Tony Scott
This photo of alto saxophonist Tony Scott was taken in the early 1950's at New York's Circle in the Square Theatre in Greenwich Village. Scott was a highly respected clarinetist who did many gigs on Manhattan's Fifty-second Street. Like many others, he had switched to the saxophone as the clarinet was less used in jazz after the 1930's. The clarinet almost disappeared from all jazz styles except Dixieland by the mid-1940's. The saxophone and the trumpet emerged as the front line instruments just in time for bebop, a style created by black musicians partly because they wanted something white players couldn't easily copy.
Some Caucasian musicians like Tony Scott, were allowed into the legendary jam sessions at Minton's, a famous Harlem nightspot. Although whites were often unwelcome by many in the bebop circle, other musicians were more accepting of them if they, like Scott, were willing to pay their dues by playing under the direction of black groups.
Writer Nancy Thompson