Little Jimmy Scott--Imagination

For more than five decades, vocalist Jimmy Scott has numbered the jazz world's best singers among his select group of fans. No less an authority than Billie Holiday named Scott -- and only Scott -- as a vocalist she admired. Although he was, for a period, "perhaps the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th century" (according to Joseph Hooper in a New York Times Magazine profile), Scott today is once more finding a dedicated international audience for his emotionally penetrating art.

Born in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, where he still lives, James Victor Scott got his first big break in 1949, when Lionel Hampton hired him and billed him as "Little Jimmy Scott." As featured vocalist with the Hampton big band, 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 "When Did You Leave Heaven?," a song that he made his own.

Scott subsequently spent long periods away from the microphone, working for a time as a hotel shipping clerk and as a caretaker for his ailing father. He returned to the stage in 1985 and began recording again in 1990, and his career took off again two years later when Seymour Stein heard him perform at songwriter Doc Pomus's funeral and signed him to the Warner Brothers Sire label. Since that time, Scott recorded two albums for Sire, one for Warner Bros., and one for Artists Only! before joining Milestone Records in 2000. He sang new interpretations of "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "When Did You Leave Heaven?" on the Milestone CD Over the Rainbow, released in 2001, on which he returned the compliment Billie Holiday had paid him by performing his own distinctive version of one of her signature songs, "Strange Fruit."

Scott's new fans have rediscovered his original hit recordings of the 1950s on such collections as three-CD box set The Savoy Years and More released in 1999, which included his 1952 recordings for Roost Records and his 1955-72 recordings for Savoy, and his resurgence in the public eye included appearances on Lou Reed's 1992 recording Magic and Loss and in an episode of David Lynch's 1990s television series Twin Peaks. He continues to record and perform frequently.

Selected Discography

The Savoy Years and More, Savoy, 1952-72
Falling in Love is Wonderful, Rhino, 1962
All the Way, Sire, 1992
Holding Back the Years, Artists Only, 1998
Over the Rainbow, Milestone, 2000

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jazz
• blues
• Jimmy
• Scott

[dfancyman]

"Nipsipone...THANK YOU"...,

for sharing this "GRRRREAT VOCALIST" w/ the YT family.We can't take for granted that the new(up and coming) students of "The Fine Art Of Singing" are familiar w/ the great singers of the past.

I appreciate this thorough presentation.

God Bless You...and your family.

Most Sincerely,

Jesse Belvin Jr.

aka..., ~Mr.Golden Voice~

[nipsipone]

I should be thanking you and your father one og the finest voices I have ever heard and i believe he sang in every group that came from the west coast and yes Jimmy Scott needs to be heard  Rich

[CaptainBuster]

It's wonderful how such a great voice can come from within a man of such small size. In my ears he is larger than life itself.

[dhiren09]

Amazing.. there are no words to describe this! Just close the eyes and drift away from this place.

[sealfan1000]

Love Love Love this man!

[naninetto]

JIMMY SCOT..PERFEIÇÃO. PUNTO E BASTA! BEIJOS DO BRASIL.

[SaTaNHusSseiN]

GO find Nothing compares to you by jimmy scott, it s way much better than sinnead o'connor

[SaTaNHusSseiN]

I WANNA tell u guys that HERE is what u need, what u should know : jimmy scott made a version of "Nothing compares to you" , famous from sinnead o'connor, written by Prince... and really, there' s nothing to be compared of, it s just insane but youtube doesn t have the video u ll have to watch it on daily motion

[bellini7verdi]

me he enamorado de esta voz......esa forma de cantar y ese sonido...del alma.....

[bellini7verdi]

UNA PASADA........ME ENCANTA........

[nancydrew5]

Listening to Jimmy Scott should be required listening for any vocalist regardless of style of music. His breath control, intonation, phrasing, dynamics since of time (singing way behind the beat, but still in the pocket) provides so many lessons all wrapped up in one. Listen to Jimmy scott for at least 6 months all the time and you'll be a pretty damn good vocalist.

[maztrip]

Amazing voice and most charming and warm in person. A real jewel <3

[BLAKPEARL69]

what a voice.

[Evajean42]

I first heard Little Jimmy Scott when I was about 12/13 years old.My mother had all

these 78records,sarah vaugn,dianah washington,nina simone,nancy wilson and

I loved it Little jimmy scott was my fav of all.I love this music to this day and I all ways

will.usually each month I get a hankering to listen and be taken-a-back.EJJJ