Known as the queen of the organ, Shirley Scott was a beloved figure of the Philadelphia jazz scene, pioneering infectious soul-jazz grooves in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, leading her own band and releasing over 50 albums.

Growing up, her father ran a Speakeasy-type jazz club in the basement of the family home and Scott played piano and saxophone in school bands before turning to the organ at 18-years-old after hearing Jackie Davis and Jimmy Smith. As the popularity of the Hammond B-3 organ grew thanks to players like Fats Waller and Count Basie, Scott's swinging style mixed bebop with blues and gospel and earned her a place in Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis' group for five years.

She released her debut album 'Great Scott!' in 1958, but went on to work with her husband Stanley Turrentine in the early 1960s and played on his fine Blue Note albums 'Dearly Beloved' and 'Hustlin''. Her reputation as a solo artist grew, too, around that time with a run of albums for Prestige Records, but it was 1969's 'Shirley Scott & The Soul Saxes' for Atlantic which featured King Curtis and Hank Crawford, that stands out as classic piece of frazzled, funky, soul-jazz.

A small figure with a huge personality, she went on to record with saxophone players Harold Vick and Jimmy Forrest and trombonist Al Grey in the 1970s, taught jazz history at Cheyney University in Pennsylvania in the 1980s and worked as musical director of Bill Cosby's television show 'You Bet Your Life' in 1990s, all the while remaining a central figure in the Pennsylvania music community. Sadly diet pills caused Scott to suffer with heart problems, and despite receiving an $8 million compensation payout from a drug company, she was forced to stop performing and died in 2002, aged 67.

Shirley Scott

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