 Raymond
Scott is not a cartoon music composer, but most people
who grew up watching cartoons will know Scott's music
automatically. As a pianist, bandleader, and composer,
Raymond Scott created a bizarre form of jazz-like music
in the 1930's that was mined famously for the soundtracks
of numerous classic Warner Bros. cartoons starring Bugs
Bunny and Daffy Duck. Also a pioneer in electronic music,
Raymond Scott designed and built synthesizers and sequencers,
and crafted far-out "ambient" albums that
became landmarks of minimalist experimentation, pre-dating
similar works from PHILIP GLASS, KRAFTWERK, and BRIAN
ENO by more than a decade. To this day, Raymond Scott's
"cartoon jazz" and electronic music can be
heard in television commercials, feature films, and
newer cartoons, and his musical influence is even more
far reaching.
Just as Bernard Hermann defined the sound of horror
with his screeching string section in PSYCHO's infamous
shower scene, or John Williams defined suspense with
two repeating notes in JAWS, Raymond Scott did something
similar with cartoons. The only difference is that Raymond
did this unknowingly, and perhaps unwillingly.
I get the feeling that Raymond probably didn't even
like cartoons. Everything I've read described a very
serious and rigid man with a calculated sense of humor.
It is almost ironic that his music will always be associated
with zany cartoons.
I discovered Raymond Scott by way of these same cartoons
that I watched religiously as a child in the 80's. At
the time, I had no idea what I was hearing, but that
music left an irreversible impression that has, with
out a doubt, guided me to where I am musically today.
It's amazing for me to reflect on this now, the week
that the cartoon I just did music for (Making Fiends)
is premiering on television.
Raymond Scott taught me the importance of a strong sense
of melody. It is, after all, what makes good pop music
... popular! But Raymond Scott also taught me to break
away from convention as a composer; to follow my instinctual
ticks and spasms. If I sneeze while writing, it can
become part of the music. Scott possesses a child-like
freedom in his writing that it unmatched. But what makes
THAT so special is that he had the skill set of a classical
composer. He combined those two elements into a beautiful
and hyperactive musical A.D.D. that is completely and
uniquely RAYMOND SCOTT.
-Ego Plum
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