Tony Scott (musician)

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Tony Scott (born Anthony Sciacca June 17, 1921 - March 28, 2007) was a jazz clarinetist known for an interest in folk music around the world. For most of his career he has also been of some interest in New Age music circles because of his decades long interest 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,^[1]1957,^[2] 1958^[3] and 1959^[4] He was known for a more "cool", see cool jazz, style than Buddy DeFranco.

Despite this he remained relatively little-known as the clarinet had been in eclipse in jazz since the emergwence 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^[5] while the United States preferred Buddy DeFranco. More recently he also did a Japanese special on Buddhism and Jazz. That stated 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.

He has primarily settled in Italy since the 1980s. In Italy he worked with Italian jazz musicians like Franco D'Andrea and Romano Mussolini. In recent years he has also shown interest in Electronica and in 2002 his Hare Krishna was remixed by King Britt as a contribution to Verve Remixed.

He died in Rome, Italy at the age of 85.