Hazel Scott Par Irina Leach

Jazz, standards, female singers

Hazel Dorothy Scott (1920-1981) was a brilliant jazz pianist and singer.
She was a child prodigy; her mother was a classical pianist, and she played pieces she heard by ear and began to improvise. At the age of 8, she entered the Julliard School and studied classical music, which she would incorporate throughout her career as a pianist.
At 15, she opened for Count Basie's concerts, recorded her first album at just 20 years old, and quickly began playing in New York clubs where she rubbed shoulders with artists such as Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, and others. She also performed on Broadway in several musicals, including Singing Out the News (1938) and Priorities of 1942 (1942).
As she became increasingly famous, she began a career in Hollywood and was the first African-American woman to have her own television show, the Hazel Scott Show, on the DuMont Television Network, starting in 1950. In 1955, she recorded Relaxed Piano Moods with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, one of her most famous albums.
She also publicly denounced racial segregation and misogynistic society.In response to her commitment, her show was taken off the air, concerts were canceled, and she was accused of being a communist. To escape the difficulties she encountered in the United States, she moved to France for a few years. She returned to the United States in 1967, where she ended her life without regaining the same success she had enjoyed before.

Still too little known and underestimated, Hazel Scott was an outstanding pianist with legendary technique and great musicality. Hazel Scott's music continues to resonate, inspiring generations of artists. Irina Leach, Léna Aubert, and Paul Lefevre pay tribute to her in this unique evening.