Raymond Scott news

 ◦ december 1, 2007: Two new Raymond Scott CDs are available now: Raymond Scott conducts The Rock 'n' Roll Symphony on Acrobat Music and the more interesting Ectoplasm on Basta Audio Visuals.

 ◦ april 28, 2007: RaymondScott.com reports:

Raymond Scott was born in 1908, and we'll celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2008. We plan to honor this pioneering musician, composer, inventor, and visionary in a multi-media way...

At least two CD releases are planned in celebration of the centennial. The first (set for release mid-2007) will be a selection of Raymond Scott Quintette recordings from the late-1940s, featuring innovative compositions and arrangements that futurize the style of Scott's legendary '30s Quintette. This compilation of long-out-of-print and unreleased RSQ recordings will take you on vacation to a "Street Corner in Paris," enchant you with an exotic "Snake Woman," mystify you with "Ectoplasm," and present a "Dedicatory Piece to the Crew and Passengers of the First Experimental Rocket Express to the Moon."

The second CD release will be an anthology of Raymond Scott's pioneering electronic music -- the long-awaited follow-up to the MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC. CD & book set -- featuring vintage futuristic sounds created and performed by Scott on instruments he invented...

 ◦ february 15, 2004: Basta Audio Visuals has just reissued the long-out-of-print 1960 album RAYMOND SCOTT and the SECRET 7: THE UNEXPECTED. The album is a strange mixture of spirited West Coast-inspired jazz instrumentals (including many Scott originals) and voice-manipulated novelty numbers (sung by Scott's then-wife Dorothy Collins). For this project, Scott assembled an anonymous all-star band of session jazz players. For nearly 45 years the identity of the Secret 7 lineup remained a mystery, but as Nat Henthoff wrote in the LP liner notes, "Jazz aficionados will instantly recognize the players." (A secret URL in the CD booklet will disclose their names.) The CD, part of Basta's "Essential Reissues" series, replicates the original Top Rank release in repertoire, sequence, liner notes, and cover design. The Secret 7 is being released in The Netherlands now, and is available at: http://BastaMusic.com (It will be released in the US in May 2004)

 ◦ february 25, 2003: MICROPHONE MUSIC 2-disc set now available.
The first new collection of vintage Raymond Scott Quintette recordings in eleven years is now available from Basta Records. The 42-track MICROPHONE MUSIC features unreleased titles, radio performances, first-rate rehearsals, and out-of-print and overlooked gems by the RSQ, recorded between 1936 and 1939. Package includes the first CD release (*and first EVER release) of the following Scott recordings:

A Little Bit of Rigoletto
Dead End Blues *
Egyptian Barn Dance
Harlem Hillbilly *
Hypnotist in Hawaii *
Microphone Music *
Pretty Petticoat *
Square Dance for Eight Egyptian Mummies *
Suicide Cliff *
Swing, Swing Mother-in-Law *
The Girl with the Light Blue Hair
The Happy Farmer
The Quintette Goes to a Dance *
Turkish Mish-Mush *
Yesterday's Ice Cubes *

....as well as spirited renditions of a few non-Scott compositions (e.g., Bugle Call Rag* and Brass Buttons & Epaulettes*). Familiar favorites like Powerhouse, The Toy Trumpet, The Penguin, Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner, Twilight in Turkey and others appear as well. (NOTE: Versions of all "familiar" Scott tunes are different from those included on the Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights CD.)

Complete track list, cover art and MP3 samples: Raymond Scott.com

The album title refers to technophile Scott's emphasis on the microphone as a "seventh member" of his legendary six-man Quintette, and the mic's importance in helping Scott shape the recorded sound of his ensembles.
The 32-page booklet features liner notes by Irwin Chusid, reprints of contemporary (late 1930s and early 1940s) newspaper and magazine articles about Scott and his pioneering music and studio engineering, and dozens of rare photos. Also included is a revealing interview with Raymond's then-wife, Pearl, who was with Scott throughout his Quintette days.

Microphone Music was mastered in Holland from discs preserved in the Scott collection at the Marr Sound Archives, KC MO. The compilation includes superior remastering of RSQ radio and rehearsal recordings originally released in 1991 on the long-out-of-print Stash Records CD, The Raymond Scott Project, Vol. 1.

MICROPHONE MUSIC
Produced by Irwin Chusid
Project Advisors: Gert-Jan Blom, Jeff Winner
Art Direction: Piet Schreuders

 ◦ august 2002: Just released on Evolver Records: Pushbutton Parfait, the debut CD by The Raymond Scott Orchestrette.

The Raymond Scott Orchestrette brings Raymond Scott's controlled lunacy into the 21st century with a radical retooling of his compositions.Besides such animated favorites as "Powerhouse," "The Penguin," and "Twilight in Turkey," the RSO repertoire includes lesser-known, non-cartoon works such as "Coming Down to Earth," "Naked City," and "A Street Corner in Paris." The RSO 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 RSO's debut album, PUSHBUTTON PARFAIT, demonstrates both the imaginative nature of Scott's idiosyncratic compositions and the adventurous arrangements of the Orchestrette. The impishness and splashy colors of the originals remain, but these are all-new takes on an old master.

Album produced by Irwin Chusid
MP3 audio clips & more info: http://RaymondScott.com/orchette.html

 ◦ early 2002: KODACHROME, featuring Holland's METROPOLE ORCHESTRA performing rarely heard orchestral works by Scott, is now scheduled for July 2002 release in Europe, and September 2002 in North America. KODACHROME was produced by Beau Hunks leader Gert-Jan Blom, and the sessions were led by Jan Stulen, who conducted THE CHESTERFIELD ARRANGEMENTS (Basta 309097). The package was illustrated by Chesterfield cover artist Kellie Strom, and includes liner notes by jazz historian Will Friedwald.
 

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