View source for Hazel Scott

{{Short description|American pianist and singer (1920–1981)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Hazel Scott
| image              = Hazel Scott 1947.jpg
| caption            = Scott in 1947
| birth_name         = Hazel Dorothy Scott
| birth_place        = [[Port of Spain]], Trinidad and Tobago
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|year=1920|month=6|day=11|mf=yes}}
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1981|10|2|1920|6|11|mf=yes}}
| death_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation         = Pianist, singer
| known for          = The first black American to host her own TV show, ''[[The Hazel Scott Show]]''
| spouse             = [[Adam Clayton Powell Jr.]]
| children           = [[Adam Clayton Powell III]]
}}

'''Hazel Dorothy Scott''' (June 11, 1920 – October 2, 1981) was a [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] American [[jazz]] and [[European classical music|classical]] pianist and singer. An outspoken critic of [[racial discrimination]] and [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]], she used her influence to improve the representation of Black Americans in film.<ref name=":1" />

Born in [[Port of Spain]], Scott moved to New York City with her mother at the age of four. Scott was a child [[Child prodigy|musical prodigy]], receiving scholarships to study at the [[Juilliard School]] when she was eight. In her teens, she performed at [[Café Society]] while still at school.<ref name="WaPo2022">{{cite news|last=McHugh|first=Jess|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/04/24/hazel-scott-jim-crow/|title=Hazel Scott, pioneering Black star, used her fame to fight Jim Crow|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 24, 2022|access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref> She also performed on the radio.

She was active as a [[jazz]] singer throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In 1950, she became the first black American to host her own TV show, ''[[The Hazel Scott Show]]''.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web|last1=Chilton|first1=Karen|title=Hazel Scott's Lifetime of High Notes|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/womens-history/hazel-scotts-lifetime-of-high-notes-145939027/|website=smithsonian.com|publisher=Smithsonian|access-date=November 30, 2016|date=October 15, 2009|quote=...the first black performer to host her own nationally syndicated television show.}}</ref> Her career in the United States faltered after she testified before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] in 1950 during the era of [[Joseph McCarthy|McCarthyism]]. Scott subsequently moved to [[Paris]], France, in 1957 and began performing in Europe, not returning to the United States until 1967.

==Early life==
Born in [[Port of Spain]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], on June 11, 1920,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Piano Music by Black Women Composers: A Catalog of Solo and Ensemble Works|last=Walker-Hill|first=Helen|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1992|isbn=0-313-28141-6|location=Westport, CT|pages=[https://archive.org/details/pianomusicbyblac0000walk/page/93 93]|url=https://archive.org/details/pianomusicbyblac0000walk/page/93}}</ref> Hazel Dorothy Scott was the only child of R. Thomas Scott, a West African scholar from [[Liverpool|Liverpool, England]], and Alma Long Scott, a classically trained pianist, and music teacher. In 1924, the family moved from [[Trinidad]] to the United States and settled in [[Harlem]], New York City.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/10/04/hazel-scott-jazz-pianist-singer-dies/a6a2da7e-afc2-424c-af56-dac992e729e0/ "Hazel Scott, Jazz Pianist, Singer Dies"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', October 4, 1981.</ref> Her parents had separated by this time, and Scott lived with her mother and grandmother.<ref name="NWHM">{{cite web|last=Brandman|first=Mariana |url=https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/hazel-scott|title=Hazel Scott (1920–1981)|website=National Women's History Museum|date=2020–2022|access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref>

By now, Scott could play anything she heard on the piano. With her mother's guidance and training, she mastered advanced piano techniques and was labeled a child prodigy.<ref>Chilton, Karen. [https://www.press.umich.edu/3298770/hazel_scott ''Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112130037/https://www.press.umich.edu/3298770/hazel_scott |date=January 12, 2021 }}, University of Michigan Press, 2010.</ref> When Scott was eight years old, she began studying with Professor Paul Wagner of the [[Juilliard School|Juilliard School of Music]]. In 1933, her mother organized her own Alma Long Scott's All-Girl Jazz Band, where Scott played the piano and trumpet.<ref>Walker-Hill, Helen. ''Piano Music by Black Women Composers : a Catalog of Solo and Ensemble Works''. New York : Greenwood Press, January 1, 1992. [archive.org/details/pianomusicbyblac0000walk/page/111 Internet Archive.]</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Hazel Scott 1962.jpg|thumbnail|Scott during a visit to Israel, 1962]]
By the age of 16, Hazel Scott regularly performed for radio programs for the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]], gaining a reputation as the "hot classicist".<ref name="Hot">[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,773793,00.html "Hot Classicist"], ''Time'' Magazine, October 5, 1941.</ref> In the mid-1930s, she also performed at the [[Roseland Ballroom|Roseland Dance Hall]] with the [[Count Basie Orchestra]]. Her early musical theatre appearances in New York included the ''[[Cotton Club Revue of 1938]]'', ''[[Sing Out the News]]'' alongside [[Will Geer]], [[June Allyson]] and [[Maude Simmons]];<ref>"Playbill: Sing Out the News". ''The Music Box''. 1938. Retrieved May 13, 2025.</ref> and ''[[The Priorities of 1942]]''.<ref name="Hot"/>

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Scott performed [[jazz]], [[blues]], ballads, [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and [[boogie-woogie]] songs, and classical music in various nightclubs. [[Barney Josephson]], the owner of the [[Black and tan clubs|black and tan club]] [[Café Society]], hired her<ref>Pool, Jeannie. ''[[ARSC Journal]]''; Annapolis, Vol. 41, Iss. 2, &nbsp;(Fall 2010): 273–276, 310. {{ProQuest|820920429}}</ref> and, from 1939 to 1943, she was a leading attraction at both the downtown and uptown branches of Café Society. Her performances created national prestige for the practice of "swinging the classics".<ref>McGee, Kristin (2009). "Swinging the Classics", in ''Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1929–1959'' (Wesleyan University Press: 113–133).</ref> By 1945, Scott was earning $75,000 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|75000|1945|r=0}}}} today){{Inflation-fn|US}} a year.<ref name="life1945081330">{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA30 | title=Powell Weds Scott | magazine=Life | date=August 13, 1945 | access-date=November 25, 2011 | pages=30}}</ref>

Along with [[Lena Horne]], Scott was one of the first black women to gain respectable roles in major Hollywood pictures. She refused to take roles in Hollywood playing a "singing maid", and she turned down the first four roles she was offered for this reason.{{sfn|Chilton|2008|p=73}}<ref name="WaPo2022" /> When she began performing in Hollywood films, she insisted on having final cut privileges when it came to her appearance.{{sfn|Chilton|2008|p=125}} She performed as herself in the films ''[[I Dood It]]'' ([[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]], 1943), ''[[Broadway Rhythm]]'' ([[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]], 1944) with [[Lena Horne]], in the otherwise all-white cast of ''[[The Heat's On]]'' (Columbia, 1943), ''[[Something to Shout About (film)|Something to Shout About]]'' (Columbia, 1943), and ''[[Rhapsody in Blue (film)|Rhapsody in Blue]]'' (Warner Bros, 1945). She appeared in five Hollywood films in all, always insisting on the credit line "Miss Hazel Scott as Herself", and wearing her own clothes and jewelry to protect her image.<ref name="WaPo2022" /> Her final break with [[Columbia Pictures]]' [[Harry Cohn]] involved "a costume which she felt stereotyped blacks".{{sfn|Chilton|2008|p=125}} In the 1940s, in addition to her film appearances, she was featured in Café Society's ''From Bach to Boogie-Woogie'' concerts in 1941 and 1943 at [[Carnegie Hall]].
[[File:Hazel Scott on December 17, 1943 playing at Naval Station Great Lakes - 80-G-294759 (28080175326) (cropped).jpg|left|thumb| Scott on December 17, 1943, playing at [[Naval Station Great Lakes]]]]
She was the first person of African descent to have her own television show in America, ''[[The Hazel Scott Show]]'', which premiered on the [[DuMont Television Network]] on July 3, 1950. ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' reported that "Hazel Scott has a neat little show in this modest package," its "most engaging element" being Scott herself.<ref name="Smithsonian"/> The show became so popular, it soon ran three times a week. On the show, Scott performed with the jazz musicians [[Charles Mingus]] and [[Max Roach]] who were among the members of her supporting band.<ref name="WaPo2022" />

==Activism and blacklisting==
===Civil rights===
Scott had long been committed to [[Civil rights movement (1896–1954)|civil rights]].{{sfn|Chilton|2008|p=73}} Scott refused to perform in [[Racial segregation|segregated]] venues when she was on tour. She was once escorted from the city of [[Austin, Texas]] by [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]] because she refused to perform when she discovered that black and white patrons were seated separately. "Why would anyone come to hear me, a Negro," she told ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, "and refuse to sit beside someone just like me?"<ref>West, Hollie I. "Hazel Scott Reflects", ''The Washington Post'', July 4, 1970, pp. 1–2. {{ProQuest|147931995}}</ref>{{sfn|Chilton|2008|p=138}}

In 1949, Scott brought a suit against the owners of a [[Pasco, Washington]] restaurant when a waitress refused to serve Scott and her traveling companion, Mrs. Eunice Wolfe, because "they were Negroes".<ref>{{cite news|title=Pianist, Husband Sue Cafe Owners|newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle|date=February 17, 1949}}</ref> Scott's victory helped African Americans challenge racial discrimination in [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], as well as inspiring civil rights organizations "to pressure the Washington state legislature to enact the Public Accommodations Act" in 1953.<ref name=Mack>{{cite journal|last=Mack|first=Dwayne|title=Hazel Scott: A Career Curtailed|journal=Journal of African American History|date=Spring 2006|volume=91|issue=2|page=160|doi=10.1086/JAAHv91n2p153|s2cid=141017145}}</ref>

===McCarthyism===
With the advent of the [[Red Scare]] in the television industry, Scott's name appeared in ''[[Red Channels|Red Channels: A Report on Communist Influence in Radio and Television]]'' in June 1950. In an effort to clear her name, Scott voluntarily appeared before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) on September 22, 1950, and insisted on reading a prepared statement.<ref name="HUAC">{{cite book|author=United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities.
|title=Testimony of Hazel Scott Powell: hearing before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-first Congress, second session, September 22, 1950.|publisher=Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1951.|year=1951|oclc=34988798}}</ref> She denied that she was "ever knowingly connected with the Communist Party or any of its front organizations." However, she stated that she had supported Communist Party member [[Benjamin J. Davis]]'s run for City Council, arguing that Davis was supported by socialists, a group that "has hated Communists longer and more fiercely than any other."<ref>{{cite news|title=Testimony of Hazel Scott Powell|newspaper=Hearing Before the Committee on Un-American Activities|date=September 22, 1950}}</ref> She also expressed her frustrations with the mass amount of false accusations of entertainers and offered the suggestion to use "democratic methods to immediately eliminate a good many irresponsible charges." Scott concluded her statement to the HUAC with a request that entertainers be not already "covered with the mud of slander and the filth of scandal" when proving their loyalty to the United States.<ref>US Congress, 81st. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112042685518&view=1up&seq=8 "Testimony of Hazel Scott Powell: Hearing before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session, ...]" HathiTrust, 22 Sep 195AD.</ref>

Her television variety program, ''The Hazel Scott Show'', was cancelled a week after Scott appeared before HUAC, on September 29, 1950. (Her program predated [[Nat King Cole]]'s show by six years.) Scott suffered a nervous breakdown in 1951. On returning to full health, Scott continued to perform in the United States and Europe, even getting sporadic bookings on television variety shows like ''[[Cavalcade of Stars]]'' and guest starring in an episode of [[CBS Television]]'s ''[[Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town]]'' musical series. Scott's short-lived television show "provided a glimmer of hope for African American viewers"<ref name=Mack /> during a time of continued racial bias in the broadcasting industry and economic hardships for jazz musicians in general. Scott remained publicly opposed to [[McCarthyism]] and [[racial segregation]] throughout her career.
[[File:Hazel Scott in Israel on December 2, 1962 - D796-100 (39283268700) (cropped).jpg|thumb| Scott in Israel on December 2, 1962]]

===In France (1957–67)===
To evade political fallout in the United States, Scott moved to Paris in 1957. She appeared in the French [[Gilles Grangier]] crime film ''[[Le désordre et la nuit]]'' (1958).<ref name="WaPo2022" /> In 1963, she marched with a number of other African-American expatriates, including [[James Baldwin]], to the US Embassy in Paris to demonstrate support of the upcoming [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Mack|first=Dwayne|year=2006|title=Hazel Scott: A Career Curtailed|journal=The Journal of African American History|volume=91|issue=2|pages=153–170|issn=1548-1867|jstor=20064068|doi=10.1086/JAAHv91n2p153|s2cid=141017145}}</ref>

===Later US years (1967–81)===
Scott did not return to the US until 1967. By this time, the [[Civil Rights Movement]] had led to federal legislation making racial segregation in housing and public accommodations illegal and enforcing the protection of voting rights of all citizens in addition to other social advances.

Scott continued to perform occasionally in nightclubs, while also appearing on daytime television, until the year of her death. She made her television acting debut in 1970, performing as Dolly Martin in the [[NBC]] drama ''[[The Bold Ones: The New Doctors]],'' the "If I Can't Sing, I'll Listen" episode. In 1973 on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] daytime soap opera ''[[One Life to Live]]'', she performed a wedding song at the nuptials of her "onscreen cousin" Carla Gray Hall, portrayed by [[Ellen Holly]].

==Personal life==
Although a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], Scott in 1945 married Baptist minister and US Congressman [[Adam Clayton Powell Jr.|Adam Clayton Powell]].<ref name="life1945081330" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Alexander|first=Michael Scott|date=January 21, 2021|title=How the pianist Mary Lou Williams found God (and made it to the Vatican)|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/01/21/mary-lou-williams-jazz-mass-vatican-239753|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=America Magazine|language=en}}</ref> The couple had one child, [[Adam Clayton Powell III]], but divorced in 1960 after a separation. Their relationship provoked controversy, as Powell was married when their affair began.<ref name="Smithsonian"/> At the end of 1960, Powell married his secretary.<ref name= Mile>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110205060744/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872082,00.html "Milestones: Feb. 3, 1961: Marriage Revealed"], ''Time'' Magazine, February 3, 1961. Retrieved October 19, 2011.</ref>

On January 19, 1961, Scott married Ezio Bedin, a Swiss-Italian comedian who was 15 years her junior; they divorced a few years later, before her return to the U.S.<ref name= Mile/><ref>{{cite magazine | last =Robinson | first =Louie | title =Hazel Scott comes home to the 'action': Famed pianist returns from Paris to make new bid for US stardom | magazine =Ebony |volume=23 |number= 5 | pages =98, 104, (96–104) | date =March 1968 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=nNkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA96 | access-date = May 9, 2020 }}</ref>

===Bahá'í Faith===
Scott had heard about the [[Bahá'í Faith]] from her longtime friend [[Dizzy Gillespie]], who joined the religion in early 1968.<ref name="EngleBio" /> Following heartfelt conversations with him, she joined the faith in late 1968.<ref>[https://www.aaihs.org/spirits-rejoice-jazz-and-american-religion-book-review/ "Spirits Rejoice!: Jazz and American Religion (Book Review)"], ''Black Perspectives'', September 28, 2015.</ref><ref name="EngleBio">{{cite book | author1=Susan Engle |author2= Luthando Mazibuko | title =Hazel Scott: A Woman, a Piano, and a Commitment to Justice | publisher =Bellwood Press | date =2021 | location =Wilmette, IL | pages =147–148 |isbn= 9781618511942 |oclc= 1264407771}}</ref> While she was at [[Vic Damone]]'s career re-announcement in late 1968,<ref name="Feather1968">*{{cite news | title = Vic Damone finds career on rise |author= Leonard Feather | author-link =Leonard Feather | newspaper =Los Angeles Times | location =Los Angeles, California | page =94 | date =December 2, 1968| url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97923563/profile-of-new-bahais-vic-damone/ | access-date =March 19, 2022}}
*{{cite news | title = Ebb has turned – the new Vic Damone |author= Leonard Feather| author-link =Leonard Feather | newspaper =The Atlanta Constitution | location =Atlanta, Georgia | page =95 | date =December 29, 1968| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97923588/profile-of-new-bahais-vic-damone/ | access-date =March 19, 2022}}</ref> she was introduced by Damone to the crowd recalling how he was an usher for her show. This might have been the November 1942 performance by Scott and others at the [[Paramount Theatre (Manhattan)|Paramount Theatre]].<ref>{{cite news | title = …Reel Review… |author= Edgar Price | newspaper =The Brooklyn Citizen | location =Brooklyn, New York | page =10 | date =November 12, 1942| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97931484/later-bahai-hazel-scott-performance/ | access-date =March 19, 2022}}</ref> Damone shared with the crowd that she had just recently been at a Bahá'í fireside, an informational meeting of the religion, at his home and had joined the religion – Scott was very moved and in tears.<ref name=Feather1968/> Scott also sang at an October 1970 award dinner in New York – singing "[[(Ah, the Apple Trees) When the World Was Young|When the World was Young]]", "A Lonely Christmas", "[[Put a Little Love in Your Heart]]" for an International Education Year Award to James L. Olivero, who remembered Louis Gregory, presented by Daniel Jordan of the Bahá'ís on behalf of the US National Spiritual Assembly.<ref>* {{cite news
 | title = Area Baha'is attend Awards Luncheon | newspaper =Record-Journal | location =Meriden, Connecticut | page =9 | date =October 19, 1970| url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97923637/bahai-educator-louis-g-gregory-award/ | access-date =March 19, 2022}}
* {{cite news | title =Awards Luncheon Climaxes International Education Year Observance | newspaper =Baha'i News |number=477 | pages =8, 10 | date =December 1980 | url =https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_477.pdf&page=8 | access-date =March 19, 2022}}</ref> Her singing was praised by [[Whitney Young]], executive director of the National Urban League, who was speaking at the event.<ref>{{cite news | title = NABOHR Awards Highlight International Education Year | newspaper =The American Bahá'í | page =7 | date =November 1970 | url =https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’%C3%AD_November_1970.pdf&page=7
 | access-date =March 19, 2022}}</ref> A musicale was held in Kingston, Jamaica, in May 1971, entitled ''The Sounds of a New World'', co-presented by Scott with [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Seals and Crofts]], and [[Linda Marshall]] and others, as part of a ship-and-shore conference of Bahá'ís.<ref>{{cite news | title =Baha'is planning Caribbean Conference | newspaper =The Tennessean | location =Nashville, Tennessee | page =40 | date =May 16, 1971| url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97923357/bahais-on-caribbean-conference/ | access-date =March 19, 2022}}</ref>

===Death===
On October 2, 1981, Hazel Scott died of cancer at [[Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)|Mount Sinai Hospital]] in [[Manhattan]]. She was 61 years old. She is buried at [[Flushing Cemetery]] in [[Queens, New York|Queens]], New York, near other musicians including [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Johnny Hodges]], and [[Dizzy Gillespie]] (who died in 1993).<ref name="Ledbetter"/>

==Legacy==
Scott was renowned as a virtuosic jazz pianist, in addition to her successes in dramatic acting and classical music. She also used her status as one of the best-known African-American entertainers of her generation to shine a spotlight on issues of racial injustice and civil rights.
Scott recorded as the leader of various groups for [[Decca Records|Decca]], [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] and [[Signature Records|Signature]], among them a trio that consisted of [[Bill English (musician)|Bill English]] and the double-bass player Martin Rivera, and another trio with [[Charles Mingus]] on bass and [[Rudie Nichols]] on drums. Her 1955 album ''Relaxed Piano Moods'' on the [[Debut Records|Debut]] label, with Mingus and Roach, is generally her work most highly regarded by critics today. Her unique swinging style and fusion of jazz and classical influences kept her in demand for performances through the very end of her life.<ref name="Ledbetter">{{cite news |last=Ledbetter|first=Les|title=Hazel Scott, 61, Jazz Pianist, Acted In Films, On Broadway |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3061FF83E5D0C708CDDA90994D9484D81 |work=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1981 |access-date=June 18, 2008 }}</ref> [[Alicia Keys]] cited Scott as her inspiration for her performance at the [[61st Grammy Awards]], saying: "I've been thinking about people who inspire me; shout out to Hazel Scott, I've always wanted to play two pianos."

In 2020, she was the subject of the [[BBC World Service]] programme ''Hazel Scott: Jazz star and barrier breaker'' in the series ''[[The Forum (radio programme)|The Forum]]''.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszjv9 "Hazel Scott: Jazz star and barrier breaker"], ''The Forum'', BBC World Service, May 8, 2020.</ref>

In ''When Women Invented Television'', author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong features her as one of four women who had a major influence on the medium.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2021/03/20/979491399/when-women-invented-television-gives-1940s-50s-creative-powerhouses-their-due 'When Women Invented Television' Gives 1940s, '50s Creative Powerhouses Their Due"], ''Weekend Edition Saturday'', [[National Public Radio]], March 20, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2021.</ref>

In 2022, [[Dance Theatre of Harlem]] debuted a new ballet about the life of Hazel Scott.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Perspective {{!}} McCarthyism silenced this Black icon. Now dancers are making noise. |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2022/10/13/hazel-scott-jazz-pianist-mccarthy-huac/ |access-date=2023-05-03 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

On February 21, 2025, the [[American Masters]] documentary ''The Disappearance of Miss Scott'' aired on [[PBS]] stations.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/hazel-scott-documentary/35137/ |title=The Disappearance of Miss Scott - Hazel Scott documentary {{!}} American Masters |date=2025-01-16 |last=Skinner |first=Joe |language=en-US |access-date=2025-02-01 |via=www.pbs.org}}</ref>

==Selected discography==
* ''Swinging the Classics: Piano Solos in Swing Style with Drums'' ([[Decca Records|Decca]] #A-212 [78rpm 3-disc album set], 1941; reissue: Decca #DL-5130 [10" LP], 1949)
* ''Her Second Album of Piano Solos with Drums Acc.'' (Decca #A-321 [78rpm 3-disc album set], 1942)
* ''A Piano Recital'' ([[Signature Records|Signature]] #S-1 [78rpm 4-disc album set], 1946)
* ''Great Scott!'' ([[Columbia Records|Columbia]] #C-159 [78rpm 4-disc album set], 1947; reissue: Columbia #CL-6090 [10" LP], 1950)
* ''Two Toned Piano Recital'' ([[Coral Records|Coral]] #CRL-56057 [10" LP], 1952)
* ''Hazel Scott's Late Show'' ([[Capitol Records|Capitol]] #H-364 [10" LP], 1953)
* ''Grand Jazz'' (Decca [Fr] #FM-133.529, 1954)
* ''Relaxed Piano Moods'' ([[Debut Records|Debut]] #DLP-16 [10" LP], 1955)
* ''{{'}}Round Midnight'' (Decca #DL-8474, 1957)
* ''Hazel Scott Joue Et Chante'' ([[Polydor Records|Polydor]] [Fr] #20 761 [7" EP], 1957)
* ''Le Desordre Et La Nuit'' (Polydor [Fr] #20 816 [7" EP], 1958)
* ''Viens Danser'' (Polydor [Fr] #20 842 [7" EP], 1958)
* ''Hazel Scott'' (Consul [Fr] #CM-2053 [7" EP], 1965)
* ''Always'' (Image Records #IM-307, 1979)
* ''After Hours'' (Tioch Digital Records #TD-1013, 1983)

===CD compilations===
* ''The Chronological Hazel Scott 1939-1945'' ([[Classics]] #1308, 2003)
* ''The Chronological Hazel Scott 1946-1947'' (Classics #1448, 2007)
* ''Relaxed Piano Moods 'Round Midnight'' ([[Jasmine Records|Jasmine]] #JASMCD-2667, 2020)

===Other session work===
* Sextet Of The Rhythm Club Of London, "Calling All Bars" / "Mighty Like The Blues" ([[Bluebird Records|Bluebird]] B-10529, 1939)
* Sextet Of The Rhythm Club Of London, "Why Didn't William Tell?" / "You Gave Me The Go-By" (Bluebird B-10557, 1940)
* [[Charlie Parker]], ''The Complete Birth of the Bebop'' (Stash #ST-260, 1986) [replacing Al Haig for "Embraceable You", 1946]
* Charlie Parker, ''The Complete Birth of the Bebop'' (Stash #STCD-535, 1991) [the above "Embraceable You" session, 1946]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* "Bye-Bye Boogie: Hazel Scott leaves night clubs and moves to concert stage", ''[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]'', November 1945: 31–34.
* "Café Society Concert." ''Time'' Magazine, May 5, 1941.
* "Hazel Scott is Queen Once More in Warner's 'Rhapsody in Blue'", ''[[Chicago Defender]]'', September 1, 1945: 14.
* McAfee, J. Jr., "Scott, Hazel", CBY 1943 Obituary, ''JSN'', ii/4 (1982), 19.
* Bogle, Donald. 2001. "The Hazel Scott Show", in ''Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, pp.&nbsp;15–19.
* {{cite book|last=Chilton|first= Karen|title=Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC|publisher= University of Michigan Press|year= 2008}}
* [[Leonard Feather|Feather, Leonard]]. "Swinging the Classics", ''The New York Times'', May 18, 1941: X5.
* McGee, Kristin. "Swinging the Classics: Hazel Scott and Hollywood's Musical-Racial Matrix," in {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110823074406/http://www.upne.com/0-8195-6907-0.html ''Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928–1959'']}} (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press 2009) 113–133.
* Myter-Spencer, D.: "Hazel Scott, Jazz Pianist: Boogie-woogie and Beyond," ''Jazz Research Papers'', x (1990), 75.
* Reed, Bill. 1998. "The Movies: Hazel Scott", in ''Hot From Harlem: Profiles in Classic African-American Entertainment'', Los Angeles: Cellar Door Press, pp.&nbsp;110–128.
* Taubman, E. 1941. "Café Music Heard at Carnegie Hall", ''The New York Times'', April 24, 1941: 24.
* Taubman, E. 1943. "Swing feature Soviet Benefit: Café Society assures at least a thousand watches for the Russian Fighting Forces," ''The New York Times'', April 12, 1943: 28.
* Taylor, A. "Hazel Scott", ''Notes and Tones: Musician-to-Musician Interviews'' (Liège, Belgium, 1977, rev. and enlarged February 1993).

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | last=Armstrong | first=Jennifer | title=When women invented television: the untold story of the female powerhouses who pioneered the way we watch today | publisher=Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers | publication-place=New York, NY | year=2021 | isbn=978-0062973306 | oclc=1241185819 }}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Archival records|title=Hazel Scott papers, 1924–1986|location= Library of Congress|description_URL=https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu020025}}
* {{IMDb name|nm0779220}}
* {{discogs artist|Hazel Scott}}
* [https://www.npr.org/event/music/413944529/hazel-scott-on-piano-jazz Hazel Scott] on [[Marian McPartland]]'s ''[[Piano Jazz]]'' on [[NPR]]
* [https://newmusesproject.com/hazel_scott Hazel Scott - recordings and resources at New Muses Project]
* [http://thememorypalace.us/2016/12/promise/ Episode 101: "The Promise (Biography of Hazel Scott)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206131538/http://thememorypalace.us/2016/12/promise/ |date=February 6, 2018 }}. Nate DiMeo, ''The Memory Palace'' (podcast), December 19, 2016.
* [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDfizUThCDSWNYHRVXqkv5nFntcGmtXLP YouTube Playlist: Hazel Scott – Piano Solos, Vol. 2 (1942)]
* {{youtube|1HdnjTCMzpg}} Hazel Scott in "The Heat's On" 1943

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Hazel}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Trinidad and Tobago women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:African-American Catholics]]
[[Category:African-American jazz pianists]]
[[Category:African-American women musicians]]
[[Category:American Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:American jazz pianists]]
[[Category:American jazz singers]]
[[Category:American women jazz singers]]
[[Category:American women jazz pianists]]
[[Category:Burials at Flushing Cemetery]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Hollywood blacklist]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Juilliard School alumni]]
[[Category:Musicians from Port of Spain]]
[[Category:Powell family (New York)]]
[[Category:Singers from New York City]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago jazz musicians]]
[[Category:African-American women pianists]]