Jimmy Scott sings
By Tim Ryan
a haunting tune
Star-BulletinWhen jazz legend "Little" Jimmy Scott sings "Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child" followed by the lyric "This world out here is lonely and cold," the entertainer is doing more than just reciting a line from a song. Scott, 73, is talking about his life.
"I try to tell a story with every word," Scott seems to whisper during a telephone interview from Portland where he's performing. "I select my songs carefully, treat every word special. The lyric must say something to me."
Scott, after six decades in show business, finds himself being discovered by a new generation of music lovers, captivated by his flair for high drama, superbly unique voice and deliberately slow, tortured style of jazz standards. He'll make an appearance tomorrow night at Borders Books & Music at Ward's Centre and perform Wednesday night at Hawaii Public Radio's Atherton Performing Arts Studio. He'll also be profiled on Bravo, Oceanic Cable Channel 65, on March 30.
What's so special about Scott's voice? He was born with Kallmann's syndrome, a rare hormonal disorder -- it also affected his brother -- where sufferers don't undergo puberty. That explains the most memorable aspect of Scott's voice: first-time listeners often assume Scott's voice is that of a woman.
A difficult childhood, failed marriages, alleged drug use and questions about his sexuality -- as well as poor treatment by the music industry -- have left a mark of sadness on the singer's life.
"Until I understood my illness I always wondered why me, what was this, what's the reason for it?" he said. "When you understand something that's difficult, you can start turning your life around to the things you desire out of life."
And that thing was music.
"It was my leaning post during the worse times."
Scott is resolute that he'll never be able to lose the tone of sadness in his music; and doesn't want to.
"It's who I am; you dig?' he said.
Scott disappeared from the music scene for some 20 years before reemerging in the 1980s with the single "Someone to Watch Over Me" which he sang at the 1991 funeral of rhythm and blues songwriter Doc Pomus. After that, Scott signed a five-album deal with Sire Records, a far cry from his early days in the business.
"Most of my record companies didn't do a good job of distributing my records," Scott said. "Many of the things I'm doing now I did back then but got no publicity."
His big break as a young singer never came.
"I was always hoping that the record company would do something big with the next record," he said. "I wanted to reach the next level."
In the 1940s Scott sang for a band with Lester Young, Ben Webster and Jo Jones. Then he went on tour with shake dancer Estelle Young and met comedian Redd Foxx and R&B crooner Big Maybelle. In 1949 Scott joined the Lionel Hampton band, where he met and became travel roommates with now record producer Quincy Jones.
But Scott's career floundered in the '60s and after making a record with Ray Charles that he called "a meeting of the souls," his old record company filed an injunction alleging Scott was still under contract. Charles halted distribution.
Scott eventually took a job as a hotel shipping clerk. He spent the 70s in a rest home helping others and his ailing father. After his dad died, he renewed communication with a woman he had met 40 years earlier. They eventually married.
A successful radio appearance in 1984 was followed by a packed engagement at a Newark club and Scott was back in business.
As for the upcoming Bravo profile, Scott said "It's about time."
"I've waited for the opportunity to have some exploitation of me and my career. It proves it's never to late."
Then Scott slips into a haunting lyric from a song he recorded with David Sanborn.
"For all we know, we will never meet again. You come and go; and that's life."
Little Jimmy Scott
Little Jimmy Scott in concert
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