Tony Scott (musician)
Tony Scott (born Anthony Joseph Sciacca June 17, 1921[1] – March 28, 2007)[2] was an American jazz clarinetist and arranger with an interest in folk music around the world. For most of his career he was held in high esteem in new-age music circles because of his involvement in music linked to Asian cultures and to meditation.
"Tony Sciacca" redirects here. For journalist and biographer who uses that name, see Anthony Scaduto.
Tony Scott
Anthony Joseph Sciacca
June 17, 1921
Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.
March 28, 2007 (aged 85)
Rome, Italy
Jazz
Musician, arranger
Clarinet
1950–2000s
Biography[edit]
Born in Morristown, New Jersey, United States,[1] Scott attended Juilliard School from 1940 to 1942.[3] In the 1950s he worked with Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday.[1] He also had a young Bill Evans and Paul Motian as side-men on several albums released between 1957 and 1959.[1] In the late 1950s, he won on four occasions the DownBeat critics poll for clarinetist in 1955,[4] 1957,[5] 1958[6] and 1959.[7] He was known for a more "cool" style on the instrument than his peer Buddy DeFranco who often played a more aggressive bebop style.
Despite this, he remained relatively little-known as the clarinet had been in eclipse in jazz since the emergence of bebop. In 1959, he left New York City, where he had been based, and abandoned the United States for a time. In the 1960s, he toured South, East, and Southeast Asia.[2] This led to his playing in a Hindu temple, spending time in Japan, and releasing Music for Zen Meditation in 1964 for Verve Records. In 1960 a DownBeat poll for Japan saw readers there name him best clarinetist[8] while the United States preferred Buddy DeFranco. He did a Japanese special on Buddhism and jazz, although he continued to work with American jazz musicians and played at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965. In the years following that he worked in Germany, Africa, and at times in South America.
He settled in Italy in the 1970s, working with Italian jazz musicians such as Franco D'Andrea and Romano Mussolini. He also played the part of a Sicilian-American Mafia boss in Glauber Rocha's film Claro (1975). In later years he began showing an interest in electronica and, in 2002, his Hare Krishna was remixed by King Britt as a contribution to Verve Remixed.
In 2010, a documentary film by the Italian director Franco Maresco about the life of Scott was released titled Io sono Tony Scott, ovvero come l'Italia fece fuori il più grande clarinettista del jazz (English: I am Tony Scott. The Story of How Italy Got Rid of the Greatest Jazz Clarinetist).[9]
He died of prostate cancer in Rome at the age of 85.[2]