Raymond Scott isn’t a household name compared to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig or the Roadrunner, but the composer played a vital role in the groundbreaking work at Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
Scott’s legacy is kept alive and celebrated in the recent release of Playland at the Beach (Little Village Foundation) from Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Orchestra which was spotlighted on the Jan. 6 edition of Greasy Tracks.
Here’s the archive, while a playlist is here.
In addition to an interview with Sanford, there was a tribute to Les McCann who passed away at the age of 88 on Dec. 29, 2023.
Multi-instrumentalist Sanford, who moved to San Francisco from his native New York City in 1976, started playing clarinet at age nine and was heavily influenced by Benny Goodman and The Great American Songbook. The classic 1956 release, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book, remains pivotal to his musical direction.
Sanford inherited 16 file cabinets of big band sheet music, including compositions by Scott whose work was admired by Carl Stalling, the musical director at Warner Brothers. Over the years, Stalling would adapt Scott’s material for more than 120 cartoons produced by Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies.
A half-dozen of Scott’s compositions appear on the new CD.
In the modern era, Scott’s compositions found their way onto a wide range of cartoons, including: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Bluey, The Oblongs and Duckman.
Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Band formed in 2002 and has specialized in mastering the incredibly challenging style of music Scott was renowned for which proved to be very entertaining, yet tough to play.
Sanford shares insight on Scott and the task of making Playland at the Beach a reality.