GERMANY/USA: New and last album Little Jimmy Scott Release Nov 4, 2016 + documentary film

On November 4, 2016 Eden River Records is going to release the last album by Little Jimmy Scott “I Go Back Home” featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kenny Barron, Joey De Francesco, Joe Pesci, Oscar Castro Neves, Renee Olstead, Till Brönner, Monica Mancini, Arturo Sandoval, James Moody and Gregoire Maret.

The creation of “I Go Back Home” was the subject of an acclaimed documentary of the same name. It depicts producer Ralf Kemper’s drive to work with Jimmy and provide him with the best album he can. The film captures the challenges and sacrifices that lead up to the recording sessions, a document that makes “I Go Back Home” an even richer record.

ABOUT THE FILM

„I Go Back Home - Jimmy Scott“ is the story of a man, Ralf Kemper, driven to celebrate a long forgotten music legend. Singer Jimmy Scott is one of the few modern links to the golden age of jazz. Close friend of Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and the only artist ever produced by Ray Charles, Scott’s career is a long series of misfortune and tragedy interspersed with two of the greatest jazz vocal albums of all time.

Kemper crosses between Europe and the United States, finding the best players, arrangers and

producers to create the album of his dreams. He showcases Jimmy Scott in the finest way possible,

virtually bankrupting himself in the process.

Featuring Quincy Jones, Joe Pesci, Renee Olstead, David Sanborn and a host of jazz luminaries in dynamic studio performances, „I Go Back Home - Jimmy Scott“ is a documentary full of soul and hope. A love letter to the power of music, a scarcely believable story of a music legend and a moving account of one fan’s attempt to finally bring attention to a man the New York Times described as “the most unjustly ignored singer of the 20th Century”.

„I Go Back Home - Jimmy Scott“ entwines the stories of two very different people in one remarkable film. A successful but grief-stricken German producer, Ralf Kemper is driven to commemorate legendary singer Jimmy Scott. Scott’s life of tragedy and misfortune has given his voice a healing quality, a voice both Ray Charles and Madonna described as “the only one that could make me cry.“

Death plays a big role in Scott‘s life. At the age of 10 he witnessed his mother being killed by a drunk driver, friends Billie Holiday, Big Maybelle, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Charles all died leaving Scott in perpetual obscurity. The funeral of another friend, renown songwriter Doc Pomus, gave him the unlikely opportunity to perform for Lou Reed who insisted on working with him and record company owner Seymour Stein who immediately signed him. Within months, filmmaker David Lynch put Scott in his TV series „Twin Peaks“, having him play the occupant of a location that straddled life and death.

Scott shows that with death there is the chance for rebirth, and a chance to create something new. It‘s a hard lesson. This is what Scott’s artistry represents: With art we become immortal.

Kemper‘s drive to showcase the voice of Jimmy Scott in the strongest way possible, nearly destroys him mentally and financially. Meanwhile Scott, reliant on his wheelchair and his wife, experiences a new lease of life in the studio, recording what may well be the lushest, certainly the most expensive, album of his 60+ year recording history.

Filmmakers comments:
„Like so much in life, this film was born more from coincidence than intention. It was not planned and the entire process was never meant to be documented. I was finishing my university degree and looking for a part-time job when I met Ralf Kemper for the first time. Ralf is a successful music producer well-known for making TV commercials. He told me of his love for Jimmy Scott and his plans to produce an album with him. I had never heard a voice like Jimmy‘s before. It is so unique and catches you from the first moment you hear it. It is hard to describe its essence, but the emotion he creates is totally true and utterly honest. I felt so much pain in his voice that it was sometimes hard to listen to. At the same time, it was so comforting.

I planned to shoot a „making of the production“ video of the recording sessions, so most of the time I was in the background and trying to be invisible while they recorded the album. We arrived in Las Vegas, met Jimmy and it was clear how bad his health was, so that we realized things would be very different from our plan. He was unable to read the lyrics, he couldn‘t hear the music clearly to sing in key and it was obvious Jimmy couldn‘t record a whole album. I thought the project was over before it

had begun.

Afterwards, Ralf and I had a conversation. He told me that giving up was not an option and in that moment I realized I had to make a documentary about whatever story was about to unfold.“

Yoon-ha Chang

Director / Editor

Producer

Yoon-ha Chang was born in Dusseldorf, Germany. His parents came as guest workers from South Korea to Germany. Yoon-ha began making films at the age of 10, when he got his first High8 camera. From then on, he was so enthusiastic about film that he would skip Korean school to go to the

cinema until his parents found it out. After high school, he studied Astronomy and Computer Science at the University of Bonn. At the same time he founded his first film production company with two friends in 2000. Since then he has produced and directed several short films, music videos and commercials, including winning a prize at the Youth Film Festival in Marl, Germany with his short film “Nightmare“.

In 2014 he produced the feature length film „Deflower“ by Sang-Heui Jeon in cooperation with the Film Art School Cologne and the Filmstiftung NRW. Currently, he has directed the documentary feature “I Go Back Home – Jimmy Scott“ about American Jazz legend Jimmy Scott, produced by German music producer Ralf Kemper. The film had ist world premiere at the South by Southwest

Film Festival in March 2016.

Ralf Kemper

Subject /

Producer

Ralf Kemper was born on August 6 in 1958. At the age of 3 he started to play classical piano and began formal piano study at the age of 6. Growing up being a musical prodigy in the 60’s & 70’s, he was absorbing all kinds of music from blues to rock to jazz. As an adult, he started a production company for scoring commercials and scored worldwide about 1000 TV commercials. Ralf became a Latin Grammy winner in 2010 with Arturo Sandoval´s record “A Time For Love.” He has just completed producing the star-studded tribute album for Jimmy Scott, which will be

released on November 4, 2016. He is currently producing Joe Pesci´s new record and completing

2-time Grammy winning Alan Broadbent’s Orchestral Sessions recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.

CAST

David Ritz is an American author who has written more than 50 books from Ray Charles to Don Rickles, he has written lyrics („Sexual Healing“), novels, profiles and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Michael Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sarah Vaughan and Nat Cole.

Joe Pesci is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known for Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). Pesci has won the academy award for his role as the psychopathic mobster Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas.

Quincy Jones is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, musician and instrumentalist. His career spans six decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991.

James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit „Moody‘s Mood for Love“. Two months after his death, Moody won the Grammy Award posthumously for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for his album „Moody 4B“.

David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. In his three-and-a-half-decade career, Sanborn has released 24 albums, won six Grammy Awards and has had eight gold albums and one platinum album. He continues to be one of the most highly active musicians of his genre.

Renee Olstead is an American actress and singer. She has recorded four studio albums, primarily of jazz music. Reportedly, her musical talent was discovered by composer David Foster, who produced her 2004 album.

Monica Mancini is a double-Grammy nominated American recording artist. She is the daughter of the late film composer Henry Mancini. She has worked and performed with various artists including Stevie Wonder, Take 6, Plaìcido Domingo, Horace Silver, Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.

Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer. He has been awarded 10 Grammy Awards, and nominated 17 times; he has also received 6 Billboard Awards and 1 Emmy Award.

Madeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday.

Philip Ramone was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio. He was described by Billboard as „legendary“ and by the BBC as a „CD pioneer“.

Tommy Li Puma is a Grammy award winning record producer, engineer and drummer. He is a partner at Concord Music Group, which swept the 2005 Grammy Awards with the triple-platinum Ray Charles release „Genius Loves Company“.

Joey DeFrancesco is an American jazz organist, trumpeter, and vocalist. He is a Grammy-nominated artist who has released more than 30 albums, including recordings with jazz legends Miles Davis and

Jimmy Smith.

CREW:

PRODUCTION COMPANY Kemper Music, Sine Qua Non Music

DIRECTED BY Yoon-ha Chang

PRODUCED BY Ralf Kemper, Donna Hall, Andrej Filip, Yoon-ha Chang

SCREENPLAY BY Yoon-ha Chang, Florian Siebert

EDITED BY Yoon-ha Chang, Florian Siebert

MUSIC BY Ralf Kemper, Mark Joggerst

CINEMATOGRAPHER Yoon-ha Chang, Fabian Koch, Florian Siebert

SOUND EDITING Tom Blankenberg

MUSIC ENGINEER Lawrence Manchester

SOUNDPOSTPRODUCTION TORUS GmbH

PICTURE POSTPRODUCTION FARBKULT

SCREENING HISTORY:

WORLD PREMIERE

SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL 2016

14. March 2016

15. March 2016

18. March 2016

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL 2016

10. July 2016

GERMAN PREMIERE

SOUNDTRACK_COLOGNE 2016

26. August 2016

27. August 2016

ABOUT THE RECORD

When Jimmy Scott died in 2014, dozens of musicians, hundreds of journalists and thousands of fans mourned the passing of a jazz legend. Not only had a link back to the era of Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton been lost, but so had the chance to bring the fame and respect denied to him throughout his long and rich life.

Now, as if sent from some righteous deity, comes “I Go Back Home”, an album full of life recorded by Jimmy Scott years before his death. Created by German producer Ralf Kemper, Jimmy Scott and with mixes produced by Phil Ramone, no expense was spared in giving Scott the lushest musical backdrops possible, creating an album that, like Scott’s inimitable vocal style, comes late but but right on time.

“I Go Back Home” uses the finest arrangers writing for the most experienced players, mixed by the most intuitive engineers in the the best studios available. Scott revisited his favourite songs, into which he invested his lived experience, letting the listener feel the story known by far too few.

Hounding Jimmy Scott through the most of his recording career was an oppressive recording contract that prevented him from releasing albums. It wasn’t until 1992 that Jimmy, aged 63, recorded the first album over which he had creative control: „All The Way“. Nominated for a Grammy and finally bringing him to the attention of an audience that wasn’t entirely comprised of jazz fans and a few lucky passers-by, Scott began touring and regularly releasing albums. It’s not until “I Go Back Home” that Scott was given the budget that allowed him unfettered control over song selection, personnel and orchestration.

As the album progresses, each song sees another musician or singer join Scott for a fresh interpretation of a beloved song, long-time collaborators such as Kenny Barron and Joe Pesci, or new ones, such as actress and singer Reneè Olstead, trumpeter Till Brönner and harmonica player Gregoire Maret. All give Scott the room he needs to slide between phrases, telling his story and living out the world of each song.

As Jimmy explained: “The lyric is so important to me. I feel if you’re singing a song or telling the story in a song it should mean something. That’s why I protect what I have in it, because that’s where I believe it should go. It should mean something. It should make sense.”

Dave Nathan wrote on AllMusic that Scott’s phrasing moves “beyond mere poignancy and close to reverence”. This is truer than ever on “I Go Back Home”. Scott shifts from speak-singing in the album-opener “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” to a lively bossa nova take on “I Remember You” to full-throated commitment on “If I Ever Lost You”.

Expertly interplaying with top tier collaborators “I Go Back Home” is ultimately a record of collaboration and companionship, and the sound of a singer going out on top. Scott commemorates his highest points, and spars with fresh new talent in a way that suggests that he would have had great albums in him yet. And while we can mourn the decades he didn’t record, the tragedies and injustices that never defeated him, “I Go Back Home” succeeds in capturing the essence of a life that was ultimately triumphant.

Tracklist:

SIDE A
1. Motherless Child 5:23 FEATURING JOEY DE FRANCESCO
2. The Nearness of You 6:38 DUETT WITH JOE PESCI
3. Love Letters 4:08

SIDE B
1. Easy Living 4:17 DUETT WITH OSCAR CASTRO NEVES
2. Someone To Watch Over Me 4:15 FEATURING RENEE OLSTEAD
3. How Deep Is The Ocean 5:10 FEATURING KENNY BARRON

SIDE C
1. If I Ever Lost You 5:46 FEATURING TILL BRÖNNER
2. For Once In My Life 5:07 DUETT WITH DEE DEE BRIDEWATER
3. I Remember You 4:26 FEATURING MONICA MANCINI & ARTURO SANDOVAL

SIDE D
1. Everybody Is Somebody’s Fool 3:55 FEATURING JAMES MOODY
2. Folks Who Live On The Hill 4:57 FEATURING JOE PESCI
3. Poor Butterfly 4:56 FEATURING GREGOIRE MARET

Double vinyl package & CD

Jimmy Scott – I Go Back Home

Official release date: November 4, 2016

Radio add date: September 7, 2016

Label: Eden River Records, ERR-CD-01, www.eden-river-records.com/

UPC (Barcode): 4039967009357

Distribution: Eden River Records

Retail: CD Baby, amazon, iTunes etc.

EPK Video: https://youtu.be/T4oTtcCCN-M

Homepage: http://i-go-back-home.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/igobackhomejimmyscott

Twitter: https://twitter.com/I_Go_Back_Home