Hazel Scott

Though she didn’t call it third stream, and it wasn’t associated with the genre, Hazel Scott was another musician who found a successful way to blend jazz and classical influences. Scott took classical selections and improvised on them, a practice dating back to the ragtime era. Such numbers as “Hungarian Rhapsody, no. 2” (Liszt) backed by “Valse in D Flat Major, op. 64 no. 1” (Chopin) were audience favorites, even if some critics suggested they smacked of gimmickry (which sometimes they did). Scott was also a good bebop soloist, nice ballad interpreter, fair blues player, and underrated vo...