Basic Facts
Born: June 11, 1920, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Died: October 2, 1981, Chicago, Illinois
Type of Performer: Pianist
Genre: Jazz, classical
About Hazel Scott
Hazel Scott was born in 1920 in Trinidad. Her father was a West African scholar from England, and her mother, Alma, was a classically-trained pianist and music teacher. She started playing piano at age 3 and discovered that she could learn to play by ear. The family moved to New York in the early 1920s, where Hazel auditioned for Juilliard at age 8 and studied privately with one of the pianists on faculty. She hosted a radio program and gigged throughout high school, and she got her first big break on Broadway soon after graduation. She was known for the way she mixed up classical favorites, including Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, with syncopation and accidentals, and she was one of the first performers to make a mark in both the classical and jazz worlds.
Scott was politically outspoken and was one of the first black entertainers to refuse to play before a segregated audience. When she was approached by Hollywood, she demanded equal pay (commensurate with her white counterparts) and refused to be cast in the subservient roles for which black performers were routinely slotted. She performed in five motion pictures, including I Dood It, Rhapsody in Blue (a George Gershwin biopic), and The Heat's On, but her film career was cut short when certain industry leaders decided they didn't like her demands.
In 1945, amidst much scandal, Scott married politician Adam Clayton Powell, who requested that she give up playing in nightclubs. She continued to give concert tours while he was in Washington, and in the summer of 1950 she was given an opportunity to host her own televised musical revue, the first black musician to do so. Her achievement was short-lived, however, as she was blacklisted during the McCarthy-Era "Red Scare". She moved to Paris, where her apartment became a regular hangout for popular musicians of the time. In 1955, during a trip back to the United States, she recorded Relaxed Piano Moods with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, which has been critically acclaimed as one of the most important jazz records of the twentieth century. In 2001, it was inducted into the National Public Radio Basic Jazz Record Library. Scott eventually moved back to the United States, where she continued to perform until her death in 1980.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Scott was politically outspoken and was one of the first black entertainers to refuse to play before a segregated audience. When she was approached by Hollywood, she demanded equal pay (commensurate with her white counterparts) and refused to be cast in the subservient roles for which black performers were routinely slotted. She performed in five motion pictures, including I Dood It, Rhapsody in Blue (a George Gershwin biopic), and The Heat's On, but her film career was cut short when certain industry leaders decided they didn't like her demands.
In 1945, amidst much scandal, Scott married politician Adam Clayton Powell, who requested that she give up playing in nightclubs. She continued to give concert tours while he was in Washington, and in the summer of 1950 she was given an opportunity to host her own televised musical revue, the first black musician to do so. Her achievement was short-lived, however, as she was blacklisted during the McCarthy-Era "Red Scare". She moved to Paris, where her apartment became a regular hangout for popular musicians of the time. In 1955, during a trip back to the United States, she recorded Relaxed Piano Moods with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, which has been critically acclaimed as one of the most important jazz records of the twentieth century. In 2001, it was inducted into the National Public Radio Basic Jazz Record Library. Scott eventually moved back to the United States, where she continued to perform until her death in 1980.
Listen
Hazel Scott playing on two pianos, from The Heat's On
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