Klarinet Archive - Posting 000519.txt from 1995/09

From: Richard Faria <faria@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Raymond Scott
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 11:23:08 -0400

>>I listened with fascination to a several minute review of
>>Raymond Scott's music (promo for a new CD of his compositions?) on the CBC
>>Sunday Morning radio program yesterday. Very interesting. Is anyone familiar
>>with his work? Anyone know if there is anything of Scott's for a small
>>woodwind group? Or, for clarinet?
>>[Who was Raymond Scott? Foolish question. He wrote the music for Bugs Bunny
>>and Daffy Duck cartoons.]
>>-victor
>>
>>
>> http://www.mediacity.com/~wymanvic/index.html
>
>Victor,
>
> I am also fascinated by Raymond Scott's music. Unfortunately, he
>never wrote it down! The way he and his musicians recorded pieces, was that
>RS would sing, or play, a lick on the piano, and the musicians would
>imitate it by ear. He would build up a piece like this, a lick at a time,
>until it was to his satisfaction (usually about a three month process). At
>which point, they would record it, and move on to the next piece. That
>meant that the only real trace of the piece was the recordings, and
>whatever existed in the musicians memories.
>
> Along comes a music group called the *Beau Hunks*. They heard these
>tapes, and wanted to play the music, so they set out to find the sheet
>music, only to discover that none existed! But they still wanted to play
>it, so the bass player of the group transcribed some of this extremely
>complex music. After about a year, they had enough tunes together to make a
>CD, which they did, called *Celebration On The Planet Mars, a tribute to
>Raymond Scott*
>
> If you cannot find this recording in your local music store (it is
>an import) you cal get it by calling the Public Radio Music Source which is
>1-800-75-MUSIC
>
> Please let me know if you find any of the sheet music. I am
>presently tracking down the bass player of the Beau Hunks, to try and bribe
>him out of a few pieces. Failing that, I am going to enlist the help of the
>AMS in NYC.
>
> Cheers!