Al Kooper and Stephen Stills – "Season of the Witch" (1968)

 

When I look over my shoulder

What do you think I see?

A few weeks ago, I was doing some research in preparation for writing about the 1968 Al Kooper-Stephen Stills cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” – which I had chosen to be a member of the 2022 class of the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME.

In the course of that research, I was surprised to discover that the horn parts for that recording had been arranged by Kooper and a gentleman named Joe Scott – who I had interviewed for 2 or 3 lines some eight years ago.

Everything about the Kooper-Stills version of “Season of the Witch” is purt near perfect.  Most of the heavy lifting was done by Kooper (on the Hammond B-3 organ) and Stills (on electric guitar).  But the frosting on the cake of that record are the horns.  

The horns come and go as the volume and intensity of the various segments of the eleven-minute-long “Season of the Witch” wax and wane.  When they cut loose about eight minutes in, they help create a truly ecstatic thirty seconds of let-it-all-hang-out music that is the emotional climax of the record.

The horns keep quiet during the remaining two and a half minutes of “Season of the Witch,” which gives us a much-needed opportunity to catch our breath and let our pulse rate return to normal.

Click here to listen to “Season of the Witch.”

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In 2014, I became more than a little obsessed with the Arbors’ 1969 recording of “The Letter.” (You may not remember that record, although it did peak at #20 on the Billboard “Hot 100.”  But I’m sure you’re familiar with the original recording of that song, which was a #1 hit for the Box Tops in 1967.)  

Joe Scott

With all due respect to the Arbors and the instrumentalists who backed them, what made their recording of “The Letter” so extraordinary was its inspired arrangement – which was the work of Joe Scott (né Joseph Scaduto), who was not only an arranger but also a very talented pianist and composer.

I eventually was able to track Joe Scott down and interview him.  I don’t remember exactly how long we spoke on the phone, but it was a very long conversation – Joe very kindly kept answering my questions until I finally ran out of them.

Here are links to the three 2 or 3 lines posts that I wrote after that conversation:

Click here to read my first Joe Scott post.

Click here to read the second post.

Click here to read the third one.

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I’ve written almost 2000 2 or 3 lines posts since 2009.  Most of them are trifling – personal reminiscences of no great interest to anyone except their narcissistic author, or “humorous” pieces that occasionally work but most often do not.

Every once in a while, I write a post that digs deeply into a record’s overarching structure and its component parts.  Despite sometimes losing sight of the forest for the trees and succumbing to pedantry, I think those posts are worthwhile because they provide some illumination of what makes a record tick.

But I’m proudest of the posts I’ve written that feature interviews with musicians who may no longer be  well-known (if they ever were) but who were responsible for producing great records that are still worth listening to.

Among that latter group of posts, I think the ones that feature my interview with Joe Scott may be the best I’ve ever done.  He helped create a record that was so unique and utterly beautiful that I can’t imagine I will ever tire of listening to it, and I think that his contribution to that work of musical art deserved to be explored in detail.

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When I discovered that Joe Scott had contributed to making “Season of the Witch” the great record that it is, I couldn’t wait to contact him and ask him what he remembered about his arranging collaboration with Kooper – who is only one of the most multitalented musicians of his generation.

But I was saddened to learn that Joe Scott died in February of this year after a long battle with leukemia.  

Joe Scott at the piano

From his obituary in the Palm Beach Post:

Joe was born to Sicilian immigrants Felipo and Maria Scaduto.  At an early age, Joe showed an extraordinary aptitude for music. In his teens, he attended Arts High School in Newark while working professionally on weekends and nights playing piano and accordion.  He went on to Manhattan School of Music where he earned a Bachelor and a Master degree.  During the sixties, Joe had a successful career arranging and conducting for such varied talents as Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and Phyllis Diller, to name a few.

Always full of surprises, in the seventies Joe decided to go to law school.  After practicing law for almost fifteen years, Joe retired to Palm Beach County with his family in the late eighties and returned to music.

Here in Florida, Joe performed and shared his love for classical music and jazz with students of all ages at Palm Beach State College and Floria Atlantic University Lifelong Learning in Jupiter, Boca Raton and Vero Beach.  For more than thirty years, Joe Scott was a well-known figure on the Palm Beach music scene.  Although Joe was incredibly modest about his musical achievements, the sound of his piano was loved by many and delighted thousands throughout his life.

Click here to watch a video of Joe performing with the Joe Scott Trio.

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As the Palm Beach Post obituary notes, Joe Scott’s many years of playing jazz piano in the Palm Beach area earned him many fans.  But I’m guessing very few of those people knew what an accomplished arranger he was.

I hope that my 2 or 3 lines posts about Joe Scott’s contributions to “The Letter” and “Season of the Witch” – two truly remarkable records – will help remedy that.