What do you know about jazz pianist, singer, actress, and activist Hazel Scott? I’m sorry to admit that I didn’t know a lot, but the PBS “American Masters: The Disappearance of Miss Scott” program took care of that. While the 90-minute documentary on her life aired on PBS this past weekend, it is still available to stream through mid-March at www.pbs.org and on the PBS app in honor of Black History Month.
The documentary is beautifully done. It features Sheryl Lee Ralph narrating excerpts from Scott’s unpublished autobiography, along with interviews with country star Mickey Guyton, actresses Amanda Seales and Tracie Thoms, jazz musicians Camille Thurman and Jason Moran, and Adam Clayton Powell III — her son with politician and minister Adam Clayton Powell Jr. There are black-and-white and color scenes of her performing with energy, precision, and ease as she plays a piano — or two pianos simultaneously.
Watching this documentary provides a great sense of pride as you behold taped performances of Scott playing piano, singing jazz, and hosting her own television show — making her the first Black person to do so — and then seeing her performance in Paris after she was blacklisted during the “Red Scare” in the U.S. of the 1950s.
Scott was a child prodigy pianist in Trinidad, first introduced to the instrument by her mother. Her family soon moved to New York where, at the age of 8, she auditioned for Julliard.
Scott grew up in the 1920s in Harlem. At 15, she was playing classical music and adding jazz accents to it. She hung around and performed with people like Billie Holiday, who was a mentor to her. Scott became so famous as a jazz performer that by the age of 19, she was a brownstone owner and took care of her mother and grandmother. She was such a phenomenal talent that the Cafe Society Uptown was her club. That’s when she got the attention of Hollywood. When she got there, she refused to do any negative, stereotypical roles. Again, her commanding respect for Blacks in films cost her a film career.
As an adult, Scott was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. She spoke out against Jim Crow. When she had an opportunity to be in a Hollywood movie at Columbia Pictures and did not like the way that the costume designer was dressing the other Black women in a scene where their Black husbands were going off to war, she spoke up and held up production for three days. Once she finished the picture, that ended her film career — no one expected a Black person in those days, when segregation was alive and thriving, to speak out against the stereotypical belittling of African Americans, especially African American women.
This talented and gorgeous woman could play two pianos at the same time; the documentary shows powerful moments of her doing just that, with grace and ease. It also tells the story of her early life, her parents, and the love of her life — Powell , who she eventually married.
This program does not hold back any punches. You see the prejudice, blacklisting, disrespect, and disappointment that this woman had to endure.
As Scott toured, she told venues in the segregated South that her shows must be desegregated, and if that was not the case, she would not perform. Clubs that had always been segregated desegregated just to get her to perform. She said in her autobiography that when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to see her perform, he confided in her that this was his first time in a desegregated club.
In 1950, Scott made history as the first Black person with their own television show, “The Hazel Scott Show,” in which she played piano and sang. When the Blacklist Red Channels accused her of being a communist, she went before the House Un-American Activities Committee and declared her innocence. Her show ended.
Adam Clayton Powell III shared a lot of the family’s background and the difficulties they faced with Scott performing a lot in Europe and his father being unfaithful. Scott found, as many Black performers found during the years of segregation, that they were treated with respect and dignity in Europe. She appreciated how much the people in Paris regarded her talent and abilities.
The documentary provides a detailed timeline of Scott’s life and her struggles in a bad marriage that included more than infidelity.
Scott came back to Harlem in 1967 and was playing jazz clubs. By 1968, music changed and she didn’t find many job opportunities. Who would imagine this child prodigy, actress, singer, gorgeous woman and activist would find herself struggling, coming back to Harlem where she began?
“American Masters: The Disappearance of Miss Scott” is something everyone should watch. She made Black people feel seen. Her son shared his mother’s legacy: “If you’re right, don’t back down. If you’re right, fight for what is right.”
The documentary was produced and directed by filmmaker Nicole London, who also produced past American Masters programs “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” “Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me,” and “Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On.”
“The Disappearance of Miss Scott” is a production of 4th Act Factual in association with American Masters Pictures, ITVS, Black Public Media, the Center for Independent Documentary Inc., and Storyline Entertainment. Sheila MacVicar is the executive producer and Bettina Hatami is supervising producer. For “American Masters,” Michael Kantor is executive producer, Julie Sacks is series producer, and Joe Skinner is digital lead.
For more info, visit www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters.
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