It was the early 60’s and we were off to New Haven for a visit to our friends Diane and Jerry. We had our baby son on board, and were off in our new 1963 VW bug. It had many of the extras available, like vinyl seats and a radio.
Jerry had grown up in new Haven and had gone to Yale, and was working on going to U Conn law school. All of this has no bearing on the story.
Jerry told me Bobby Scott, the very talented performer and song writer, the creator of “A Taste of Honey”, played in a local New Haven bar all the time. It sort of was like his place to be. We decided to go see him one afternoon, and leaving wives and baby together, we went off to the bar.
From The Encyclopedia of Popular Music:
29 January 1937, New York City, New York, USA, d. 5 November 1990, New York City, New York, USA.
Scott was a pianist, singer, composer, arranger, teacher and record producer. He also played several other instruments such as cello, bass, vibraphone, accordion and clarinet, but was mainly known for his jazz piano work and vocals.
Despite his early classical training, Scott turned to jazz in his teens, and played with small bands led by the likes of Louis Prima, Tony Scott and Gene Krupa, with whom he cut some sides for Verve Records. From 1954, he recorded under his own name for labels such as Bethlehem, Savoy, Atlantic and ABC, and in 1956 had a US Top 20 hit with ‘Chain Gang’, written by Sol Quasha and Hank Yakus (not the Sam Cooke song). In 1960, Scott wrote the title theme for Shelagh Delaney’s play A Taste Of Honey, which became popular for pianist Martin Denny and, when Ric Marlow added a lyric, for Tony Bennett. It was also included on the Beatles’ first UK album. The song won a Grammy in 1962, and three more when Herb Alpert took it into the US Top 10 in 1965.
In the early 60s Scott was the musical director for Dick Haymes for a time, and, as a pianist, arranger and record producer for Mercury Records, also maintained a close working relationship with Quincy Jones. Scott played piano on most of Jones’ Mercury albums, and accompanied Tania Vega and John Lee Hooker on Jones’ soundtrack music for the film The Color Purple (1986). As a producer, Scott supervised sessions for important artists such as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Darin, Harry Belafonte and Sarah Vaughan. He discovered and recorded guitarist/vocalist Perry Miller, who changed his name to Jesse Colin Young, and he is also credited with taking singer Bobby Hebb back to Mercury, although Scott left the label before Hebb released his biggest hit, ‘Sunny’, in 1966. Scott’s compositions included ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ (lyrics by Bob Russell), a hit for Neil Diamond (in 1970) and for the Hollies a year earlier and again in 1988, when it featured impressively in a UK television commercial for Miller Lite Lager; ‘Where Are You Going?’ (with Danny Meehan), sung by Joe Butler in the film Joe (1970); and ‘Slaves (Don’t You Know My Name?)’, performed by Dionne Warwick in the movie Slaves (1969).
Scott also composed incidental music for the play Dinny And The Witches, and several pieces for harp and string trios, including ‘The Giacometti Variations’, so-called because it was part-used as a radio advertisement for the Giacometti Exhibition held at the New York Museum of Modern Art. His compositions for guitar included ‘Solitude Book’ and ‘The Book Of Hours’, the latter recorded with Brazilian guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima. For Sentimental Reasons displayed Scott simply as an accomplished pianist, who also sang. He died of lung cancer in the year of its release.
Incredibly, Bobby Scott was at the piano in fine voice, and ran through some great jazz numbers. The patrons could care less in this little Italian neighborhood bar, and argued over the ball game as we listened to the music. They had great food, grinders and pasta etc.
After a few beers we left to go back to the apartment and I was parked on the street. We got into the car, I looked out of my left side mirror and saw nothing. I went forward. The oncoming car was in my blind spot (that’s very close) and when I pulled out he hit his brakes as hard as he could and he swerved. His car turned sideways and slid forward, missing me and missing everything. He stopped way down the street as I hit the gas, did a U turn, and got the hell out of there. I was shaking (as I am sure was the other driver) but I wasn’t going to stay to get yelled at and maybe even see the police. Drinking and driving don’t mix well and I didn’t need to explain all this to anyone. As well, no was hurt in any way and there was, thank God, no accident. Due to quick reflexes on the part of the other, unnamed driver, my family and I are all here today.
I thought later on about this, and have at least once a year thereafter, how different everything would have been if I was off by a second or two. My wife would have been a 19 year old widow, my son would have not have had a father, my other sons and daughters would never have been.
Here's the Hollies with A Taste of Honey:
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