New Spaced-Out 2-track Single: "By Rocket To The Moon"

Fasten your safety-belt — we're going by rocket to the moon. 20 years before NASA landed the first man on the moon, Raymond Scott and his quintet made this children's record, with narration, featuring five educational songs sung by the Gene Lowell Chorus. Originally released in 1950, this oddity has now been been digitally remastered, for the first time, as part of our year-long celebration of the 75th Anniversary of RS's music. The b-side is the related 1949 instrumental, "Dedicatory Piece to the Crew and Passengers of the First Experimental Rocket Express to the Moon." Download from the Apple iTunes Store: here

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.

"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:

LINCOLN CENTER concert report & photos: The Raymond Scott Orchestrette

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

T-shirt by 13-year old art student

Recently, I reported that 13-year old student Bronwyn Gragg had painted a portrait of Raymond Scott for her high school art portfolio. She's now made this t-shirt based on a paper insert that was included with the 1957 promo-only LP, The Jingle Workshop, a collection of (non-electronic) musical commercials by RS.

Muziekodroom in Belgium

Muziekodroom in Belgium will host a screening of the Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, on January 19th at 8:00pm. A DJ set by Micha Volders of The Vermin Twins will follow, and sponsors include Coca-Cola, and Red Bull.

2 New Vinyl Album Reissues —Party Like It's 1959!

Good news for wax maniacs: to celebrate the 75th ANNIVERSARY of Raymond Scott's music, the Basta Audio-Visuals label (working with the RS Archives) has reissued a pair of classic Scott 1950s LPs in 180-gram 12" vinyl format. Both meticulously replicate the original artwork in every detail.

"THE UNEXPECTED" by Raymond Scott & The Secret Seven — While serving as an A&R director for Everest Records in 1958, Raymond Scott produced an album for singer Gloria Lynne. The LP's sidemen included many of the same session players on Scott's mysterious 1959 album, "THE UNEXPECTED" — performed by his all-star jazz-legend supergroup, The Secret Seven — whose identities remained confidential for decades. The secrecy extended to withholding the band member's names from the LP jacket, but as music historian Nat Hentoff wrote in the liner notes, "Jazz aficionados will instantly recognize the players." The members are now known to be Elvin Jones, "Wild" Bill Davis, Milt Hinton, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Costa, Sam "The Man" Taylor, and "Toots" Thielemans. NOTE: Basta's vinyl pressing is the extremely rare STEREO mix — the stereo version will not be issued on CD/digital-download. • Order: here <<< • Listen to a track from this album: "Waltz Of The Diddles" by Raymond Scott & The Secret 7

"THIS TIME WITH STRINGS" by Raymond Scott & His Orchestra — Scott musically re-invents his compositions for full-orchestra and strings on this 1957 album. RS favorites like "Powerhouse," "The Toy Trumpet," and "Twilight in Turkey" are retooled for expanded setting — but that's not all. "There are many of the Quintette things in this LP," said the composer in the original liner notes. "Also things for dance band, material written for Broadway, the movie screen, and some of my recent writing. Indeed, a potpourri, given Hi-Fidelity dressing, and a certain vividness in string treatment." The album was recorded in glorious monophonic sound, which is retained on the vinyl. No artificial processing. Crank up the Hi-Fi! • Order: here <<< • Listen to a track from this album: "The Toy Trumpet" by Raymond Scott & His Orchestra

YO GABBA GABBA! and DJ Lance Rock:"What’s In My Bag?" — watch the video

DJ Lance Rock is the host of YO GABBA GABBA!, a live-action TV show on Nick Jr. geared towards children, yet has a strong adult following too. The show regularly features guests like Biz Markie, Leslie Hall, Elijah Wood, the Shins, and Mark Mothersbaugh.

In this segment, DJ Lance Rock goes to Amoeba Records for presents for the show's characters. For Plex, he chooses the 3-LP vinyl version of the "MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC." 2-CD/144-page hardcover book set of Raymond Scott's electronic music. Watch it on YouTube: here <<<

NOTE: A slight but important correction to Mr. Rock's info — although the compilation does indeed contain recordings from the 1950s and '60s — there's in fact nothing from the 1970s. 

The Book of Drugs

Mike Doughty, a prolific multi-tasker who issued 2 new albums in recent months, has published his compelling memoir, THE BOOK OF DRUGS. As the press-release states, it features "cameos by Redman, Ani DiFranco, the late Jeff Buckley, and others." The book also mentions the Raymond Scott sample loops that Doughty memorably incorporated to great effect into 3 songs with his 1990s band, Soul Coughing. Excerpts, detailing tensions with his former bandmate:

• • • • •

"There's two ways to play the sampler," the sampler player said, "as a conventional keyboard, or to trigger sound effects." I hoped I could convince him otherwise.

I brought some CDs over to his house. There were a bunch of sounds I wanted him to use: Howlin' Wolf, the Andrew Sisters, Toots and the Maytals, The Roches, Raymond Scott, Grand Puba, a cast recording of Guys and Dolls.

His house was so organized, it made me feel weird. He had a master's degree in composition from an uptown conservatory and was well inculcated in the conservatory mind-set — he called rock drummers "percussionists" and used terms like sforzando when discussing how to best approach a rhythm that I'd ripped off from Funkdoobiest. ...

The repetitions of dance music were foreign to him. "You mean, you want me to play this over and over again?" he asked in rehearsal.

"Yo, G," said the drummer, "just hold down that there key with some duct tape."

He was too proud for the duct-tape maneuver, but he became OK with the repetition. ...

There's another interview out there that I can't find: the interviewer mentions the Howlin' Wolf sample, Andrew Sisters sample, the Raymond Scott sample, and he asks the sampler player what makes for a great sample. The sampler player answers at length, and quite pedantically, about how he selects and manipulates them. But wait — though certainly the guy's fantastic at what he does, no question — the interviewer guy's talking about samples that I came up with.

• • • • •

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!"

Watch The Year's BestNew Performance Video

Witness the amazing MeaNensamble live at Studio Bodø, performing Raymond Scott's 1938 classic, "War Dance For Wooden Indians," recorded October 2011: HERE <<<

We look forward to their live shows and concert DVD during the 75th Anniversary of Raymond Scott's music in 2012.

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: