Hazel Scott - Definition

Hazel Dorothy Scott (1920 – 1981) was a jazz and classical pianist and singer. She was born in Trinidad but raised in New York City from the age of four. She performed extensively on piano as a child, then trained at the Juilliard School.

She was known for improvising on classical themes and also played bebop, blues, and ballads. She appeared in five motion pictures and was the first African American woman to have her own television show. However, she also publicly opposed McCarthyism and racial segregation, and the show was cancelled in 1950 when she was accused of being a Communist sympathizer.

Her most successful recording was "Tico Tico." Her album Relaxed Piano Moods, with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, is the most highly regarded by critics today.

She married Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in 1945.