You may not know Jimmy Scott, but if you were a Twin Peaks fan, you’ve seen him perform:

I was a fan of the show, and I remember that episode well, but I never thought much about the singer in that scene. Years later I was befriended by one of the people who helped with Scott’s career resurgence. When he found out that I remembered that scene but didn’t know the artist, he supplied with a bunch of Scott’s early, then out of print I think, catalogue, as well as some curated collections, and I fell in love with Jimmy Scott.

Scott had a wild, hard life, and I’m not going to recount any of it because I can’t do justice to this definitive profile:  All the Way with Jimmy Scott. My recommendation is to listen to some of his music, and then go back and read about his life. You can hear his life in his music.

I will note one thing about Scott—he had Kallman syndrome, which prevented him from reaching puberty and which gave him his distinctive range and sound. For years his performance with Charlie Parker:

was wrongly credited to a woman.

I’ll give you a sampling of some of my favorites.

“Imagination” was recorded in 1955, Scott’s first record for the Savoy label.

That’s Charles Mingus on bass.

Also from that same album:

There are so many songs that highlight his unique phrasing. Session musicians often didn’t know how to accompany him.

Another one of my favorites from the first phase of Scott’s career:

The Village Voice story I linked to above, as well as the Twin Peaks cameo, rekindled interest in Scott, and he had some help in getting a demo to Quincy Jones (who was already aware of his talent). And at Doc Pomus’ funeral Scott sang a version of “Someone To Watch Over Me” that led Seymour Stein of Sire (now Warner) to offer him a record deal.  Here’s the version of that from his comeback album, All The Way, which was nominated for a Grammy:

Here are a few more songs from the second phase of his career:

And another live version:

I was lucky enough to see Jimmy in 1998 as part of Billy Taylor’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center series. He talked about losing his mother, and as he had done every time he’d talk about her death, he cried. I always think of his terrible loss when I hear him sing this, and I’ll let it serve as the final word for this piece.