For those of you not in the know, a native of southern California, vocalist Marilyn Scott counts among her earliest influences, artists Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, Etta James, Jean Carn and Andy Bey.

She began performing in local clubs and school functions when she was fifteen. She moved to San Francisco to attend college on an art scholarship, and fronted soul-jazz bands around the San Francisco Bay area.

Among the many friends she made were the guys in Tower of Power, who gave her the opportunity to do backing session vocals with the Oakland-based band.

Those recording sessions steered her to making her way back to Los Angeles as a studio session singer, where she recorded and performed with musicians and groups including Spyro Gyra, Yellowjackets, Hiroshima, John Mayall, Etta James, Bobby Caldwell and Bobby Womack.

Scott’s first recording in 1977, as a solo artist, was a single version of Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows” which led to her first album, Dreams of Tomorrow, on Atco/Atlantic. Her discography continued with, 1983 Without Warning, Polygram, 1991 and 1992 Sin-Drome recordings, Smile and Sky Dancing. 1996 and 1998 Warner Bros releases of Take Me with You and Avenues of Love. The Japanese Venus Records recording, Every Time We Say Goodbye, in 2008.

Marilyn moved to Prana Entertainment and released from 2001 to 2017, Walking with Strangers, Nightcap, Handpicked, Innocent of Nothing, Get Christmas Started and Standard Blue in 2017. Her 2022 release on Blue Canoe Records, The Landscape marks her most recent release.

1. Thrown Out Into Space, Butterfly
2. The Landscape
3. Summer Night
4. Irreplaceable
5. Tomorrow
6. Unzip
7. The Sun (feat. The Perri Sisters)

Combining her interest in neo-soul, jazz and Brazilian music, along with collaborating here with Dori Caymmi, George Duke, Russell Ferrante, Bob James, Jimmy Haslip, Brenda Russell, Bob Mintzer, Perri Sisters, Terri Lynne Carrington, Patrice Rushen, and Scott Kinsey, the new album opens on the veritably translucently vibrant Thrown Out Into Space, Butterfly and the comes the gently perky, low ebb jazzy blues of the title track The Landscape and the delicately ornate Summer Night.

Up next is the harder edged, guitar-reverb found within Irreplaceable which is itself followed by the thoughtfully-crafted rhythms found within Tomorrow, the album rounding out on the free flowing, perky melodies of Unzip, coming to a close on the heavenly harmonics within The Sun (featuring The Perri Sisters).

The Landscape is Marilyn Scott’s thirteenth album as a leader. Born out of the determination to create during a global pandemic, Scott looked inward and called upon some of her closest friends to collaborate her most profound truths.

Scott expands, “The Landscape project grew out of listening to myself and others with life’s frustrations and concerns. One of the only outlets I know of is putting yourself in front of nature and letting go. These elements of life, precious and surreal, give answers if we embrace and nurture our surroundings.”

“With The Landscape, I addressed places to put yourself and add an appreciation of the moment, no matter where you are. I find it more difficult at times to find that peace, but it’s right in front of you, right outside your door, in the street and alleys of your wilderness. Let’s protect nature, and she will help you find your breath.”

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