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Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Aaron Sachs & Jimmy Scott, Gone

June 18, 2014 by Doug Ramsey

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It is sad to hear of the recent deaths of Aaron Sachs and Jimmy Scott.

Sachs was a gifted clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who never became as well known as many of his Aaron Sachscontemporaries despite yeoman work in bands led by Van Alexander, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, Benny Goodman, Tom Talbert and Buddy Rich, among others. In the 1960she became a stalwart in Latin jazz, playing for Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez. Sachs would have been 91 on the 4th of July. I recently saw him described—dismissed, really—as a smooth clarinetist and a capable Al Cohn tenor saxophonist. He was far beyond capable and no mere imitator, as you will hear in his solo on “Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me” in Talbert’s arrangement from his classic 1956 album Bix, Duke, Fats. Sachs’ tenor solo comes 4:50 into the track. Other soloists are Eddie Bert, trombone; Herb Geller, alto saxophone; and Joe Wilder, trumpet.

Singer Jimmy Scott died on June 12 at the age of 88. His high contralto resulted from a childhood hormonal Jimmy Scottcondition that blocked normal vocal development. The voice made him an object of ridicule and abuse. He managed to wrap the anguish of that discrimination into his artistry as he adapted his unusual voice to a style that attracted a wide audience. His admirers included Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and the soul singer Marvin Gaye, who was heavily influenced by Scott. In this video, Scott sings “Time After Time” and speaks a little about his performance philosophy.

For Richard Williams’ obituary of Jimmy Scott in The Guardian newspaper, go here.

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Comments

  1. Kenny Berger says

    June 19, 2014 at 6:15 am

    Aaron Sachs was a wonderful all around musician and a truly nice man whose ears always remained open. He was a pioneer of modern jazz clarinet, an excellent saxophonist and a fine arranger. He was also a teacher whose prize pupil was Eddie Daniels.

  2. Jim Brown says

    June 21, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    I just got around to watching the lovely Jimmy Scott video you posted. As YouTube will do in the nicest of ways, it pointed me to a dozen or so more postings. The most satisfying were from several songs from a 2000 Tokyo concert, where Jimmy sang in front of a first rate Japanese big band. Most satisfying because Jimmy’s voice was in much better shape (he was “only” 74), and because it showed someone like me who had never seen him what a dynamic performer he was.

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism... [Read More]

Rifftides

A winner of the Blog Of The Year award of the international Jazz Journalists Association. Rifftides is founded on Doug's conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but the blog reaches past... Read More...

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Doug’s Books

Doug's most recent book is a novel, Poodie James. Previously, he published Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. He contributed to The Oxford Companion To Jazz and co-edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? He is at work on another novel in which, as in Poodie James, music is incidental.

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