March 25, 2008

 

 

Soulful jazz singer Jimmy Scott returns to Ann Arbor on Friday, May 9 at 8 pm at The Ark. The concert is co-presented by the Michigan Theater. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, March 29 at 10am.

Originally billed as “Little Jimmy” Scott, he was born in Cleveland in 1925 and has had a roller-coaster career with more setbacks than triumphs. A genetic condition kept him from developing a full-sized adult body, and gave him the soaring falsetto that marks his memorable singing.

He has performed with many fellow musical greats, including Ray Charles, who recorded Scott on his own label, and Lionel Hampton (who discovered him). He has also worked with pop and rock artists such as Lou Reed and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Absolutely no one sounds like Jimmy Scott. His penetrating, almost feminine tenor, with its wide vibrato and behind-the-beat phrasing, absorbs every nuance of a lyric. He scored his first hit in 1950 (“Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”) with the Hampton orchestra, the diminutive vocalist had fallen into obscurity during the 1970s and ’80s before his rediscovery in the 1990s. Signed to Milestone Records on the cusp of the 21st century, Scott made a series of deeply affecting discs, comprised mostly of his hallmark blue ballads.

Stymied for decades by record company maneuvering, his career got back on track in the 1990s, when he appeared in the final episode of David Lynch’s TV series, Twin Peaks and the movie sequel, Fire Walk with Me. A Grammy-nominated LP, All the Way, followed in 1992.

“This man is all about feeling. He defined what ‘soul’ is all about in singing long before anyone was using that word.” -- Ray Charles

It will be Scott’s first area appearance since the 1997 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, when he performed four sold-out concerts at the Bird of Paradise in its former home on Ashley Street.

Tickets are $35 general admission and $42 (limited reserved seating), available at theark.org, ticketmaster.com, Michigan Union Ticket Office and all Ticketmaster locations, or charge by phone at 734-763-TKTS.

The media sponsor for the concert is WEMU-FM. Please visit the Ark web site for more information: www.theark.org.