Great Scott! - Shirley Scott

The Scott

Great Scott!
The Shirley Scott Trio
Notes by Ira Gitler
Recording by Van Gelder
Prestige 7143
1958

From the back cover: When Jimmy Smith came on the scene in the mid-Fifties, the organ had its first modern champion and many jazz listeners began paying attention to its many "stops" (and starts). Now there is a new star on the organ. She combines the "modern" with the blues feeling and presents a high, wide and wailing sound on the Hammond. Her name is Shirley Scott.

"She plays good – for a girl." This statements has been heard many times in jazz circles. Overlooking the bad grammar, it has been true more often than not. There have been some notable exceptions (fill in your own choices) but, in the main, female jazz players have lacked, among other things, the swing and authentic drive which mark the bonafide jazz musician.

It doesn't take long to realize that a genuine jazz feeling is embodied in the playing of Shirley Scott. She is only a slip of a girl but she makes that Hammond roar when she wants to. I might add, that she chooses the times when she wants to, very astutely.

Scottie, as she is affectionately called was born in Philadelphia on March 14, 1934. She started her musical education on the piano at the age of six and later continued her studies at the Germantown Settlement House and the Ornstein School Of Music. In 1955, she took up the organ and joined forces with tenor man Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis; the association has stayed intact for almost four years now, excepting the time that Eddie rejoined Count Basie for a few months in late 1957.

Davis felt that the organ was not a novelty instrument and, when in the right hands, it could be successfully utilized in jazz. Shirley has helped him to prove this. Together they have appeared at theaters like the Apollo in New York and the Howard in Washington; clubs in many Eastern cities including Birdland and Count Basie's in New York. It is at the latter, that they have had their longest periods of residence.

Scottie's favorite organists are Jimmy Smith and Jackie Davis. She also has evinced a liking for the playing of pianists Erroll Garner, Red Garland and Thelonious Monk

Although she plays the bass line with her feet when playing with the Davis group in person, Shirley has chosen to record with a bassist.

George Duvivier, who also appeared with Shirley in The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook (Prestige 7141), is a musicians' musician and a talented arranger. He studied violin first at the Conservatory of Music and Art in his native New York; composing and arranging at New York University. In the Forties he worked with Coleman Hawkins and Lucky Millinder. From 1942 - 45 he was in the Army and thereafter arranged for Jimmy Lunceford for a couple of years. George has been in the accompanying units for many singers in the Fifties including Nellie Lutcher, Lean Horne, Pearl Bailey and Billy Eckstine. He has also worked with the groups of Bud Powell and Chuck Wayne among others. Duvivier has expressed a liking for the playing of Jimmy Blanton and Ray Brown. His precise, yet powerful, work gives credence to this line of thought.

Arthur Edgehill, a regular member of the Davis group, is from Brooklyn, born there on July 21, 1936.

He began studying drums in 1948 at the Parkway Music Institute, taking time out to go on the road with Mercer Ellington in the summer of 1949 before returning to New York to do further studying at Parkway (until 1952) and gig around. In 1953, Arthur was with Ben Webster at the Blue Flame. 1954 found him with Horace Silver at Minton's' he split 1956 between Kenny Dorham's Jazz Prophets and the Jazz Lab group of Gigi Gryce. In November of 1957 he joined Dinah Washington and remained with her until becoming a part of the Eddie Davis-Shirley Scott Trio in January of 1958. Stylistically, Arthur is descendant from the Clarke-Roach-Blakey mold. He names these three and Philly Joe Jones as his favorites.

Duvivier and Edgehill play strictly supporting roles in this set and play them well. It is Shirley's album and she doesn't let interest lag during her long exposure to the center spotlight. From the opening blues cooker, The Scott to the closing Brazil, treated both as a samba and in swinging 4/4, she covers a variety of tunes and moods. All Of You grooves happily along; Cherokee is an up-tempo flight with a walking solo by Duvivier; Four indicates her easy familiarity with modern jazz originals; Goodbye is a sensitive ballad reading; Nothing Ever Changes My Love is a seldom-done number which receives a Latin feel in its melody statement.

Shirley Scott is a girl. At the organ, she does a man-sized job.

From Billboard - December 22, 1958: Miss Scott who showed great promise in support of Eddie Davis in "The Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis Cookbook" comes into her own with this effort. She's inventive and imaginative with an original approach. She knows her way around the organ and is equally acceptable on the swingers and ballads. She is nicely paced in this set by G. Duvivier on bass and A. Edgehill on drums. Tunes include "All Of You," "Nothing Ever Changed My Love" and "Brazil." She's definitely a comer.

The Scott
All Of You
Goodbye
Four
Nothing Ever Changes My Love
Trees
Cherokee
Brazil