Scott by Scott

 

"I began to play the piano at the age of three. My mother taught me the basics and had me take piano lessons to the age of seventeen. My dad had a lot of small ensemble arrangements of pop and dance music and he started me on the alto sax at the age of seven. I soon found out that I had a good ear and could play songs I liked on the radio without the written music. In my senior year at Appleby College, I was made leader of the cadet bugle band, and in my first year at university I joined the Musicians Union so I could play professionally. The first dance band I worked with was "The Suedes". This group included Robbie Robertson, Gene Maclellan, Pete Traynor and Peter Derimigis. We played Rhythm and Blues at all the local teen dance halls around Toronto. I was the first Canadian to play with "Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks", a Rockabilly band from Arkansas. 

 

On my advice, Ronnie hired Robbie Robertson (initially as a bass player). Then I joined "Barry Darvell and The Blazers" who had a record that was number one on the hit parade. They lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and for a couple of years we played in 

Baltimore, Washington and for three months in Jacksonville North Carolina (during the Cuban missile Crisis). Then I went to University of Toronto to study English and music. I started writing songs and, 

with my father's encouragement, decided to make music my life.

 

While working as a music publisher (for Ronnie Hawkins), I met a very good group from Sault Ste. Marie called the "Vendettas" and I left my office job and went on the road with them. A lot of my time with the Vendettas was spent in the Yorkville Village in the mid-sixties, where I was approached by a group who wanted me to go work with them in New York, N.Y. This outfit included Jack Douglas (now a top record-producer.) Under the name "The Nightshift", we worked for a few months at Trudie Heller's in Greenwich Village, three months at Tony Mart's at Summer's Point New Jersey, then 

Boston, Milwaukee and campuses of the University of Milwaukee.

 

Back home in Oakville, I got a call from Dave McFadgen (lead 

guitarist with the Nightshift) who was then playing with "The Townsmen", a popular Ottawa band. So I enrolled at Carlton University and joined the band for a year. Then I returned to "The Hawks" and recorded with Ronnie at Mussel Shoals Alabama.

 

In the 1970s, I began working as a singer-songwriter doing lots of radio and TV shows. I played with Eugene Smith, Danny Marks and Malcolm Tomlinson and made some records for the CBC. I worked with Mike McKenna and Peter McGraw in a group named Diamondback for a year or so. Then, through my friend Jack Douglas, (the producer) I recorded and toured with the great

Boston-based group "Aerosmith".

 

Then, I met a brilliant guitarist named Mitchell Lewis. Together,we

founded "Professor Piano and the Rockin' Deltoids" and "Professor Piano and the Canadian Aces featuring the Honolulu Heartbreakers." With these two groups we toured most of our Homeland and with the Aces we played Germany and Austria.

 

The Canadian Aces released an LP "Modern Primitive", and two four-song EPs.

 

My next recordings were "Two Piano's, No Waiting" (Classic instrumentals and Original songs played by two pianists and a drummer with vocals by yours truly. The best of these recordings were recorded live by Keith Mariash and have been released by Pacemaker Entertainment."