Ectoplasm (1948-1949)

After allowing Raymond Scott fans to feast on his peak era of 1937-1939 with the grand Microphone Music, Basta returned five years later with Ectoplasm, which charts Scott's second Quintette (so spelled) during the years 1948-1949. Scott had led a big band during the World War II years, but narrowed his focus soon after its end. (Unlike the vast majority of big-band leaders, who downsized for purely economic reasons, Scott was also responding to popular interest in the work of his late-'30s quintet.) The new group sounded eerily familiar to the old, with only a few exceptions. This was a mature band, with a bit more elegance and refined manners — and, correspondingly, less focus on the careering novelties of his first Quintette. Scott was also sprinkling a few standards into his idiosyncratic repertoire, the rationale for such being a radio gig that provided music beds for a sponsored program. Finally, Scott had a vocalist, Dorothy Collins — not heard often on this collection — who sang some of those standards, and provided wordless accompaniment elsewhere, a true singing horn. (Although vocals are not what most would want to hear on a Raymond Scott compilation, she is a slightly greater talent than the liner notes state.) The Scott originals are similar to his older material, though less familiar since they weren't used in cartoons; the standards are always creatively arranged and intriguing versions of well-known tunes.