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

Don't Knock The Rock

The new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened on August 5 at the DON’T KNOCK THE ROCK film & music festival in Los Angeles. The fest was founded by director Allison Anders (Sex and the City), produced in association with Cinefamily, and the venue is the historic Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax Ave.

The screening will be followed by historian/author Jerry Beck's "Secret Animated History of Raymond Scott," a chronicle of Scott's work as adapted in Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Animaniacs, and The Simpsons.

Deconstructing Dad's director, Stan Warnow, will attend, Raymond Scott's widow, Mitzi also plans to be there, and guitarist Skip Heller will spin Scott tunes before and after the show. 


P.S. From the new issue of: the LA WEEKLY.

Manchester Jazz Festival

Glasgow-based drummer Stu Brown formed his sextet in 2008 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Raymond Scott’s birth, and the group has performed to sell-out crowds across the UK. Each of their shows opens with a specially-commissioned eight minute film by Scott’s son, Stan Warnow, featuring material from his new documentary DECONSTRUCTING DAD: The Music, Machines, & Mystery of Raymond Scott. As the film ends, Scott’s original recording fades and The Stu Brown Sextet takes over. The second half of the concert brings the music further forward with new arrangements and compositions by the band which explore the ground-breaking electronic aspects to Scott’s music-making. Details & tickets for this Manchester Jazz Festival performance: here

Date:   Thursday, July 29, 2010

Time:   7:30pm - 10:00pm

Location:   Royal Northern College of Music

Street:   124 Oxford Rd

City:   Manchester, United Kingdom

"Half the triumph is the way the Brown's sextet brings Scott's carefully written notes off the page with such zest and spontaneity -- the other half is that it’s just so damned enjoyable." —Rob Adams, JAZZWISE

Happy Birthday, Mitzi Scott

Everything's fine, two years later. Happy 92nd, to the beautiful Mrs. Scott.

another Facebook page

There's a Facebook page devoted to Raymond Scott, but we didn't create it (and won't link to it). We don't know who did, and all attempts to contact the admin have met with stony silence. Whoever launched it posted one lame status update in 2008 and nothing since. So we created the OFFICIAL Raymond Scott Archives page on Facebook. At some point ours will have more members than the bogus group and we'll be de facto rulers the internets. If you join our RS FB group now, in the future you will be allowed to continue using the web. Everyone else will be blocked by a China-sized firewall.