE, has received rave reviews — see below.

     THE NEW YORK TIMES Critic's Pick (Andy Webster):

     "An electrifying account of the life of the composer Raymond Scott. ... Scott had eccentric ideas: He believed in telepathy; despite his roots in swing, he discouraged improvisation from his bands; and his lifelong passion for technology led him on a quest to invent the electronium, a machine that could compose and perform music on its own."

     THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (Will Friedwald):

     "The most ambitious event is 'Powerhouse' in the West Village, a theatrical meditation on the iconoclastic composer Raymond Scott, whose quirky compositions helped Looney Tunes live up to their name. This highly original one-act play concerns itself with Mr. Scott’s three wives as well his lifelong obsession with transforming musicians into machines and computers into composers, and is at its most inspired when enacting Scott’s cartoon career with a cast of delightfully 'animated' animal puppets."

     Get tickets for the final week: here

Sic transit Gloria

Singer Gloria Lynne was discovered in 1958 by Raymond Scott, who signed her to her first recording contract that same year. Scott produced her debut album, Miss Gloria Lynne, for Everest Records, a label for which he briefly served as A&R director. The musicians on Lynne's album were many of the same session aces from Scott's Secret 7 project.

Lynne died of heart failure at age 83 on October 8. An obit in the October 18 New York Times describes the rough times she faced when her career went into decline. She had one major hit, "I Wish You Love," in 1964, and it became her signature tune. (Scott produced only her debut album.)

In the Miss Gloria Lynne liner notes by jazz scholar Nat Hentoff, Scott was quoted on the magnitude of her talent and strengths:

"Overall, she has a sincerity and power. She's been based in gospel music and she also has a jazz talent, and this is the first chance she's had to sing with a swinging group. As for her vocal resources, she's at a stage at her beginning that most people don't reach until the middle or end of their careers. She's extremely warm and she can tell a story. She's young and fresh and should have a remarkable future." 

For Lynne's debut, Scott recruited Harry "Sweets" Edison (trumpet), Sam "The Man" Taylor (piano), Eddie Costa (vibes), "Wild Bill" Davis (organ), Kenny Burrell (guitar), Milton Hinton (bass), George Duvivier (bass), Tom Bryant (bass), and Jo Jones (drums). All except the last three were part of Scott's Secret 7.

New Documentary Film Reviews

Recent movie theater screenings of the documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, prompts new reviews:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Heartfelt documentary… This well-made film argues that Scott’s most significant achievements were his inventions of electronic instruments.”

—THE NEW YORK TIMES, Stephen Holden

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Both an exhaustive exhumation of a forgotten 20th-century genius and a tender, bittersweet requiem for a fractured family.”

—THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Bruce Bennett

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“On a personal level, this film tells a fascinating tale. The focus on Scott’s music and electronic experimentation remains strong throughout, thanks to an eclectic roster of musicians and scholars including JOHN WILLIAMS, JEFF E. WINNER, MARK MOTHERSBAUGH, and DJ SPOOKY.”

—VARIETY, Ronnie Scheib

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“A beautiful, personal look back on the man’s career;  it’s essential viewing.”

—TIME OUT NEW YORK, Bruce Tantum

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Personal discoveries, never-before-seen archival footage, and in-depth insights from a range of historians and collaborators shed light on one of the most intriguing composers and musical innovators of the 20th century.”

—WIRED magazine, Geeta Dayal

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Undeniably poignant, providing plenty of fascinating details.”

—THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, Frank Scheck

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Pays lavish tribute to the work of Raymond Scott.”  

—NEW YORK POST, Lou Lumenick

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Informative and entertaining, it tells a loving, resonant story of an American original.”

—HUFFINGTON POST, Regina Weinreich

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“A work of careful consideration, moral weighing, and deliberateness of craft.”

—SLANT magazine, Kalvin Henely

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“It is a fascinating primer on Scott’s work. A portrait of Scott as a multi-hyphenate musical prodigy.”

—VILLAGE VOICE, Simon Abrams

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“The film ignites interest in anyone who sees it.”

—WNYC, Leonard Lopate

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“An offbeat, intimate documentary.”

—NEW YORK magazine

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“An enthralling, poignant film that tells the story of a truly pivotal figure in 20th-century music. An essential view inside the wonders of creative genius, American-style.”

—LA WEEKLY, John Payne

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“A very powerful, honest, direct, and personal documentary film.”

—NPR, Radio Times, Marty Moss-Coane

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“A fascinating look at a musical genius and the way he lived his life. This absorbing, highly personal documentary is well worth checking out. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

—LEONARD MALTIN, film critic, historian, and author

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Raymond Scott isn’t a fascinating figure to tech-heads and crate-diggers alone — to this day, he continues to mystify even his own son, a veteran filmmaker. Through interviews with the likes of MARK MOTHERSBAUGH and JOHN WILLIAMS — 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.”

—THE ONION AV Club

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“A beautifully-produced testament to the legacy of an extremely brilliant musician and innovator. It scarcely seems possible that this much genius was crammed into a single brain, but this film captures it all in glorious detail. It all adds up to a 98-minute viewing experience that at times finds one awestruck. It’s a safe bet that, pending eligibility, a much-deserved Oscar nomination is just around the corner. By all means, SEE THIS FILM!”

—NITELIFE EXCHANGE, Andrew Martin

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“In a bittersweet paean to his late father, the director has taken great pains assembling a visual and aural composite of his subject. The insights afforded by Raymond Scott’s own son add shades of intrigue and pathos not found in the average music documentary.”

—THE WIRE magazine, Erik Morse

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

New video — Mitzi Scott: "An American Girl on the Home Front"

Today would have been Mitzi Scott's 94th birthday, and in her honor I've uploaded a superb mini-documentary — watch it here <<<

Warner Bros. produced the movie, MOLLY: AN AMERICAN GIRL ON THE HOME FRONT, as part of the American Girl series. Molly is a young aspiring dancer in a small midwestern town during World War II, who passionately wants to win the starring role of "Miss Victory" in her grade school's Christmas gala tap dance review. (Cast includes Molly Ringwald.) For the DVD, they searched for an entertainer from those years, and were lucky to find Mitzi, Raymond Scott's 3rd wife: "A compelling documentary featuring Mitzi Scott, an 88-year-old former USO dancer and hostess, relaying her personal history of dancing at home and with soldiers on leave, making something personal and dear to her — dance — into the ultimate patriotic act."

The 2nd part of this Vimeo video is an excerpt from the full-length documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, with Mitzi remembering her first date with — and marriage to — Raymond Scott. [DVD info: ScottDoc.com]

Both clips were screened at the reception following Mitzi's memorial service on June 22, 2012.

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

Raymond Scott on Mickopedia

Raymond Scott, as profiled on Mickopedia ("the feckin' free Irish encyclopedia"):

A 1931 graduate of the feckin' Juilliard School of Music, where he studied piano, theory and composition, Scott, under his birth name, began his professional career as an oul' pianist for the feckin' CBS Radio house band. Would ye swally this in a minute now? His older (by eight years) brother Mark conducted the oul' orchestra. Arra' would ye listen to this shite? Harry reportedly adopted the bleedin' pseudonym "Raymond Scott" to spare his brother charges of nepotism when the orchestra began performin' the bleedin' pianist's idiosyncratic compositions. In 1935 he married Pearl Zimney (1910-2001). Be the hokey, here's a quare wan.

Mitzi Scott (July 18, 1918 - May 3, 2012)

Mitzi Scott passed away in Santa Clarita, CA, on May 3, 2012, at age 93. She was the widow of legendary composer, jazz bandleader and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott.

Born Mathilde Waldman, on July 18, 1918, in New York City to Muriel and Arthur Waldman, she grew up in the city, where she started dancing at age 10, thus developing a lifelong passion.

From 1937-43 Mitzi was part of the Roxyette troupe at the famed Roxy Theater on West 50th Street. In 1943 she first appeared on Broadway, and eventually performed in the musicals Star and Garter (with Gypsy Rose Lee), Something for the Boys (with Ethel Merman), and the road company of Let's Face It (with Benny Rubin). She performed on three national USO tours, headlined by Bing Crosby, Jackie Cooper, Phil Silvers, Martha Raye, and James Cagney.

In 1946 she married Hewitt Clay Curtis. The marriage dissolved a year and a half later, after which she sold advertising for the Miami Daily News and the Long Island Star-Journal. She became a dance instructor for the world-renowned Arthur Murray Dance Studios, and then served as a District Manager for Avon Cosmetics.
     
Mitzi was introduced to Raymond Scott in July 1966, and they were married in January 1967. (It was Mitzi's second marriage, Raymond's third.) She lived with Scott in Farmingdale, Long Island, at Willow Park, a sprawling suburban industrial park where Scott rented a large space that he had fashioned into a home and electronics lab. Mitzi undertook the administration of Scott's businesses during a period when he was inventing now-historic electronic instruments and The Electronium, a machine that composed using artificial intelligence. When Scott was hired by Berry Gordy to work for Motown in 1971, the couple relocated to Los Angeles, with Mitzi coordinating most of the cross-country logistics.

In retirement, Scott suffered a major stroke in 1987, which eventually caused severe financial hardship for the couple. Mitzi nursed Raymond almost singlehandedly in their Van Nuys home until his death in February 1994, at age 85. Shortly after her husband's death, Mitzi donated his extensive collection of over 3,000 personally recorded discs and tapes, covering his career from 1932-1987, to the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. She sold Raymond's no-longer functioning Electronium to Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh in 1996, amid a resurgence of interest in her late husband's music and legacy.

In 1997, Mitzi moved to Santa Clarita and joined a troupe of former professional dancers called the Gingersnaps.  She was active in several charitable organizations, including Mes Amis, the North Hollywood Women’s Club, the Women’s Canadian Club and the Hope is Forever Foundation (City of Hope), for which she served as an officer. She was a member of the Sages group at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.

She was a passionate animal lover, and regularly took in stray dogs and cats, and adopted rescue animals. In 2007 the National Wildlife Federation designated her back yard as a certified wildlife habitat. She told the Santa Clarita Signal, "Everybody who has a backyard ought to take care of the wildlife. It's very soothing to look out your window and see butterflies and birds."

Mrs. Scott is survived by four stepchildren: Carrie Makover, Stan Warnow, Deborah Scott Studebaker, and Elizabeth Adams, as well as fourteen grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, June 22, 11:00 am, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 24901 Orchard Village Road, Santa Clarita. A reception will follow in the church hall. The service is open to the public.

In lieu of cards and flowers, her family has requested that donations be made in the name of Mitzi Scott to City of Hope (via check payable to "Hope is Forever," mailed to Hope is Forever, c/o Chick Benveniste, 409 Meadows Drive, Glendale CA 91202), or online to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

75 Years of Reckless Nights

On this date, 75 years ago, Raymond Scott returned to CBS studios with his Quintette for their second session to record "Reckless Night On Board An Ocean Liner." The tune was a hit when it was released in 1937, and is immortalized in the classic LOONEY TUNES, "Jumpin' Jupiter," "Hare Lift," and "Mouse Warming." It also serves as the soundtrack for this strange YouTube video by Silent Banana Theatre. ("Note: this film contains banana nudity and references to ambiguous fruit sexuality.") Download the vintage Columbia recording from the iTunes store, or Amazon — and see details about our year-long celebration of the 75th Anniversary here.

75 years ago today, in 1937...

1937 was a memorable year in US history. Disney released SNOW WHITE, the first full-color, feature-length animated movie. The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6. Howard Hughes established a record by flying from LA to NYC in under 8 hours. The Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco. Amelia Earhart disappeared. George Gershwin died. And Daffy Duck was born — on April 17, in the animated short "Porky's Duck Hunt," directed by Tex Avery for the LOONEY TUNES series. This last factoid dovetails with a coincidence that would immortalize Raymond Scott's music in pop culture.

Exactly 75 years ago today, Raymond Scott recorded his iconic hit tune, "Powerhouse." On the same date, following 8 months of rehearsals with his Quintette at CBS, he also recorded "Twilight In Turkey," "Minuet In Jazz," and "The Toy Trumpet" — not a bad day's work. The 27 year-old couldn't have known at the time, but these compositions jump-started his stellar career, and came to underscore cartoon antics for future generations.

To celebrate the milestone, check out this collection of 75 YouTube clips of Scott's classic "Powerhouse," here — and see details about our year-long 75th anniversary events schedule here.

P.S. Thank you to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing:
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/20/happy-75th-birthday-to-raymond.html

JOHN WILLIAMS: Watch Exclusive Video

Movie music maestro John Williams turns 80 years-old today. To celebrate, I'm releasing never-before-seen footage of Williams remembering Raymond Scott. This rough footage was shot by me, Jeff Winner, while Stan Warnow (Scott's son) and I interviewed John Williams at Tanglewood, in Massachusetts, on August 4th of 2008. Some of Stan's professional camera footage appears in the new feature-length, award-winning documentary film, "DECONSTRUCTING DAD," but this segment has never been seen before. Watch here <<<

From Wiki: John Williams was born on February 8, 1932 in Long Island, New York, the son of Esther and John Williams, Sr. (aka Johnny Williams). His father was a jazz percussionist who played with The Raymond Scott Quintette.

John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Home Alone, and the first three Harry Potter films. He has had a long association with director Steven Spielberg, composing the music for all but two of Spielberg's major feature films.

Other notable works by Williams include theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, the DreamWorks Pictures production logo, and the television series Lost in Space. Williams has also composed numerous classical concerti, and he served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993; he is now the orchestra's conductor laureate.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards. With 47 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most nominated person, after Walt Disney. John Williams was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.

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.