Bud Scott

Clarence “Bud” Scott, Sr., a lifelong Natchez resident born in 1876, led one of the most popular dance bands in the Mississippi-Louisiana region for several decades beginning around 1900 and became the most famous African American musician in Mississippi during the early decades of the twentieth century. Renowned among both white and black audiences, he sang from the balcony of the Natchez Confectionery so the whole community could hear him, even though dances were segregated. Newspapers across Mississippi and in Louisiana advertised and reported his appearances in glowing terms, the 1938 Federal Writers’ Project called him “Mississippi’s own pioneer in jazz” and counted him among the six most nationally prominent Mississippi-born musicians, and his reputation rested on legendary live performances rather than recordings or published songs. In demand for Natchez society affairs at mansions, hotels, clubs, halls, and on riverboats, he also played for three U.S. presidents and entertained across the region at pageants, military balls, political rallies, conventions, graduations, rodeos, town pavilions, ballrooms, theaters, and fairs. Known as “Professor,” he was best known for his singing but also composed music and played mandolin and other instruments. His band, often twelve to fifteen pieces and known at various times as the Syncopators and Bud Scott and his Senegambian Assistants, evolved from a ragtime string band into a hot jazz outfit and then a swing orchestra with a horn section, performing music that ranged from blues and ballads to cakewalks and Broadway hits. His music drew headlines in 1919 when his rendition of “Eliza Jane” stirred dancers in Meridian to abandon old waltzes and square dances for newer steps. Several band members lived at or next to his house on Union Street, and some later led their own groups or performed as featured acts. In his final years poor health left him unable to sing, but after his death in 1938 his son Clarence “Bud” Scott, Jr., who had also led the band in its later years, continued with the group until he died in the Rhythm Club fire in Greenville on April 23, 1940.

Vidalia, Louisiana · United States