Bud Scott Mississippi Blues Trail Marker

During the early 20th century, Clarence "Bud" Scott was known as the most famous African American musician in Mississippi. Beginning around 1900, he led one of the most popular dance bands in the Mississippi-Louisiana region. The Mississippi Blues TRail Marker is located near the Natchez Museum of African American Culture.

Budd Scott was born on October 25, 1876. He was the most famous African American jazz musician in Mississippi in the early 1900’s Scott was best known for his singing, but he was also a composer who played mandolin and other instruments.

Edgar Simmons, Natchez editor, writer, and poet said of Scott, “ Bud Scott was a product of the sweat-drenched Dixie river towns, and jazz flowed out of his mouth and fingers, out of every wide pore of him, like honey out of a barrel.”

The 1938 Federal Writers’ Project called Scott “Mississippi’s own pioneer in jazz”. 

Scott’s band often carried twelve to fifteen pieces, used various names, including the Syncopators, and Budd Scott and his Senegambian Assistants. 

Scott’s orchestra show changed with the times, evolving from a ragtime string band to a soulful jazz group and then a swing orchestra Scott’s music made headlines when his rousing rendition of “Eliza Jane” turned a mundane Meridian affair into a near-riot as dancers, moved by the band’s fire, broke out to do the shimmy, hesitation, and tickle toes.

Budd Scott never recorded or published his songs, but remained so popular he played for three U.S. presidents and entertained parties throughout Mississippi and Louisiana

Scott would often sing from the balcony of a confectionery. He’d break into “My Wild Irish Rose” whenever he spotted the police chief, Mike Ryan, approaching. Locals said this was more than a salute to the chief, but a warning to neighbors to hide their liquor. 

Bud Scott, Mississippi Blues Trail. Accessed June 26th 2021. http://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/bud-scott.

Bud Scott Historical Marker, The Historical Marker Database. Accessed June 26th 2021. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=70852.