Shirley Scott at Montreux, 1975

As we anticipate the approaching coronation of a new monarch this week, now may be the proper time to revisit the reign of one of our previous musical sovereigns. A diamond in the rough amidst the recent shower of Record Store Day jazz releases, this previously unreleased concert from 1972 features the undisputed ‘Queen of the Organ’, Shirley Scott (1934-2002) cooking up a barnstorming live set, with explosive drummer Bobby Durham and the feisty George Coleman completing the trio on tenor sax. 

This performance is situated at a point in Scott’s career where she had already passed through the halls of several great jazz houses, having recorded by this point for Prestige, Impulse!, Atlantic and, most recently at that time, Cadet. Following several collaborative sessions with her partner, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, Scott had scored a run of successful soul-jazz recordings for Blue Note playing sidewoman over the course of the previous decade. But by the seventies, and with a dissolved marriage behind her, Scott was ready to emerge as an artist at the height of her career. And so, on 20th August, 1972, at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom, the Scott trio laid down a performance that today sounds captivatingly enticing with a no-nonsense edge.

A pillar of the Philadelphia jazz community, one thing for certain is that here was a lady with soul. Scott’s Hammond B-3 chops contain the perfect blend of blues, gospel and bebop which she casts together with infectious energy. Her style is similar in many ways to what one might typically imagine from a service in a gospel church, and that’s exactly what Shirley delivers on Queen Talk. Underpinned by her athletic use of pedals - who’s that on bass, you ask? Why, Ms Scott’s toes, of course - Scott proves that the organ really is the most versatile of instruments in the jazz lineup.

This is indeed a generous recording, with the length of almost every track passing well beyond the ten-minute mark in allowing each member of the group to shine. Listen in awe as Scott burns her way through ‘Smile’. She tears apart Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’ with equal dexterity and rigour, all the while supported by a growingly ferocious might of rhythmic force. Durham’s syncopated drum breaks on ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ are deliciously enrapturing and you can feel how deep in the pocket the group are by the time things draw to a close. Remember that in the right hands, the organ was the performing jukebox of its day. It’s no wonder then, when Scott treats the crowd to covers of contemporary hits such as ‘You Don’t Mess Around With Jim’ and ‘Girl Talk’ (both featuring cunningly spoken performances from guest vocalist, Ernie Andrews), that we find them not so much appreciative as they are fanatical, routinely begging for just one more chorus.

Since her passing at the turn of the century, Scott has experienced something of a revival amongst jazz listeners both young and old since a plethora of her recordings from around this era were made available on Gilles Peterson’s newly-founded Arc Records a few years ago. With releases of archive materials such as these yet to come, fresher audiences can at last be introduced to a performer who has to be heard to be believed.