Swing Band Leader: Raymond Scott

[otterhound]

I stumbled on Raymond Scott's music when watching the movie Funny Bones last night. This guy was wild! It's the wackiest '30s era swing I've ever heard. Scott's music was apparently used as background for many cartoons of the period.

Has anyone heard this guy's stuff? For those of you are are Rhapsody, Napster, etc. subscribers, take a listen to his cd called Reckless Night and Turkish Twilights.

 

[Hiram]

My love of Raymond Scott began about 7 years ago when I went in search of the source of the "cartoon automation music" that is invariably used to show wacky machines doing repetitive assembly tasks. You all know the one. It's called Powerhouse.

I found that he not only wrote that, but also the familiar tune to the exotic "There's a place in France, where the ladies wear no pants... There's a place on Mars where the women smoke cigars. Every breath they take is enough to kill a snake." Where the songs came from is anyone's guess, but Raymond wrote the tune.

Interestingly, he didn't intend for his music to be used for cartoons but was writing what he called "descriptive jazz." He was a madman for detail and often alienated band members because of it.

There are a lot of tunes and riffs on that album that will have you saying "So that's where that came from."

 

[BellyTank]

Fantastic!

http://raymondscott.com/

The theme music and other pieces in the Ren and Stimpy cartoon series is his-

He was an early innovator in the world of electronic music.

"Raymond Scott was definitely in the forefront of developing electronic music technology, and in the forefront of using it commercially as a musician.”
—Bob Moog

B
T

 

[Story]

"Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals"

Oh man, that'll come in real useful. Thanks for the link.

 

[otterhound]

The music is really complex. It may not be the best to dance to, but it is fascinating to listen to.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

And just try to get "Powerhouse" out of your head. lol

 

[The Wolf]

I'm a fan also

Co-incidently, I was listening to Raymond Scott in my car this morning.
I became a fan when I found that Carl Stalling had adapted a lot of Scott's music for the Warner Brothers cartoons. I still see some cartoon scenes when I listen.
I have a tape of an old radio show ("Meet the People" maybe?) that has an interview with Raymond and his brother. It tells how he got started and why he chose the name he used.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[jake_fink]

His music for babies will make your brain implode.

The Beau Hunks did him a few times, and brillaintly.