American Masters: The Disappearance of Miss Scott, on PBS

Hazel Scott led a working trio that featured genuine jazz legends as sidemen: Max Roach on drums and Charles Mingus on bass. They even released a classic LP on the Debut Records label, which was founded by Mingus and Roach. In the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of the most famous jazz musicians in American, but the public largely forgot her during her expatriate period in France. Director-producer Nicole London and Scott’s admirers (as well as her son) take stock of her life and legacy in The Disappearance of Miss Scott, which airs this Friday on PBS as part of the current season of American Masters.

Scott was a true prodigy, whose notoriety grew steadily since she first performed professionally as a young child. However, her friend Billie Holiday boasted her to a new level when she arranged for Scott to replace her as the headliner at Barney Josephson’s Café Society. At the height of her fame, Scott had the clout to demand integrated audiences, even when she toured the deep south. She also attracted the eye of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell.

At the time, they were a way more glamorous political and entertainment power couple than Cheryl Hines and RFK Jr. ever were. However, they drifted apart, especially when her tour of France turned into an extended residency.

Rightfully, London’s cast of commentators make a big deal out of Scott’s weekly television show, which did indeed predate Nat King Cole’s by several years. She definitely deserved recognition as TV’s first weekly Black primetime host. However, they somewhat misleadingly make it sound like it was an act of vindictiveness when all tapes of her show were trashed. Tragically, that happened to almost every single episode of original programming that was broadcast on the defunct Dumont Television Network, also sadly including The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, starring Anna Mae Wong, which was the first dramatic series starring an Asian American woman as the lead character.

Fortunately, the talking heads better understand musical history, particularly Jason Moran, who has become a PBS go-to. Scott herself would probably enjoy watching him demonstrate stride and boogie-woogie, both of which she was more proficient in.

Unfortunately, London and company make much of the so-called “Red Scare” and Scott’s testimony in front of the HUAC Committee. That was in 1950, when the details of the Ukrainian Holodomor Genocide and the mass executions of the Stalinists Purges had been revealed. Anyone who believed Ukrainian lives have any shred value whatsoever should have had no business with the Soviet-dominated American Communist Party, which is context that is once again ignored when discussing this period of history.

Again, the musical analysis is on-target, which is important, since Scott was first and foremost a musician. Fans will be especially intrigued to hear Sheryl Lee Ralph’s readings of excerpts from Scott’s unpublished memoir. Of course, the title is rather inapt, because for real jazz fans, Scott never really disappeared. Recommended for the musical and cultural history (despite the incomplete political context), The Disappearance of Miss Scott airs this Friday (2/21) on most PBS outlets.