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For six decades, vocalist Jimmy Scott formerly known as “Little Jimmy Scott”, the stage name given to him by Lionel Hampton, has numbered the jazz world’s best singers among his selected group of fans. No less than authority Billie Holiday named Scott-and only Scott-as her favorite vocalist. Although, he was “perhaps the most unjustly ignored American Singer of the 20th century” (according to Joseph Hooper in a New York Times Magazine profile). Scott has influenced and is admired by many recording artists in all genres of music. An influential figure to popular singers as stylistically diverse as Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown, Joe Pesci, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Bonnie Raitt, the highly acclaimed balladeer Jimmy Scott found it extremely difficult to ascend his cult status. Revered only by the most knowledgeable of jazz aficionados, it was not until 1992 that Scott was able to mount a successful comeback after suffering decades of obscurity.
Scott’s wavering, ethereal contralto vocal range, much closer in pitch to that of a woman than a man, is one of the most unusual and stunning vocal deliveries in post-war music history.
Born in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio where he got his first big break in 1949 when Lionel Hampton hired him as the “featured vocalist” with his big band orchestra. Scott achieved fame in 1950 with the ballad “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”. His success continued throughout the next decade notably with his hit recording in 1955 of the old Bing Crosby favorite from 1933 “When Did You Leave Heaven” a song Scott made his own.
After a fifteen year absence from the recording industry due to a contractual dispute with Savoy Records, in 1991 producer Seymour Stein of Sire/Warner label heard Scott sing at the funeral of Doc Pomus and practically signed him on the spot. The Grammy nominated “All The Way” album followed with world tours which opened Scott up to a whole new legion of fans.
2007, has seen Scott receive the highest honors in Jazz with the NationalEndowment of the Arts “Jazz Master” award, the Kennedy Center’s Jazz in Our Time “Living Legend” award and N.A.B.O.B.’s “Pioneer” award.
Today, Scott resides in Las Vegas with his wife Jeanie, enjoying the high desert climate of the southwest away from the harsh cold winters of his native Cleveland, he continues to tour the U.S., Europe, & Japan with his quartet “The Jazz Expressions” led by his long time musical director and bassist Hilliard Greene.
Scott’s wavering, ethereal contralto vocal range, much closer in pitch to that of a woman than a man, is one of the most unusual and stunning vocal deliveries in post-war music history.
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