Before Oprah was a network sensation, and before Alicia Keys was earning Grammys, there was one woman who opened the door for them and many others. Her name was Hazel Scott, and she was a multi-talented Black woman who almost got erased from history.
Hazel Scott: musical genius
A musical genius has an exceptional natural captivity of intellect including creative and original work in music. Some might describe this type of intelligence as having a natural gift, to efficiently and elegantly play an instrument. By this title, it is fair to say Scott was a musical genius.
At the age of three, she could play piano by ear. Under the guidance of her mother Alma Scott, Hazel auditioned for the prestigious Juilliard School of Art and Dance at the young age of eight. At the time the youngest age to audition had been 16.
Scott auditioned by playing a rendition of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C-Sharp Minor”; she performed so well that she earned a scholarship to attend the school.
Attending one of the most prestigious art schools in the country was only the start of her career. At 13, she joined her mom’s jazz band and started playing professionally. At the budding age of 15, she began playing on her own and went on to perform opposite Count Basie’s big band at the Roseland Ballroom in New York.
Scott was a teenager who was playing professional gigs and still maintaining high grades in school. Her career started to advance in 1939 when she performed at New York’s first fully integrated nightclub, Café Society in Greenwich Village. This club was where Billie Holiday performed, and Holiday began to mentor Scott. When Holiday’s standing engagement at the club ended, Holiday insisted that Scott take her place.
Audiences fell in love with Scott. Her supreme piano skills captivated the public but what won them over was how she combined jazz with classical music. She would typically start off her set by playing a classical piece, then improvise by adding some jazz melodies to the song. Even though she wasn’t the first to do this, it was her unique talent and understanding of music that made her stand out. This technique was named “swinging the classics.”
In addition to her musical talents, growing up in a segregated United States often meant performing while fighting for equality and speaking out against inequalities.
Performer by day, activist by night
Following the example her mother set for her, of being a strong independent Black woman, Scott never succumbed to the pressures of a racist society.
When performing she refused to play for separate audiences and made sure this was specified in her contract. If a venue wouldn’t accommodate her request she would leave without doing her performance.
After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and signing with RKO, a major movie studio, she continued to use her art as a weapon of justice. She turned down numerous offered roles because she refused to play a demeaning role. Instead, she played herself in films and presented as the sophisticated and talented woman she was.
She took her piano skills to the screen and rendered a remarkable performance for the movie, The Heat’s On. During a scene, she sits between two pianos positioned at a diagonal. Dressed in an elegant all-white sparkling dress, she dazzled audiences by switching back and forth from one piano to the next, never missing a key. She even played both pianos simultaneously.
Behind the scenes of this unforgettable performance, she went on strike for three days because the production company had Black actresses wearing dirty costumes.
Scott at the time, was probably one of the most talented people in Hollywood, which gave her even more reason to fight for equal pay. She ended up making up to $4,000 a week, which is equivalent to about $70,000 a week in the present day. Of course with her tenacious approach , reaching new career heights was simply a part of Scott’s life.
The shining light that was eventually put out
In July 1950 Scott became the first Black person to host their own show. The Hazel Scott Show was a 15-minute segment that featured her performances. While the show was widely popular, her fame didn’t last for too long. Scott became entangled in the Red Scare, a widespread hysteria that claimed communism threatened society.
Scott was accused of being a communist sympathizer. Despite these accusations, she didn’t go down without a fight. She appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee to shut down the accusations against her.
Shortly after her testimonial, her show was canceled, and the entertainment industry slowly started to blackball her.
Like other greats such as Josephine Baker, Scott left the United States and found a new audience in Europe. When she returned to the States over a decade later, the music scene had moved on from jazz, making it harder for Scott to regain her previous fame. Despite the change, she continued making music until she died in 1981.
What makes Scott truly remarkable besides her talent is that she never stopped speaking out even though her career was always in jeopardy.
Thanks to the internet and true fans, her music is now getting more recognition and her legacy can rightfully live on.
