Background
He was born in Neosho, Missouri to James Scott Senior and Molly Thomas Scott, both former slaves.
He was born in Neosho, Missouri to James Scott Senior and Molly Thomas Scott, both former slaves.
In 1901 his family moved to Carthage, Missouri, where he attended Lincoln High School.
In 1902 he began working at the music store of Charles L. Dumars, first washing windows, then demonstrating music at the piano as a song plugger, including his own pieces. Demand for his music convinced Dumars to print the first of Scott"s published compositions, "A Summer Breeze - March and Two Step", in 1903. By 1904, two more compositions by Scott, "Fascinator March" and "On the Pike March" were published and sold well, but not enough to keep Dumars in business and soon the company ceased publishing.
Ragtime Historians Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis account that Scott went to Saint Louis, Missouri in search of his idol Scott Joplin in 1905.
He located Joplin and asked if he would listen to one of his ragtime compositions. Upon hearing the rag, Joplin introduced him to his own publisher, John Stillwell Stark, and recommended he publish the work.
Stark published the rag a year later as "Frog Legs Rag". lieutenant quickly became a hit and was second in sales in the Stark catalogue only to that of Joplin"s own "Maple Leaf Rag".
Scott became a regular contributor to the Stark catalogue until 1922.
Those that knew him recall that theater work was a large part of his activity. In the last years of his life, Scott busied himself with teaching, composing and leading an eight-piece band that played for various beer parks and movie theaters in the area. With the arrival of sound movies, however, his fortunes declined.
Scott"s best-known compositions include "Climax Rag", "Frog Legs Rag", "Grace and Beauty", "Ophelia Rag" and "The Ragtime Oriole".
Scott was a cousin of blues singer Ada Brown. In the Third Season of the Home Box Office series Boardwalk Empire, Scott is portrayed by an uncredited actor in the episode "Spaghetti and Coffee".
Free sheet music of James Scott from Cantorion.org
Free scores by James Scott (composer) at the International Music Score Library Project.