Billboard : 12/22/1958
Spotlight Jazz Talent

Miss Scott who showed great promise in support of Eddie Davis in “The Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis Cookbook” comes into her own with this effort. She’s inventive and imaginative with an original approach. She knows her way around the organ and is equally acceptable on the swingers and ballads. She is nicely paced in this set by G. Duvivier on bass and A. Edgehill on drums. Tunes include All Of You, Nothing Ever Changes My Love and Brazil. She’s definitely a comer.

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Cash Box : 01/10/1959

In the rarely heard from of jazz organists, the femme artist on the instrument comes as a most welcome attraction. Her command of the organ is one of being skillfully adept at employer the organ in true jazz expression. She swings inventively and brings a natural blues quality to the instrument. Four tracks offer ample proof of her noteworthy artistry in both moods. Extremely well-spoken series of jazz organ sides.

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Cleveland Call and Post
Bob Snead : 01/24/1959
Swinging the Hammond with Shirley Scott

It is said in some circles that females lack the drive and authenticity of really swinging jazz. We are also of that opinion, but there are always exceptions to any rule and Shirley Scott is one big exception. Shirley plays the organ with ail the swing and authentic drive necessary to be classed as an excellent jazz musician. It should be noted that she has achieved this distinction with an instrument that is relatively new to jazz.

The organ’s use as a jazz instrument, we believe was first introduced by the late Fats Waller in the thirties. Count Basie took some lessons from Waller and toyed with its keyboard in the late thirties. Milt Buckner who played piano with Basie also took up the organ and in the forties we saw the instrument begin to grow in popularity, but mostly it was used in the rhythm and blues vein by such artists as Wild Bill Davis, Bill Doggett and Jackie Davis, all ex-pianists. In the fifties the organ was in use in clubs throughout the country and in the last few years Shirley Scott, along with Jimmy Smith have really established the organ as a jazz piece.

Shirley, or Scottie as she is called by her friends, was born in Philadelphia on March 14, 1934. Her musical education began with the piano at the early age of six. She later attended the Ornstein School of Music in her native city, where she was also product of the Germantown Settlement House. During 1955, the year that Wild Bill Davis’ April In Paris really put the organ on the best seller list, she joined forces with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with whom she is currently appearing. It was Eddie’s feelings that the organ was not just a novelty but that it could become an important piece in jazz, and Scottie has proven this theory right.

With her initial album as a leader (Great Scott – Prestige 7143) just released and others to follow, Scottie is well on her way. This young miss has a burning desire to disprove a common statement that is often made concerning her in jazz circles, that, “She plays good… for a girl”. Shirley Scott, in our opinion, is an exceptionally talented jazz organist, one of the two foremost jazz organists of the day. … “She’s Great … Great Scott.”

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High Fidelity
John S. Wilson : May, 1959

Miss Scott is one of the pleasanter additions to the growing school of Hammond organists who dally with some variant of jazz. She ranges capably from a subdued pop-jazz style to something akin to the desperate frenzy of Jimmy Smith. As one who strikes a middle ground between Smith and the rocking thud of, say, Wild Bill Davis, she may have a wider appeal to jazz listeners than either of them; but to my ear the monotonous stridency of the electric organ when it gets beyond the cushion of moody balladry keeps it from being a satisfactory jazz instrument.

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Jazz Journal
Gerald Lascelles : November, 1959

The Hammond organ is very much in fashion at present, especially in the cocktail bars and smaller clubs in New York. Its tonal range enables harassed owners to dispense with “noisy” saxophones and trumpets, which always threaten to disturb the peace and quiet of the sipping customers. For all that, it is an instrument capable of a good show of dynamics, and in the right hands it can be made to swing.

The right hands seem to be those of 25 year old Shirley Scott, full-time member of the Eddie Davis Trio, with whom she has worked for the past two years. On this album she appears without Davis, to my slight disappointment, but her work is excellent. Her rapid finger playing in the treble is amply suited to the technicalities of organ playing, and she is not afraid to make full use of the stops and couplers. Her slow treatment of Goodbye and Trees is particularly effective, but I admit that throughout the album the sound is too contrived to be completely satisfying. Duvivier and Edgehill deserve compliments for their thankless but excellent support.

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Toronto Star (Toronto, ON, Canada)
Roger Feather : 01/10/1959
Three stars

Miss Scott is an articulate, wailing organist who has been working at Count Basie’s bar in Harlem and with Eddie Davis. This is her first solo album and in many ways it is impressive. There is a joyous, swinging feeling here which never lets down. Unfortunately her lines, which build convincingly, seem to be repetitive and over-simplified after a while. But, still, she swings with authority.

Miss Scott runs through eight tunes with a fine sense of dynamics and shading. On up-tempos, like Cherokee, her timing is a little off but on mid-tempos such as All Of You she comes on with a tough-swinging, staccato feeling. Trees starts lightly but finishes as a resounding roar and Four shows her predictable, compulsive rhythm. She is not as intense as Jimmy Smith, the best contemporary jazz organist, although her impact is more direct.

The musical content here is a little weak but the atmosphere Miss Scott creates is excellent. This is an emotionally charged album which should find a lot of favor.

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Down Beat : 03/19/1959
John A. Tynan : 3.5 stars

Miss Scott, who holds down the organ bench at Count Basie’s pub in New York, is one of the hardest swingers on her instrument. Backed in this set by the rhythm duo of Duvivier and Edgehill, the organist explores freely the potential of her instrument in hard jazz context as well as ballads (Goodbye and Nothing) and, in addition, demonstrates her ability to knock off good pop choruses on Brazil and Nothing.

One feels from her playing that she is first an organist, a jazz player second; just as one might say the opposite holds for Jimmy Smith. In jazz, happily, the end always justifies the means, which is what makes Smith the major soloist he is. In the case of Miss Scott, her playing is all the more delightful because she seems really to appreciate the rich qualities and tonal values of the organ voice (s). This is most apparent on Goodbye which she approaches with caressing sympathy, coaxing the keys rather than merely depressing them.

She lacks the flexibility of Smith, his quick-fire inventions, flash, and daring. Moreover, her fondness for frequent and florid glissandi tends to weaken her lines. But Miss Scott plays with tremendous force and vitality, with powerful emphasis on massed chording, rhythmic shift of balance, and ever-changing tonal colors. In other words she knows her axe and takes full advantage of the knowledge.

Nothing, which begins as a sort of exotic ballad, becomes after the first chorus a medium-tempoed wailer. Trees is given a slow, but rocking, treatment; Cherokee begins on a trite note, with “redskin” tom-toms and so on, but when the trio gets down to business it becomes one of the best in the set. Duvivier walks a brief chorus in Cherokee, confining himself for the rest of the tracks to the role of faithful and sonorous accompanist.

Miss Scott has arrived as a leading organ voice in jazz. If her work still is a league or two behind Jimmy Smith’s, this by no means detracts from her great ability as a jazz organist.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

To some people, the organ is synonymous with a church service. To others, it brings to mind the days when they used to sing along with mighty Hammond during the intermissions at the New York Paramount or some similar movie palace; still others think of a sporting event at Madison Square Garden, Chicago Stadium, etc.

Certainly, the people who have their ears filled with organ music at skating rinks, ball parks and the typical cocktail lounge will not think of jazz in connection with the organ. Jazz aficionados may not immediately think of their favorite music either, but they are much more likely to than they would have ten years ago.

In the Thirties, Fats Waller set down some authentic jazz performances on the organ and Count Basie, who learned that instrument from Fats, has featured it on various occasions since Nobody Knows in 1939. It wasn’t until the Fifties, however, that the organ began to be more widely used in jazz. The musicians involved were all ex-pianists and, for the most part, were quartered in the rhythm and blues province of the jazz realm; “Wild Bill” Davis, Bill Doggett, Jackie Davis and Milt Buckner.

When Jimmy Smith came on the scene in the mid-Fifties, the organ had its first modern champion and many jazz listeners began paying attention to its many “stops” (and starts). Now there is a new star on the organ. She combines the “modern” with the blues feeling and presents a high, wide and wailing sound on the Hammond. Her name is Shirley Scott.

“She plays good – for a girl.” This statement has been heard many times in jazz circles. Overlooking the bad grammar, it has been true more often than not. There have been some notable exceptions (fill in your own choices) but, in the main, female jazz players have lacked, among other things, the swing and authentic drive which mark the bonafide jazz musician.

It doesn’t take long to realize that a genuine jazz feeling is embodied in the playing of Shirley Scott. She is only a slip of a girl but she makes that Hammond roar when she wants to. I might add, that she chooses the times when she wants to, very astutely.

Scottie, as she is affectionately called, was born in Philadelphia on March 14, 1934. She started her musical education on the piano at the age of six and later continued her studies at the Germantown Settlement House and the Ornstein School of Music. In 1955, she took up the organ and joined forces with tenorman
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis; the association has stayed intact for almost four years now, excepting the time that Eddie rejoined Count Basie for a few months in late 1957.

Davis felt that the organ was not a novelty instrument and, when in the right hands, it could be successfully utilized in jazz. Shirley has helped him to prove this. Together they have appeared at theatres like the Apollo in New York and the Howard in Washington; clubs in many Eastern cities including Birdland and Count Basie’s in New York. It is at the latter, that they have had their longest periods of residence. Scottie’s favorite organists are Jimmy Smith and and Jackie Davis. She also has evinced a liking for the playing of pianists Erroll Garner, Red Garland and Thelonious Monk.

Although she plays the bass line with her feet when playing with the Davis group in person, Shirley has chosen to record with a bassist.

George Duvivier, who also appeared with Shirley in The Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis Cookbook (Prestige 7141), is a musicians musician and a talented arranger. He studied violin first at the Conservatory of Music and Art in his native New York, composing and arranging at New York University. In the Forties he worked with Coleman Hawkins and Lucky Millinder, From 1942-45 he was in the Army and thereafter arranged for Jimmy Lunceford for a couple of years. George has been in the accompanying units for many singers in the Fifties including Nellie Lutcher, Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey and Billy Eckstine. He has also worked with the groups of Bud Powell and Chuck Wayne among others. Duvivier has expressed a liking for the playing of Jimmy Blanton and Ray Brown. His precise, yet powerful, work gives credence to this line of thought.

Arthur Edgehill, a regular member of the Davis group, is from Brooklyn, born there on July 21, 1956. He began studying drums in 1948 at the Parkway Music Institute, taking time out to go on the road with Mercer Ellington in the summer of 1949 before returning to New York to do further studying at Parkway (until 1952) and gig around. In 1953, Arthur was with Ben Webster at the Blue Flame. 1954 found him with Horace Silver at Minton’s; he split 1956 between Kenny Dorham’s Jazz Prophets and the Jazz Lab group of Gigi Gryce. In November of 1957 he joined Dinah Washington and remained with her until becoming a part of the Eddie Davis-Shirley Scott Trio in January of 1958. Stylistically, Arthur is descendant from the Clarke-Roach-Blakey mold. He names these three and Philly Joe Jones as his favorites.

Duvivier and Edgehill play strictly supporting roles in this set and play them well. It is Shirley’s album and she doesn’t let interest lag during her long exposure to the center spotlight. From the opening blues cooker, The Scott to the closing Brazil, treated both as a samba and in swinging 4/4, she covers a variety of tunes and moods. All Of You grooves happily along; Cherokee is an up-tempo flight with a walking solo by Duvivier; Four indicates her easy familiarity with modern jazz originals; Goodbye is a sensitive ballad reading; Trees, showing her Garner influence, is evergeen; Nothing Ever Changes My Love is a seldom-done number which receives a Latin feel in its melody statement.

Shirley Scott is a girl. At the organ, she does a man-sized job.