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Tom Scott (saxophonist)

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Tom Scott
Scott at a Beatles convention in 2013
Scott at a Beatles convention in 2013
Background information
Birth nameThomas Wright Scott
Born (1948-05-19) May 19, 1948 (age 76)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • composer
  • arranger
InstrumentSaxophone
Years active1965–present
Labels
Websitetomscottmusic.com

Thomas Wright Scott (born May 19, 1948)[1] is an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He was a member of The Blues Brothers and led the jazz fusion group L.A. Express.

Early life, family and education

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Scott was born in Los Angeles, California, US.[1] He is the son of film and television composer Nathan Scott, who had more than 850 television credits and more than 100 film credits as a composer, orchestrator, and conductor, including music for Dragnet and Lassie.[2]

Career

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Tom Scott's career began as a teenager as leader of the jazz ensemble Neoteric Trio, and the band Men of Note.[1][3] After that, he worked as a session musician. In 1970, Quincy Jones said of him: "Tom Scott, the saxophonist; he's 21, and out of sight! Plays any idiom you can name, and blows like crazy on half a dozen horns."[4]

Scott wrote the theme tunes for the television shows Starsky and Hutch and The Streets of San Francisco.[5] In 1974, with the L.A. Express, he composed the score for the animated movie, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat.[6] He played the soprano saxophone solo on the number-one hit single "Listen to What the Man Said" by the band Wings. In 1976, he played the theme "I Still Can't Sleep" in Taxi Driver.[7] Scott also composed the soundtrack for 1980's Stir Crazy.[8] In 1982, he collaborated with Johnny Mathis on "Without Us", the theme to the 1980s sitcom Family Ties.[7] He also played the lyricon, an electronic wind instrument on Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", as well as lyricon and saxophone on The Grateful Dead's album Terrapin Station.

Scott was a founding member of the Blues Brothers Band, despite his absence in the two films, The Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000. According to Bob Woodward's account in Wired, a biography of John Belushi, Scott left the band after their 1980 tour over a salary dispute. However, he reunited with Dan Aykroyd and the Blues Brothers Band in 1988 to record a few tracks for The Great Outdoors.[9]

Scott led the house band on two short-lived late-night talk shows: The Pat Sajak Show in 1989 and The Chevy Chase Show in 1993. From 1995 to 1998, Scott provided the main title arrangement and additional music for the television series Cybill.[10] He was music director for the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, several Emmy Awards telecasts from 1996 to 2007, Ebony's 50th Birthday Celebration, and the People's Choice Awards telecasts.

He has dozens of solo recordings for which he collected 13 Grammy nominations (three of which he won). He has numerous film and television scoring credits, including composing and conducting the score for the movie Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and appeared on records by the Beach Boys, Blondie ("Rapture"), Grateful Dead, George Harrison, Whitney Houston ("Saving All My Love for You"), Quincy Jones, Carole King, Richard Marx ("Children of the Night"), Paul McCartney ("Listen to What the Man Said") , Joni Mitchell, Eddie Money, Olivia Newton-John, Pink Floyd, Helen Reddy, Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan ("Black Cow"), Steppenwolf, and Rod Stewart ("Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?").

He produced two albums for tenor vocalist Daniel Rodriguez. The Spirit of America has sold over 400,000 copies. Scott is also a member of the Les Deux Love Orchestra and has conducted over 30 symphony orchestras around the U.S. as music director for Rodriguez. His song "Today" is credited as the sample for the hip-hop classic "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" by Pete Rock & CL Smooth.

Discography

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As leader/co-leader

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Soundtracks

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As a member

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The L.A. Express

The Blues Brothers

The GRP All-Star Big Band

As sideman

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2210. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ Burlingame, Jon (March 3, 2010). "Nathan Scott, 94, scored TV shows". Variety. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  3. ^ "Valley Teen-Agers Win Sweepstakes". Valley Times Today. July 2, 1963. p. 9. Retrieved July 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Feather, Leonard (January 25, 1970). "Nine Lives of a Cat Named Jones". Los Angeles Times. p. 40-Calendar. Retrieved July 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Nowlin, Rick (April 21, 1999). "All about sax". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. E-5. Retrieved July 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "THis Week's Movies". The Paris (Texas) News. December 5, 1976. p. 13C. Retrieved August 3, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "TV Line". Newsday. December 30, 1984. p. TV Book-1. Retrieved August 3, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "'Stir Crazy' advertisement". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. December 24, 1980. p. 5C. Retrieved August 3, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Woodward, Bob (1987). Wired. Simon & Schuster.
  10. ^ "Cybill (1995–1998) Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
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