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Singer Jimmy Scott Interviewed at All About Jazz

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Jimmy Scott
Listening to Little Jimmy Scott sing is different from listening to any other singer. His high-pitched voice carries more emotion than any instrument can reasonably bear, and seems to come from a special place deep within his heart. Yet that voice also seems to resound from a profound source far beyond any one man, a place where individuality no longer exists: The everlasting pulse of the universe. Jimmy Scott's voice soars in the heaven of romantic love, and burns in the hell of a broken heart. When he sings, his voice surrounds, from the inside and out.

Now 86, Scott has seen more ups and downs than an investment banker. Born into a large family in Cleveland, he saw his mother injured in a fatal car accident when he was just 13. He turned inward, to an intense and intimate relationship with singing, in response. In his early teenage years, Scott learned he had Kallmann's Syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the hypothalamus and as a result kept him from going through puberty. His voice would remain high and elusive, a bird quivering and luxuriating in each song's lyrics and beat.

Chris M.Slawecki spoke with the influential Scott about a lengthy career that's been all about beating the odds, the singer's recent return to recording after a break of more than seven years, for an album that's now in the final stages of preparation.

Check out Jimmy Scott: Across the Universe, today at All About Jazz!

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