Shetland Jazz Club & Arts presents:Stu Brown's Raymond Scott Project

Leonard Maltin's new DVD review

LEONARD MALTIN, one of the world's most recognized and respected film critics and historians, writes:

"Admirers of the music of Raymond Scott, which infused so many Warner Bros. cartoons and has gathered a loyal following in recent years, should know that his son’s absorbing, highly personal documentary about the multifaceted musician, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, is now available online at ScottDoc.com. It’s well worth checking out."

Previously, Mr. Maltin said the film was:

"A fascinating look at a musical genius and the way he lived his life. Stan Warnow allows us to share his journey of discovery as he pieces together the story of his father. I thoroughly enjoyed it."

Glasgow Film Festival:documentary screening + live music event

The new Raymond Scott documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened during the Glasgow Film Festival on February 23rd at the Glasgow Film Theater, preceded by a live set of Scott's music performed by the Stu Brown Sextet. Details: here

"Glasgow Film Festival, the fastest growing film event in the UK, is dedicated to present the best of international and Scottish cinema to film lovers. GFF offers screenings, lectures, discussions, festivals within the festival, workshops and the chance to meet filmmakers from Scotland and around the world."

Dances of Vice present:"Powerhouse Stomp" in New York City

Dances of Vice pays tribute to classic cartoons of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s like Silly Symphonies, Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Looney Tunes, including Raymond Scott compositions, and more at the vintage chic Liberty Hall / Ace Hotel, featuring live big-band cartoon music and hot jazz by Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra! With special guests Molly Crabapple, Michael Karas and DJ Miz Margo.

Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra performs unearthed music mined from the dusty vaults of a basement record collection, new arrangements of "voodoo music" and spirited stomps from the most incredible of the late 1920s Chicago and Harlem jazz bands.

Details: here

 • TIME & DATE: February 19th, 2011 | 10PM-4AM
 • LOCATION: Liberty Hall at The Ace Hotel | 16 W29th St. NYC
 • ADMISSION: $10 In Advance (Order Tix), $12 At the Door | 21+ ID

Betty Boop Pin-up Contest at 1am • 2-for-1 vodka drink specials from 3-4am

"Music For A Retro Future"

New various-artists CD, Music For A Retro Future, from the Other Sounds label features important pioneers of electronic music, including Jean-Jacques Perrey, Louis & Bebe Barron, Dissevelt & Baltan, and others: "A companion album to the book Journey To A Plugged In State Of Mind, an introduction to 100 years of Electronic Music. This release traces the early experiments of the synthesizer in movies and into commercial music. Featuring the sounds of room-sized computers, early rhythm generators, and cognitive ideas of many men in white coats. Includes the earliest recordings of Zappa favorite Varèse, the exceptional 'Song Of The Second Moon,' and Raymond Scott's early experiments into synthetic sound." Order from Amazon.com: here

The Quintette 7 juggernaut

The West Point Band's Raymond Scott chamber group Quintette 7 has a busy itinerary. On the heels of their new CD, Quintette 7 Plays the Music of Raymond Scott, the band's clarinetist Kristen Mather writes with a concert update:

We'll be doing a February university tour in New Orleans and Baton Rouge (Feb. 15 — Lousiana State University, 4 pm performance; Feb. 16 — Loyola University, 1:30 pm performance, with possible evening performance; Feb 17 — University of New Orleans, performance time TBD). We will perform on February 20 (at 3 pm) for the Saugerties Pro Musica Festival. We just added the date, so it isn't on their website yet. On March 9 (10:30 am), Quintette 7 will be part of the West Point Band's Young People's concert at West Point's Eisenhower Hall Theater. We're in the process of producing a "silent film" to accompany "Powerhouse" for this concert. The video depicts the group being late for a parade and running all over West Point.

BTW, the West Point Band isn't comprised of military personnel who happen to play instruments. It consists of first-rate musicians who enlisted to serve their country. Here's a fine example, as SSG Jeff Prosperie of the WPB's Hellcats demonstrates the sublime art of drumming fast singles with accents.

12th Annual CTM Festival in Berlin

The new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened on February 3rd at 8pm as part of the 12th annual CTM Festival in Berlin. Director Stan Warnow will attend for Q&A.

"The festival, repeatedly designated as 'Germany's prime meeting point for electronic and experimental music' and as 'Berlin's best pop festival,' puts down roots at new venues in Berlin Kreuzberg. Staying true to itself, CTM11 again assembles a unique blend of concerts, parties, laboratories, exhibitions and conferences, which will inspire nightlife hedonists, friends of breakneck experimentation and critical minds alike — not to mention those in who all three qualities are fused."

Cartoon Jazz Orchestra & SeptetConcert in Sunnyvale

Jeff Sanford's Cartoon Jazz Orchestra will be performing on January 26th at 7:30 PM: Raymond Scott repertoire and more! The Cartoon Jazz Septet will be opening the two sets for contrast and dynamics. A $10 cover minimum contribution is requested. From their website:

The Cartoon Jazz project was launched in 2003 at the Stanford Jazz Festival with the revival of charts from the great American composer, Raymond Scott. Jeff Sanford tracked down many charts of the famous composer, written for 13-piece bands in public archives and private collector libraries. Members of his band have since been contributing new arrangements of Scott's music as well as other jazz pieces which have been used in cartoons.

Senzala

250 East Java Drive

Sunnyvale, CA

(408) 734-1656

28th Annual "Reel Music Film Festival"

"The 28th annual Reel Music Festival in Portland celebrates the unexpected stories behind some of the world’s greatest music, with films spotlighting the incongruous, transformative, and sometimes bizarre origins of songs we sing every day."

The new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened on January 16th at 5 pm at the Whitsell Auditorium in the Portland Art Museum. Details: here

"Soundasaurus Festival" in Calgary featuring The Clavivox

Q: What is the Soundasaurus Festival?

A: "SOUNDASAURUS is an organized cacophony of experimental music, sound, performance and visual art. This is a multisensory festival rocking the Epcor Centre in conjunction with High Performance Rodeo, Calgary’s International Festival of the Arts, the largest festival of its kind in Western Canada."

On Friday, January 7 at 7:30 pm, the new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, will be screened as a "community-building Soundasaurus preview event — part of a larger, month-long arts festival." Director Stan Warnow will attend and conduct a Q&A, followed by an up-close look at an early Raymond Scott keyboard synthesizer invention, The Clavivox, provided by Cantos Music Foundation. Details: here. And listen live to "The 2+2 Ain't 5 Show" on CJSW 90.9 FM at 2 pm, January 2, for an interview with Stan: CJSW.com

Powerhouse by Charles Nunzio (1941)

We offered free sheet music for a vintage accordion arrangement of Scott's "Powerhouse" by Charles Nunzio in January 2009, and in October we noted the death of the famed accordionist at the age of 97. Following the latter post, accordionist Zevy Zions of oliveblossoms.com contacted us about an unreleased recording of Mr. Nunzio (who taught Zions) performing "Powerhouse" in concert in 1941. With the permission of Mr. Zions, we've posted an mp3 for free download. It's quite an astonishing virtuoso rendition. Wilder than a polka! We asked about the derivation of the recording. Tape was not widely known or available in 1941, yet the recording does not reflect the surface noise and crackle characteristic of 78s. Zions explained:

It was captured on some sort of disc recorder. Yes, the quality is relatively good. The performance is off-the-cuff; he's not following the written music. He didn’t remember it when I played it for him a few years ago.

Mr. Nunzio was conferred a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Accordionists Association in November 2004.

"Christmas Night" with Louis Armstrong

Christmas figured prominently in the early career of Raymond Scott (the son of immigrant Jews). He wrote his first hit, "Christmas Night In Harlem," in 1934 at age 25. During Xmas 1936, he debuted his soon-to-be world-famous band live on the Saturday Night Swing Club radio show. Two Christmases later, Paul Whiteman featured the Quintette, accompanied by PW's huge orchestra, performing Scott compositions at Carnegie Hall as part of the long-running Experiments In Modern American Music series where Whiteman had debuted Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue in 1924.

"Christmas Night In Harlem" was recorded as an instrumental in 1939 by Scott's Quintette. With lyrics by legendary Tin Pan Alley wordsmith Mitchell Parish, who co-wrote "Stardust," "Deep Purple," and another Yuletide standard, "Sleigh Ride," the tune was covered by Perry Como, Benny Carter, Johnny Mercer, Banu Gibson, The Beau Hunks, Clarence Williams, Paul Whiteman, Maria Muldaur, and Jack Teagarden. A new CD, 100 CHRISTMAS, presents Lester Lanin's version alongside classics by Bing Crosby, Willie Nelson, and Roy Orbison.

The most celebrated of all "Harlem" covers, however, is by Louis Armstrong, framed above alongside Scott during a 1938 CBS radio broadcast. Satchmo's recording is perennially reissued on holiday collections, including WHAT A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS.

Download The Metropole Orchestra's version of "Christmas Night In Harlem" from the CHESTERFIELD ARRANGEMENTS album here, as our holiday gift to you. And explore more of the many incarnations of Raymond Scott's earliest hit at Amazon.com or the iTunes Store.

Documentary Film DVD: Holiday Special

The new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, is temporarily available on DVD for a special price. In the spirit of the Holidays, director Stan Warnow is lowering the price to only $19.95, from now through January 2nd, 2011, to encourage gift-giving for the music geeks on your shopping list. Also, PayPal® orders are now available. Details: here

"America's Coolest Movie Theater"

"America's coolest movie theater" is the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, according to AOL.com. Find out why on December 13th during a screening of the new Raymond Scott documentary film, DECONSTRUCTING DAD, with director Stanley Warnow in person, as part of the "Music Monday Signature Series."

• Date/Time: Dec. 13th at 10:00pm
• Location:     
   The Ritz Theater; Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
   320 East 6th Street, Austin, Texas
• Details & Ticket info: here