Tony Scott (musician)

Tony Scott (born Anthony Joseph Sciacca June 17, 1921 – March 28, 2007) was an American jazz clarinetist and arranger known for an interest in folk music around the world. For most of his career he was held in some esteem in new-age music circles because of his decades-long involvement in music linked to Asian cultures and to meditation.

Born in Morristown, New Jersey, Scott attended Juilliard School from 1940 to 1942. In the 1950s he worked with Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. He also had a young Bill Evans as a side-man. In the late 1950s he won on four occasions the Down Beat critics poll for clarinetist in 1955, 1957, 1958 and 1959 He was known for a more "cool" style than Buddy DeFranco.

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. 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 Down Beat poll for Japan saw readers there name him best clarinetist while the United States preferred Buddy DeFranco. More recently 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 1967 he put out his first album in eight years entitled Tony Scott: Homage To Lord Krishna. In the years following that he worked in Germany, Africa, and at times in South America.

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