Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow) would likely have felt right at home here in Silicon Valley. Born in Brooklyn in 1908, Scott was both a musician and a recording engineer, who also invented electronic instruments. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School as well as the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied piano and composition. His first job was working for his older brother Mark in the CBS Radio house band in 1931. Supposedly, Scott changed his name at this time to avoid stirring up charges of nepotism. In 1949 he became the orchestra leader of the CBS Radio show, “Your Hit Parade;” over the years he worked with jazz musicians such as Elvin Jones, Kenny Burrell, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Toots Thielemans. He also ended up working for Motown Records’ Berry Gordy from 1971 to 1977, as a director of electronic music and research.
Electronic music, in fact, was Scott’s most abiding interest. Working as his own recording engineer, he would splice, delete, resequence, and add other recordings to his own pieces to create new works. He formed his own company in 1946 to design and manufacture electronic instruments, including the Electronium (a synthesizer and music generator) and the Clavivox (an electronic keyboard). One of Scott’s employees was Bob Moog, later famous for his own synthesizer, who noted that he was not only inspired
by Scott, but that the sound circuitry of the Clavivox resembled the first analog synthesizer Moog created. Scott continued work on his electronic instruments through the 1970s, but unfortunately for him, Berry Gordy tired of waiting for Scott to declare his Electronium ready for the public. Scott ended up on the sidelines of the music world until 1990, when journalist and music historian Irwin Chusid met Scott, discovered his unreleased recordings of rehearsals and studio sessions, and began compiling and producing CDs of Scott’s performances. Scott passed away in 1994, but Chusid’s recordings brought his music to new ears. Performers as varied as the classical Kronos Quartet, the rock band Rush, and the alternative band They Might Be Giants have recorded Scott’s music.
Scott wrote and recorded Powerhouse in 1937 with his sextet (he called it a “quintette” because he thought “calling it a ‘sextet’ might get your mind off music”). In 1943 Scott’s music company Circle Music was sold to Warner Brothers, which gave Carl Stallings, a composer for the company’s cartoons, full access to the catalog. Stallings adapted Powerhouse for over 40 Looney Tunes cartoons, beginning with “Porky Pig’s Feat” in 1943 and ending with cartoons in the 1960s such as “Rocket Squad” and “Compressed Hare.” After the reissue of Scott’s music in the 1990s, Powerhouse was also used in cartoons such as The Simpsons and The Ren and Stimpy Show.
Powerhouse consists of two different themes and is structured in a simple A-B-A sequence. “Powerhouse A” is a frenetic, fast- paced motif often used in cartoons featuring high-speed chases. “Powerhouse B” is a steady, machine-like ostinato used to accompany scenes of repetitive activity