HELP WANTED: Animators & Motion-Graphic Artists

HELP WANTED: We're seeking animators & motion-graphic artists to create short abstract films — synchronized to music — for live performances by LA-based composer Ego Plum. The animations will be projected throughout the shows during this series of concerts that are dedicated to Raymond Scott's electronic music. [Scheduled for Fall of 2018, and Spring of 2019.] Here are examples for inspiration and reference:

• Oskar Fischinger: https://youtu.be/6Xc4g00FFLk
• Hans Richter: https://youtu.be/CMd2J9teidY
• Cornelius: https://youtu.be/WX_oynYs018

Email Jeff Winner (me) with samples of your work for details: info@RaymondScott.com

New Nickelodeon show features Raymond Scott

From Bugs Bunny, to Ren & Stimpy, and The Simpsons, Raymond Scott's music has a long history with animation. But now the Nickelodeon TV show 'Harvey Beaks' will be the first series to utilize the electronic music of Raymond Scott. Composer Ego Plum, who scores 'Harvey Beaks', has just completed "Missing Harvey," featuring Scott's mid-1960s title, "In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen." The vintage recording is heard, and the tune recurs throughout the new episode with original stylistic rearrangements conjured by Plum. "Missing Harvey" premiers on December 27th, 2017, at 8:30 PM on Nicktoons.

 • WATCH PREVIEW VIDEO BELOW • 

Ego Plum preformed a live version of "In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen" at the Redcat theater in Walt Disney Concert Hall — a show we plan to stage again in September of 2018 to celebrate Raymond Scott's 110th Birthday — stay 'tooned.

 • WATCH VIDEO BELOW • 

Ego Plum:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_Plum

https://www.facebook.com/EgoPlum

http://youtube.com/user/EbolaMusic

https://twitter.com/EgoPlum

http://EgoPlum.tumblr.com

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.

Amber Alert

"Bernstein," a German name, means "amber" in English. In the early 1940s, a young composer-conductor in New York working under the pseudonym "Lenny Amber" produced piano transcriptions and arrangements of popular tunes. Among the titles arranged by young "Lenny" Bernstein are four compositions by Raymond Scott: "Powerhouse," "The Penguin," "Toy Trumpet," and "In an 18th Century Drawing Room." The sheet music is available for FREE download at RaymondScott.net. You can access the complete folder of Scott works arranged for piano and organ here. 

Ice-T was First to Sample Raymond Scott?

Ice-T in Los Angeles, circa 1986

So you thought J Dilla was first artist to sample Raymond Scott in Hip Hop? Think again. Long before he began to fight crime in the year 2000 as NYPD Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on the NBC-TV drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and before drawing controversy with his 1992 song “Cop Killer,” which depicts a criminal’s revenge on the police, rapper and actor Ice-T was an unlikely early advocate of recycling Raymond Scott’s music. In 1985, the same year he appeared in the movie Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, he released the single "Ya Don't Quit,” which incorporates the famous ‘B’ section from Scott’s iconic 1937 hit tune, “Powerhouse.” A year later he released a sequel, "Dog'n The Wax (Ya Don't Quit Part II)” — which features a different “Powerhouse” element — on his album Rhyme Plays, and as a single on the Sire/Warner Bros. label. Both tracks, which have a Def Jam-era Beastie Boys/Run-D.M.C.-like production, represent the earliest-known examples of Raymond Scott’s music in Hip Hop. Listen to both songs below:

Concert: West Point Band’s Quintet 7

ABOVE: The West Point Band's Quintette 7

Raymond Scott Quintette drummer Johnny Williams once remarked about his boss's penchant for exhaustive rehearsals: "All that discipline helped. It had to. I developed a technique way beyond what I'd had." The West Point Band's Quintette 7 understands discipline, and it pays off in their performances of Scott's quirky tunes, which they'll offer in a FREE concert at the Chappaqua Library Theater on Sunday, May 7th, 2016. (The program will also feature the Q7 performing non-Scott selections such as "Misty" and "Big Noise from Winnetka.") RSVP via Facebook: here

Info from the Library: http://bit.ly/1q0Zm6j

Hear—and buy—tracks from the BEST-SELLING album "Quintette 7 Plays the Music of Raymond Scott": http://apple.co/1Ma1vXW

Powerhouse Passacaglia

Geoffrey Burleson performs "Powerhouse Passacaglia," a "Fantasy-Homage on Raymond Scott's 'Powerhouse'," composed by Burleson, at the New West Electronic Arts & Music Organization Festival, at Brooklyn’s ShapeShifter Lab, December 7, 2015.

Here's the work performed by the No Exit New Music Ensemble, November 2013:

Oui d'Accord: "Powerhouse" (in Super 8)

The Berlin-based trio Oui d'Accord present an original arrangement of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" for guitar, bass and accordion. Filmed in Super 8! Unless the guys wrote it down, no sheet music exists for this instrumental configuration. 

Powerhouse for string quartet

Violinist Jeremy Cohen, leader of Quartet San Francisco, has been a longtime champion of Raymond Scott and recorded a number of Scott tunes arranged for string quartet on the QSF album Whirled Music. Cohen has made the string arrangement for Scott's "Powerhouse" available through his ViolinJazz Editions series ("New pearls for adventurous chamber musicians").

Scott's early Quintette works have occasionally been referred to as "chamber jazz," so it's fitting that they be arranged for and performed by chamber ensembles. The Kronos Quartet recorded an arrangement of Scott's "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals" on their album Released 1985-1995. Kronos have also performed Scott's "Powerhouse," "The Penguin," and "Twilight In Turkey," but they haven't recorded these titles nor have they published the arrangements.

Raymond Scott Rewired

UPDATE (Feb 6): Raymond Scott Rewired now has a website.

As a musician, composer, bandleader, and inventor, Raymond Scott was a perfectionist, but not a stylistic purist. His late-1930s six-man "Quintette" crafted novelty jazz that layered ethnic contours and pan-global riffs over a propulsive beat. In the 1940s Scott's antic melodies were adapted in Warner Bros. cartoons because WB music director Carl Stalling found the compositions genetically animated. Scott's mid-century orchestral works were danceable, except when they veered into complex, cerebral concert-jazz. In the 1950s and '60s Scott invented and recorded with electronic instruments. He was a genre-hopper, reflecting a musical restlessness and adventurousness. Scott loved what he did, but craved what came next.

As archivist for the Scott musical estate, I commissioned three remix artists to take apart Scott's catalog and reshape it in a fresh way. The Bran Flakes (Otis Fodder, Montreal), The Evolution Control Committee (TradeMark Gunderson, U.S.), and Go Home Productions (Mark Vidler, U.K.) were ftp'ed hundreds of Scott recordings in various genres, including unreleased material, spanning the 1930s to the 1980s. They were invited to have fun, but keep it rhythmic. Each contributed six audio montages with new titles, and they collaborated on Scott's signature tune, "Powerhouse."

The result is RAYMOND SCOTT REWIRED, produced for the Basta label. The album will be released in North America on February 18. Three tracks can be streamed on Soundcloud.

Over 250 sample sources were used in the construction of these 19 tracks. Those samples were edited, looped, flipped, and stretched; they were tweaked with EQ, pitch-shifted, compressed, and transformed. Disassembling one man's sonic legacy and reassembling the pieces into something different, something worth hearing repeatedly, requires an intuitive gift that approaches songwriting. Scott fans will recognize some passages, but in countless cases, the source recordings have been altered beyond recognition. The composer himself would have difficulty identifying his own works. The reconfigurations were done playfully, but respectfully. Nothing was destroyed. The originals still exist.

The cover art was adapted from an unfinished, untitled, black & white Jim Flora illustration from the 1950s.

A mixed-up, mashed-up composer

Coming from the Basta label in February 2014.

We turned over the entire Raymond Scott catalog ...

... to three celebrated mixologists who work under group names: The Bran Flakes, The Evolution Control Committee, and Go Home Productions.

They were given hundreds of recordings owned by the Scott estate, in all genres, including unreleased material, spanning the mid-1930s to the mid-1980s. Jazz, orchestral, electronic, experimental, studio chatter, one-of-a-kind rarities.

These gents were invited to have fun, keep it rhythmic, and make it percolate. Each contributed six audio montages with new titles, and they collaborated on Scott's signature tune, "Powerhouse."

The project is titled RAYMOND SCOTT REWIRED.

It's finished. Mixed, mastered, designed, packaged, and manufactured. You can preview three tracks on Soundcloud. Official release date is February 18.

Note: This post was originally published in May 2013. However, the US release was postponed due to a change of distributor for this release. 

No Exit showcases Raymond Scott

No Exit ensemble will start their fifth season by focusing on the music of the legendary Raymond Scott Quintette, with concerts scheduled in Cleveland and Buffalo (see below).

No Exit's artistic director Timothy Beyer says: "We did a series of concerts inspired by jazz luminary Eric Dolphy. It proved to be one of our most popular programs and was a great deal of fun to put together. We're basically doing the same thing this time around with Raymond Scott." 

This will be the Cleveland-based ensemble's first program to consist entirely of world premiere pieces. The concerts will feature new arrangements of Scott's music by pianist Geoffrey Burleson, saxophonist/composer and founder of the Either/ Orchestra Russ Gershon, and composers Greg D'Alessio, Chris Auerbach-Brown, and Eric Gonzalez. Also on the program are original pieces by No Exit's own James Praznik and Timothy Beyer which were inspired by the music of Scott's Quintette.

November concerts are scheduled in Cleveland and Buffalo:

Nov. 15 at Spaces, Cleveland

Nov. 16 at PAUSA Art House, 19 Wadsworth Street, Buffalo, NY

Nov. 18 at Cleveland State University, Drinko Auditorium

Beyer: "Scott was a truly brilliant guy whose genius couldn't be contained within a single medium. He was one of the early pioneers of electronic music — some of which will be featured on the program along with pieces inspired by his jazz Quintette — and developed many early devices for composing and creating electronic works. He had his own unique sensibility, a very singular vision as to how music should be and didn't seem too concerned with what everyone else was doing. Just a remarkable artist who throughout his prodigious career always seemed to be doing something all his own."

Beyer adds: "There has been a big resurgence of interest in Scott's music over the last decade or so. While Raymond Scott may not yet be a household name, most folks have heard his music whether they know it or not. I'm certain that there will be many people at the concerts thinking to themselves, I've heard that tune before!"

No Exit on Facebook

LINCOLN CENTER presents Free Concert

Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park Bandshell

LINCOLN CENTER Free "Out Of Doors" Concert Series Presents:

Dance Heginbotham creates highly structured, technically rigorous, and theatrical choreography, frequently set to the music of contemporary composers. Along with signature pieces "Twins" and "Blown Away," Dance Heginbotham will present a world premiere of "Manhattan Research," a new work based on the music of midcentury maverick Raymond Scott. Best known for his Loony Tunes ditties, the composer, bandleader, and musical inventor’s spirit — leaping from zany to sultry — lives on thanks to The Raymond Scott Orchestrette, whose dynamic performance of pieces like “Powerhouse” will provide the spark for Dance Heginbotham’s trademark vigor and humor. Athletic, meticulously rhythmic movement will run alongside cool, witty nods to the subject matter in Scott's melodies, instrumentation, and song titles. Admission is free. Details: here

"Manhattan Research" commissioned by Lincoln Center for "Lincoln Center Out of Doors."

Cindy + Me

Stereogum.com: "Caged Animals is Brooklyn denizen Vincent Cacchione, maker of homespun indie-pop that leverages electronics and guitars in the pursuit of sweetly endearing pop awkwardness. He has an album titled Eat Their Own and EP called This Summer, both on UK label Lucky Number, and he’s back with a new single. The clattering, theremin-y synth-bounce of 'Cindy + Me' is built on a sample from Raymond Scott's 'Cindy Electronium'."

Get Vincent's backstory on the tune and listen to it at Stereogum. Then watch the new video, which features a quintet of medical academy-trained monkeys:

The Guardian's take is here. The original "Cindy Electronium" appeared on the Manhattan Research Inc. collection of Scott's 1950s-60s electronica, and the sample was licensed thru Basta.

War Dance for Tap, Tabla, and Tuba

Hungarian-born composer/percussionist Gábor Tarján, who lives in the Netherlands, arranged Scott's "War Dance for Wooden Indians" for an unusual ensemble. He recently provided us with video of a June 2010 performance, and the following notes:

The group does not actually have a name (as yet). I brought these musicians together for a project entitled "Tap 'n Tabla." The video was recorded at the Vredenburg Concert Hall, Utrecht, Netherlands. I'm playing marimba.

Scott's music has been an inspiration ever since I heard a recording of "Siberian Sleighride" on the radio years ago. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and fell in love with the music right away. It's a very controlled sort of chaos, and I love that Scott is basically just playing with all these notes. The music also has an openness. I can imagine many of his pieces being arranged for a wide array of different formations. The possibilities are endless!

Next week, I'm trying out a new (perhaps a bit bizarre) arrangement of "Powerhouse" for female vocals, marimba, bass guitar and tabla.

The others players in the video are Sandip Bhattacharya (tabla), Peter Kuit (tap dance), Yamila Bavio (sax), Frans Cornelissen (tuba), and Rembrandt Frerichs (piano).

Raymond Scott for four guitars

The Montreal-based guitar foursome Quatuor Mains Libres have recorded tasty arrangements of Scott's "The Penguin" and "Powerhouse." You can hear the latter at their website and then buy it in iTunes on their EP Eponyme. "Penguin" will appear on their forthcoming first full-length album.

The Raymond Scott Orchestrette

THE ORCHESTRETTE brings Raymond Scott's

controlled lunacy into the 21st century!


When producer and Scott authority Irwin Chusid formed the 7-piece RAYMOND SCOTT ORCHESTRETTE in 1999, his only stipulation to the musicians was: 'don't replicate the original Quintette.' The late control-freak composer might not approve, but the Orchestrette has performed radical reconstruction on his compositions. 

Besides such animated favorites as "Powerhouse," "The Penguin," and "Twilight in Turkey," the Orchestrette repertoire includes lesser-known, non-cartoon works such as "Coming Down to Earth," "Naked City," and "A Street Corner in Paris." The Orchestrette also performs acoustic renditions of Scott's later electronic works — such as Soothing Sounds for Baby's "Little Miss Echo" — rarely heard artifacts the composer himself never performed outside the studio.

 The impishness and splashy colors of the originals remain, but these are all-new takes on an old master.

Watch this video slideshow of photos with music that tells the story of The Orchetrette's concert at LINCOLN CENTER in NYC in December of 2011, to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Raymond Scott's classic tunes. >>> See it on: YouTube (or browse the photo album: here) And listen to 2 tunes here:

The ORCHESTRETTE:

WAYNE BARKER (piano, melodica, arrangements) composed the Tony Award-winning Peter and the Starcatcher, which earned him a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination. He performed and toured worldwide with Dame Edna Everage for over five years; he wrote music and appeared as Master of the Dame’s Musik for Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance, and contributed to All About Me, starring Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein. Barker composed for The Three Musketeers and Twelfth Night at Seattle Rep and The Great Gatsby and The Primrose Path at the Guthrie Theater, and orchestrated Mark Bennett’s score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Jolla Playhouse. He has written dozens of symphonic pops arrangements for New York Pops, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco and St. Louis symphonies. He was music director for Shakespeare and the American Songbook (92nd St. Y); Into the Woods and She Loves Me (Westport Country Playhouse); and A Little Night Music,  Caroline or Change, and The Boys from Syracuse (Center Stage, Baltimore). Barker is artistic associate for new musicals and composer–in–residence at New York Theatre Workshop.
BRIAN DEWAN (electric zither, koto, piano, accordion, vocals, arrangements) has worked with the Liverpool Cathedral Bell Ringers, the Pagoda Chinese Children's Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Kris Perry's Machines. His albums include Tells the Story, The Operating Theater, Words of Wisdom, and Ringing at the Speed of Prayer. 
MICHAEL HASHIM (alto & soprano sax) studied with Albert Regni and Phil Woods, and was mentored by Benny Carter and Jimmy Rowles. He was the Widespread Depression Jazz Orchestra's music director and star soloist, and has played and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Muddy Waters, Nancy Wilson, The Village People, Gatemouth Brown,  Sonny Greer, and others.  Hashim was awarded an NEA Performance grant and toured China and the Middle East, playing most of the world's major Jazz and Music Festivals in 20 countries on five continents. His credits include ten recordings as a leader and nearly 100 as a sideman. As a composer he has earned commissions from PBS Playhouse, Oberlin Conservatory, and the NY Times OnLine.
WILL HOLSHOUSER (accordion, arrangements) When Will was a young music student, a friend gave him a musty old accordion, for which he soon began transcribing and learning various types of music. Over the next twenty years he developed his own sound as a player, improviser and composer. Three CDs of Will’s trio music have been released by the Portuguese label Clean Feed. He leads the band Musette Explosion, which revisits French accordion and guitar music, and composes for film, dance and various ensembles. He has performed on several continents and recorded with violinist Regina Carter and with clarinetist David Krakauer. Will has also worked with Antony and the Johnsons, Matt Munisteri, Martha Wainwright, Andy Statman, Mark Morris Dance, New York City Ballet, and others.
GEORGE RUSH (upright bass, tuba) has performed and recorded with such rock artists as Lloyd Cole, Ben E. King, David Johansen, Natalie Merchant, Amy Rigby, Dr. John, Martha Redbone, Vernon Reid, Richard Davies, Hem, and Japan’s Pizzicato 5. Rush's jazz credits include performing with Randy Brecker, Don Byron, Craig Handy, and Steven Bernstein. As a tuba player, Rush has performed on critically acclaimed children’s albums by ex-Del Fuego Dan Zanes. George's Broadway pit credits include The Full Monty, Jesus Christ Superstar, Caroline or Change, Chicago, The Color Purple, and the off-Broadway cult smash Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  He was charter bassist for the Losers Lounge pop tribute series, has worked extensively with the Big Apple Circus, and his studio work is heard in the Sundance Channel documentary series Iconoclasts.
ROB THOMAS (violin) occupies the violin chair in The String Trio of New York. He has toured and recorded extensively with that venerable jazz chamber ensemble, as well as The Mahavishnu Project and the Jazz Passengers. He also appears on recordings by Lee Konitz, Andy Summers and Marc Ribot.  Rob is a professor of jazz strings at Boston's Berklee College of Music
CLEM WALDMANN (drums) has long been the house drummer for the popular New York-based Loser's Lounge tribute series. He has performed and/or recorded with the bands They Might Be Giants, the Kustard Kings, Ui and Baby Steps, and for solo artists Laura Dawn, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Richard Davies. Clem also served as percussionist in (and recording artist with) the long-running theatrical production Blue Man Group.

Invasion from Norway!

• Click image above for larger view •

The amazing Mean Ensemble are coming from Norway to perform their Raymond Scott tribute show for the first time in the USA. The Mean Ensemble are the only band since Raymond's original 1930s Quintette to perform the maestro's tunes without reading sheet music — video evidence of this feat: here. The 3 concerts will be in New York City on March 11th & 12th — details & ticket info here. Preceding the shows, an introduction will be presented by Jeff E. Winner (me) of the RS Archives.

New videos: Steve Bartek & Ego Plum's live show at WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL • "Lightworks" and "Powerhouse"

ABOVE: Ego Plum's electronic band performs

"Lightworks" featuring Tara Busch vocal

ABOVE: Steve Bartek's band performs "Powerhouse"

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