The song of the day for Wednesday, April 10, 2013 is The Moment of Truth.
About This Song
The Moment of Truth was written by Tex Satterwhite and Frank Scott. I’ve not been able to find out much about either composer, other than Frank Scott worked with Lawrence Welk and that they wrote the song in 1963. It’s a terrific song and has been recorded by Peggy Lee (or Miss Peggy Lee, as I always call her) and Vic Damone. The Peggy Lee version is very good.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded a performance at the Sahara in Las Vegas on April 8, 1964 with the Ralph Sharon Trio and an orchestra led by Louis Basil. The performance was recorded by Bennett’s long-time recording engineer Frank Laico and was intended to be released as an album. The album was finally released as part of the 2011 Tony Bennett Complete Collection.
Bennett called the show The Moment of Truth, and the show both opens and closes with that song. In between is a fantastic performance by Bennett and even a comedy interlude with Milton Berle, Danny Thomas and Mickey Rooney. I wish I could point you to a location to hear this show, but as far as I know, it’s only available in the boxed Complete Collection. I recommend this concert recording highly.
Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1963 album This Is All I Ask. It has much of the same energy and punch as the concert version, with a wonderful arrangement by Ralph Burns.
http://open.spotify.com/track/39yeBiimbSr3Iimz0ckReB
The Moment of Truth, as well as the remastered This Is All I Ask album, is available from iTunes.
Frank Scott Biography
The youngest of three sons of Frank Roy Scott, Sr. and Alice Wilson Scott, Frank Roy Scott, Jr. was born in Fargo on June 21, 1921. Educated in the Fargo school system, he graduated from Central High School in 1939. He entered the engineering program at North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) that fall, but left school in 1940.
Music, not engineering, had been Frank‘s calling from the time he was very young. He began taking piano lessons when he was eight years old, and he led a band and composed and arranged his first songs at age 12. He also learned to play the guitar, banjo, ukulele, and harpsichord. When Frank left NDAC, he moved with his new wife, Jeanette Daniels Scott, to Cleveland, Ohio, and joined the orchestra of Paul Simms. While in Ohio Frank and Jeanette had their first child, Douglas.
They returned to Fargo in 1944 and he began his twelve-year career as the music director and pianist for WDAY radio. During that period he scored over 2,500 arrangements for WDAY while composing music for community theater groups and conducting local ice shows. Frank and Jeanette had three more children while living in Fargo: Sally, Todd, and Frank Roy Scott, III.
In 1956 the family relocated to southern California, where Frank became an arranger and accompanist for the Lawrence Welk Show. He also assisted the production staff and furnished programming ideas. He worked with many stars including Pat Boone, Debbie Reynolds. Glen Campbell, Liberace, Myron Floren, and Norma Zimmer. He arranged thousands of songs and composed his two most famous songs, Apples and Bananas and The Moment of Truth, while with the Welk show. He remained with the show until 1969, when he and Jeanette returned to Fargo.
Frank continued to work with music in Fargo, teaching an arranging course at NDSU for a year, organizing a big band, and continuing to arrange music. He also worked for a time as a realtor for the Arneson Company.
In the late 1970s Frank and Jeanette moved back to southern California. Jeanette died in 1979. In the 1980s Frank remained active in music and organized an orchestra that included such musicians as Art Depew, Don Shelton, and Arnold Fishkind. He led this orchestra until his death in 1995. At the time of his death he had arranged over 7,000 songs.