As with a lot of people I knew at the time, I was floored by Jimmy Scott's so-called comeback albums released by Sire Records in the early '90s. The idea that a living, breathing double of Billie Holiday existed seemed extraordinary. In 2000, I had the privilege of escorting Scott around the fairgrounds of the New Orleans Jazz Fest & Heritage Festival in my capacity as a sales rep for Milestone Records, his label at the time. In spite of the oppressive heat, suffocating dust and my insistence that he get to autograph-signing events on schedule, Scott was unflaggingly gracious. He died yesterday.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
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