In March, we look forward to celebrating the great ladies of jazz during Women’s History Month, an opportunity to highlight the contributions of leagues of women in the historically male-dominated field of jazz. One of those figures is pianist Hazel Scott, a pioneering musician, entertainer, and activist.
In jazz circles, Hazel Scott is best remembered as a dazzling pianist. She was recognized early as a piano prodigy; having taken up the instrument at the age of 3, she began studying at the esteemed Juilliard School of Music at just 8 years old, where, upon hearing hear play, the school’s founder uttered, “I am in the presence of a genius.” Her mother, also an accomplished pianist, found herself performing with another renowned jazz woman, Lil Hardin, and through these channels, Scott garnered close, familial relationships with the likes of Fats Waller, Art Tatum, and Lester Young. In her teens, she performed as an intermission pianist at New York City’s famed Roseland Ballroom and headlined at the Café Society before her 20th birthday.
Scott quickly became an in-demand performer and entertainer, appearing on Broadway and in Hollywood through the 1940’s, using her stature to advocate for pay equity for black actors and leading a successful strike against dehumanizing depictions in film. In 1950, Scott became the first black woman to host her own network television program, The Hazel Scott Show, nationally-syndicated on the DuMont network. Scott broadcast to homes across America three nights a week through the summer, where Scott frequently appeared with fellow jazz greats like Charles Mingus and Max Roach. But Scott’s association with the Café Society and her efforts as a civil rights activist drew the ire of McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee, and though she was neither a member of the Communist party nor a Communist sympathizer, the charges leveled against her brought her career in the U.S. to a standstill.
Though Hazel Scott was not frequently recorded, we are fortunate to enjoy many film and television appearances that still survive today. Through YouTube, you’ll be floored by her prodigious technique, playing runs that rival Art Tatum, backed by a stride left hand that exceeds the talents of Fats Waller or Oscar Peterson, so I encourage you to seek her out.