George Scott-Wood (27 May 1903 – 28 October 1978) was a British pianist,
accordionist,
arranger and bandleader.
Biography
George Scott Wood (with no hyphen) was born in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland, and studied classical piano as a child. He gave public performances in his mid-teens, and won awards at classical music festivals in Glasgow and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
. In 1925, he toured in the U.S., making concert appearances. In Scotland, he also toured and recorded popular music with his brother Chalmers Wood and with a band, the Five Omega Collegians, until they disbanded in 1928. He then joined
Jay Whidden's band as a pianist and arranger.
[John Chilton (ed.), ''Who's Who of British Jazz: 2nd Edition'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004, p.316]
/ref>
Retrieved 4 December 2022Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
, later extended to cover the other EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
labels, HMV
Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom.
The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...
, Regal Zonophone
Regal may refer to:
Companies
* Regal Beloit, usually referred to as Regal, an American manufacturer of electric motors
* Regal Cinema (disambiguation), several cinemas of that name
* Regal Cinemas, a major American theater chain
* Regal Cinemas ...
, and Columbia. He reportedly made more recordings than any other musician during the 1930s, sometimes anonymously or under a pseudonym, and in many cases arranging and leading orchestras behind such stars as Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor.
Early life
Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...
, Al Bowlly
Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African– British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs.
His most popular songs includ ...
, Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...
, Beatrice Lillie, Gracie Fields and Ivor Novello. He also recorded with the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra after its leader, Ray Noble
Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United ...
, left for the U.S. in 1934, and established his own small jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
group, the Six Swingers. The band released over 50 recordings for the Regal Zonophone and Columbia labels in the 1930s, and in 1938 topped the '' Daily Mail'' readers' poll as radio entertainers.[
Scott-Wood also established himself as a leading exponent of the ]piano accordion
A piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more that of an organ than a piano, as they are both aerophones, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deiro ...
. He is credited with introducing the instrument to Britain, and in 1930 published the first comprehensive accordion tutorial book. He regularly played the accordion to accompany tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
dances, and in 1934 became musical director of the London Accordion Band before forming his own Accordion Band later in the decade. Initially the band featured nine accordion players, later reduced to four with Scott-Wood on piano and others on bass, drums, guitar, and Hawaiian guitar
Hawaiian guitar may refer to:
*Lap steel guitar, a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap
*Ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ...
.[
Between 1943 and 1947 Scott-Wood performed mainly as a solo pianist, touring widely in Britain and visiting a wide range of military camps, theatres and factories during the Second World War and afterwards. Later, he resumed regular radio broadcasting with his Accordion Band, and regularly featured on the popular series '']Music While You Work
''Music While You Work'' was a daytime radio programme of continuous live popular music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967 by the BBC. Initially, the morning edition was generally ...
'', both as a bandleader and as a pianist.[
He re-formed the Six Swingers in 1950, but the group could not match its former success, and he failed to persuade the Light Entertainment Department of the ]BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
), or set up a 23-piece theatre band based around his accordion band. However, in 1957 the BBC agreed that he form a seven-piece ensemble, George Scott-Wood and His Music, which included three accordions, and which continued to make regular radio appearances until the late 1960s.