Tony Scott Quartet. Complete Brunswick Sessions (1953)

High Fidelity
24 BIT
Digitally Remastered
Scott was arguably the best clarinetist in modern jazz in the 1950s, and these 1953 Quartet recordings for the Brunswick label are among his best. They showcase his warmth, imagination, and complete command of the instrument. Despite this, he won more acclaim from critics and fellow musicians than among jazz audiences, largely because interest in clarinet declined with the advent of bop and faded in popular esteem since the Goodman-Shaw days.
However the music here amply endorses his 1953 recognition as winner of New Star, Clarinet Division, in Down Beat s Annual Jazz Critic s Poll. It reveals a jazzman with a rare combination of sensitivity, seriousness and an exceptionally sharp sense of humor. Accompanied by a rhythm section with Dick Katz his sophisticated pianist and arranger the veteran and persuasive Milt Hinton on bass, and the forceful Philly Joe Jones on drums on the first session, the group swings superbly. Other talented jazzmen who contributed to Scott s memorable quartet recordings of that year were bassists Earl May and Percy Heath, and drummers Sid Bulkin, Jackie Moffet and Osie Johnson.
Throughout, Scott remained unsurpassed among clarinetists in his astounding ability to improvise linear patterns that build implacably to cli- maxes that somehow succeed in reconciling surprise with inevitability and always swing brilliantly.