Hazel Scott

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hazel Scott during a stay in Israel (1962)

Hazel Dorothy Scott (born June 11, 1920 in Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago , † October 2, 1981 in New York City ) was an American jazz musician (pianist, organist, singer) and actress .

Life

Born in Trinidad, Scott came to the United States in 1924 with her mother, who ran a women's band (who also performed with Lil Hardin Armstrong ), and grew up in New York. She played the piano as a child , performed as a child prodigy and was trained at the Juilliard School at the age of eight . As a teenager, she performed with the American Creolians , an all-women band led by her mother, Alma Scott. In 1936 she had a radio show. In 1938 she sang on the Broadway show "Sing Out the News". Between 1939 and 1945 she had other engagements on "Broadway" (including in the production Priorities of 1942 ). With her own band she appeared regularly in the club scene; she also played with Count Basie . She performed twice at Carnegie Hall . In 1939 four sessions were written for Decca ; During the war she recorded some records for V-Disc .

Scott was the first African American woman to have her own television show. It was first broadcast on the DuMont Television Network on July 3, 1950. As it publicly opposed McCarthyism and racial segregation , the show was canceled after a few months (September 29, 1950) after it was denigrated as a Communist sympathizer .

Between 1945 and 1956 she was married to Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr. , the first African American in the House of Representatives with whom she had a child. From 1957 to 1959 she lived in Paris ; she also appeared in American clubs in Germany. Shortly before her death, in June 1981, already suffering from cancer, she took part in a memorial concert by the Universal Jazz Coalition in honor of the late Mary Lou Williams .

plant

She was known for swinging improvised on classical themes (Liszt, Chopin etc.) as well as playing boogie woogie , bebop and ballads. Her most successful recording was "Tico Tico." Her album Relaxed Piano Moods (1955), which Rudy Van Gelder recorded with her trio ( Charles Mingus and Max Roach ), is still widely recognized by jazz critics. She made other records with the Sextet of the Rhythm Club of London (1939) and with Sid Catlett (1943).

She appeared in the films Something to Shout About , I Dood It , Broadway Rhythm , The Heat's On , Le Désordre et la Nuit (German title: In the mantle of the night or The secret of the lady in white ) and Rhapsody in Blue .

Discography (excerpt)

literature

  • Linda Dahl: Stormy Weather. The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen. London 1984. ISBN 0-7043-2477-6 .

Web links

Commons : Hazel Scott  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Scott, Hazel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scott, Hazel Dorothy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician and actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago
DATE OF DEATH 2nd October 1981
Place of death New York City , New York , United States