Charles Nunzio, R.I.P., 97

In January 2009, we offered a free pdf of Scott's "Powerhouse" arranged for accordion by Charles Nunzio. The offer still stands; just drop us an email.

Comes word now from a squeezebox aficionado that Mr. Nunzio passed away on October 19 at the age of 97 (obit here). Mr. Nunzio had a long and distinguished career, commencing with a 1933 debut recital at New York's Town Hall, followed by a performance at Carnegie Hall the following year. He co-founded the American Accordionists Association, and served in the Navy during World War II.

Following his discharge, Mr. Nunzio invented his own custom-designed accordion, the Nunziola (photo, R), and he held a patent on the Kuehl Free-Bass accordion (which he co-developed with William "Bud" Kuehl).

During an 80-year musical career, Nunzio was a composer, arranger, performer, teacher, inventor, and tireless proponent of his instrument. We're honored to keep his arrangement of Scott's most well-known composition in circulation for future generations of accordionists.

Here, the master discusses the 20th century evolution of his instrument.

Here, in 1990, as he approaches age 80, Nunzio performs a spirited solo rendition of "El Cumbanchero."

Live Tribute Concert in the UK

WIGAN Jazz Club's next concert celebrates the 'cartoon jazz' of Raymond Scott featuring Stu Brown's Raymond Scott Project.

The concert is on October 31st, from 12.30pm - 3.30pm (doors open at noon) at Whelley Ex-Servicemen's Club, Vauxhall Road, Wigan, WN13LU. Admission is £9 (£8.50 concessions, £8 members).

Further Information from Ian on 01942 243974 or Gordon on 01925 727408 or visit: www.wiganjazzclub.co.uk

The Quintette 7

The West Point Band has been developing a classic Raymond Scott Quintette repertoire for several years, with occasional live performances. They aren't just learning music from Scott—they're studying math. Raymond called his six-man group a "Quintette." The WPB's ensemble is the "Quintette 7." (FWIW, Scott's "Secret 7" band counted as many as a dozen players.)

The Q7 just released a CD, Quintette 7 Plays the Music of Raymond Scott. A Sunday afternoon CD launch recital takes place on October 24 at the Academy on the Hudson. It's open to the public, and a reception follows the performance. I've seen the band in concert, and they're terrific. They deliver over a dozen RSQ nuggets in a finely honed chamber-jazz fashion.

Carmel Art & Film Festival

Next Friday, October 8th, the new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be featured at the Carmel Art & Film Festival, in the greater San Francisco Bay area. Director Stan Warnow plans to attend and conduct a Q&A.

"John Cooper, Director of the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL for the past 19 years, has signed on to curate the films for the event. Festival founder, Tom Burns, 'couldn't be more thrilled' that Cooper has joined the ranks of the board that includes other heavy hitters in the film industry such as Stone Phillips and Dina Eastwood. Juried fine art and photography exhibitions will open that weekend, with outdoor projection photography exhibits, art lectures, music, and fine wine and food all promising to attract art lovers from all corners. The combination of Carmel’s artistic heritage, the natural beauty, and the close proximity to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose metropolitan areas make it the perfect location for a premiere art and film festival."

Click here to enter to win one of three, deluxe VIP trips, including hotel accommodations, CARMEL ART & FILM FESTIVAL passes, a gourmet dinner, a welcome gift bag with shopping gift card, and concierge assistance during the jam-packed festival, October 6–10.

14th Annual Miami Jazz Film Festival

Presented by 88.9FM WDNA Public Radio and Miami Dade College:

"The 14th Annual Miami Jazz Film Festival is an outreach activity to celebrate those artists that continue to leave an indelible mark in the fabric of our culture. It’s an education on how the uses of archival images and other filmmaking devices impact on the final product. It’s an education on how Jazz is visceral, transcendent, and transnational."

DECONSTRUCTING DAD, the new Raymond Scott documentary, will be featured on Saturday, October 2nd at 5PM, at the historic Tower Theater.

LA WEEKLY

Author John Payne recently reviewed the new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, the LA WEEKLY. Here's a brief excerpt:

"An enthralling film that tells the story of a truly pivotal figure in 20th-century music whose madly eclectic achievements remain largely obscure. An essential view inside the wonders of creative genius, American-style."

Don’t Overvalue The Present

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

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

Listen to or download the new album here.

Funk Soul Brother

Fatboy Slim is the stage name of Norman Cook, one of the most enduring and successful Pop/Big Beat musicians of the past 20 years. His numerous hits, and collaborations with artists such as David Byrne and Beastie Boys, have earned him the reputation as "the father of mainstream electronic music." Slim has just released five new tracks that he crafted using sample-loops from Raymond Scott's electronic soundtrack for the 1967 film, "The Paperwork Explosion" (directed by Muppet master Jim Henson). The two new EPs, which are collaborations with UK-based DJ/producer Hervé, are titled "Machines Can Do The Work," and "Machines Can Do The Work: Remixed." 

• Both the original, and the "Action Man aka Hervé Acid Mix" versions are available now from the iTunes music store, and Amazon.com

• Also out now, a 20-minute EP with three remixes: iTunes music store/Amazon.com

• Watch the official video: here

16th Annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival

The new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened twice next weekend during the 16th annual TEMECULA VALLEY INTERNATIONAL FILM & MUSIC FESTIVAL in California:

• Friday, September 17th at 5 PM
• Saturday, September 18th at 11 AM

The film will be shown at the state of the art Movie Experience multiplex at the Tower Plaza Center:

Attendance has grown to over 20,000, and media coverage is extensive and global, boasting over 15,000,000 media impressions worldwide. Lifetime and Career Achievement Award honorees include: Dionne Warwick, Carl Reiner, Michael York, Ray Charles, Rita Coolidge, William Shatner, Billy Preston, Etta James, Louis Gossett, Jr., and many others.

KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival

On Friday, September 17th, the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival will present the Netherlands premiere of the new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD. Gert-Jan Blom of The Beau Hunks, and Stan Warnow, director of the film and son of Raymond Scott, will be present for an introduction and Q&A, followed by live "cartunes" courtesy Nik Phelps and other animator-musicians. The event takes place at the Kriterion theater at 7:30 pm.

102 Years: Happy Birthday, Raymond!

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

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

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

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

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

Amy's recipe:

          HUCKLEBERRY DUCKUIRI

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

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

Part 2: Full Circle

A couple of weeks ago, I reported that an engineer, David Brown, was developing a replica of Raymond Scott's sequencer invention, The Circle Machine. Mr. Brown reports progress:

I mounted the base plate on a panel along with the 16 lamp rheostats and three control jacks. I built a separate desktop wood enclosure with an external power supply. I removed three of the vanes and the counterbalance weights to lighten the armature. This was rather a fun project and my first using a stepper motor. I built it for fun since I thought it would be visually interesting. I didn't intend for this to be a precision sequencer nor a faithful recreation of the Raymond Scott Circle Machine. However I am pleased with the results as it works well to generate interesting sequences and is fun to watch.

New video & details: here

Full Circle

Retired Tektronix engineering executive David Brown is constructing a working replica of Raymond Scott's sequencer invention, The Circle Machine. “I thought it would be fun to build something with motors and lamps," Mr. Brown says. "The only information I have is the picture on the Raymond Scott site. I used a Hammond vibrato scanner base as the base for the Circle Machine and mounted it on a plate with 16 potentiometers around it. I only have 8 lamps installed but I have it playing an octave scale. I’m not sure how practical it is but it’s kind of fun to watch."

See & hear Brown's replica in action: here

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