"Let's
go back before our most memorable dee-jays, Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles
and Ron Hardy. Before our most memorable clubs, the Garage (NYC),
Warehouse (Orig Chicago) and Music Box (Chicago). There was another lost
but not forgotten jock, a foundation upon which many others have built careers
without even knowing it; DJ Tee Scott. If you are a true dee-jay and not
a record spinner like so many today, if you truly know of oldschool, you should
at once have heard something of DJ Tee Scott.
We begin in 1972 at a little forgotten club to us (unless you are from NYC or
Chicago) called The Candy Store on 56th St. between 5th and 6th ave in New York.
Tee Scott had been going to clubs for about three (3) years but was not playing
music at the time. It all started one night at the Store. One of
the jocks wasn't playing there anymore and Scott didn't like this new guy much.
So after a couple of 151's and coca-cola, he got the nerve to say to the manager
"I don't want to say anything bad about this guy personally, but he's not
as good as the last one." The manager said, "So why don't you
tell the boss this." He did and the reply was, "Do you play?"
Scott says, "yeah"even though he never mixed before in his life.
This was the first place he had heard music mixed. After the run around
for about three (3) weeks, he got his fifteen (15) minutes. Scott played
and the reaction was great. Scott ended up playing for forty-five (45)
minutes. Approximately three (3) weeks after this venue, he landed a job
playing Thursdays. However, he was only there from May 72 until July 72.
Fate would play again! A customer who liked his music so much told him
of a club called Better Days, just opening up with a lesbian dee-jay.
At that time Better Days like most clubs were just switching over from the jukebox.
The dee-jay name was Bert (the lesbian). His cousin who had hipped him
to the other clubs went there a lot. Eventually, Scott went. The
night before he went. The dee-jay (the lesbian) at the club did a real no-no
with the boss's wife.
The boss's wife had asked to play a request and Bert said, "I don't play
request." The wife said, "Do you know who I am?"
Bert replied, "I don't
give a fuck who you are!" Readers you know what happened next (smile).
This all happened the night before Scott came. Needless to say, he got
the job. The setup in the club was crude to say the least. It was
a large dancefloor; the lights were very basic. An automatic light panel
with six (6) or eight (8) different patterns; red ring, a blue ring, a green
ring like a bullseye. Primitive: they had a jukebox on in the day since
they opened at three (3) or four (4) in the afternoon. He also had to
make his own pre-cuel by bringing in his own amp and headphones.
The boss was cheap. He didn't want to spend money on subs and tweeters.
So he went out and made a cluster of tweeters. Eventually ending up with
Alex Rosner, Rosner had put in one of the first disco sound systems with Nicky
Siano in 74 or 75 at the Gallery (NYC). Around this time, other spots
opened like The Loft; with David Mancuso. These were after hour clubs
that didn't close until seven (7) or eight (8) (my type of party). These
clubs had fabulous sound systems and a tug of war was built for customers.
Scott had to compete with these clubs because Better Days was a bar-club.
The others were opened all night, no bar (sound familiar Chicago readers).
Scott improved the system and his music. He made it when you came in you
danced until you left.
Better Days was known as a gay Black militant club. Militant as in rough;
street rough. A Black gay thang. Scott endeavored to change the
look. He started inviting all kinds of people down there. He also
rubbed elbows with all the record companies. John Brown and others----
John Brown head of Capitol Records and Larry Patterson, well known dee-jay for
Jersey (another story for those who don't know Patterson). They took him
(Tee) under their wing. However, Scott took people under his wing also.
Continental Baths (NYC) was getting popular around the time he started at Better
Days. Larry Levan was playing there already. Scott knew Frankie
Knuckles through various channels, however they were friends. Frankie
was attempting to play Continental Baths. So the story goes, Scott saw
Frankie sitting with his head in his hands (like I do over this shit today).
Scott says to Frankie, "I'm over worked with seven (7) nights at Better
Days, so why don't you do two (2) of my nights at Better Days?" Scott
gives Knuckles Mondays and Tuesdays. Frankie works there before moving
to Continental Baths. Later he (Frankie) receives an offer from New York
native extraordinaire ROBERT WILLIAMS to play in Chicago at our first after
hours spot; the famed U.S Studios Warehouse in circa 1977. Note: Larry
Levan was Robert's first choice, but he (Larry) got offered the job at the Garage
in 76.
This went back and forth from about 73 through 77 until Frankie finally came
to Chicago! SO NOW YOU KNOW THAT TEE SCOTT IS THE ONE WHO GAVE FRANKIE
KNUCKLES HIS FIRST JOB. Tee Scott also played other clubs like Clubhouse
in D.C and L'Uomo in Detroit. This all occurred from 75 through the 80's.
He (Scott) stopped playing in 92, because it wasn't as lucrative for him.
Most importantly, he came down with cancer, but was a survivor. People
thought he had AIDS because he became thin and little. When Scott got cancer,
he was still in the public eye playing at the Cheetah Club in New Jersey.
Tee Scott played a couple of years at the legendary Zanzibar as a guest on Saturdays,
while still playing Better Days during the week. Tony Humphries wasn't
there yet----Scott brought him later, he (Humphries) was on the sidelines like
Frankie Knuckles, waiting to get in. At this time, Larry Levan was at
the Zanzibar. Larry and Scott had a good relationship. They were
constantly pitted against each other as the best two clubs when the Garage opened
in 76. It was a toss-up supposedly as to who was number one, but they didn't
allow themselves to be put in that position.
The media did so, and Larry had the bigger club, which was a tremendous vehicle;
so he got more recognition. For a while they were the only two in the
market doing mixes. People would be like, "Larry Levan is in studio,
haven't you heard?" Companies would call them up alternatively.
He (Larry) would bring 20 to 25 people into the Garage with no problem.
Scott would dance all nite and Larry would do the same at Better Days.
They were good friends. Scott loved what they did; he hated what happened to
them (as do I). Real clubs have all but disappeared (true for Chicago).
You may if you are lucky, find a club that has dance music for everyone.
Additionally, there are no more quote----- disco/house clubs (I agree).
Nicky Siano, Larry Levan and Scott would shop and pick out songs to play at
their spots. Records that
weren't popular, records others never thought of playing. Scott never
was a top 40 dee-jay. They had three sets a night for slow songs.
At about 11:30 or 12, Scott would reach a crescendo and play something slow.
Yes, they would play slow records (smile)!
To be continued..........................................
-The article was written by a gentleman named Andy Shih who was/is the managing/reviews editor for a magazine called Underground News produced out of Cleveland, Ohio, with it's main business office located in New York. This article was in issue #20.
Tee Scott began his career in 1971 in a club called Candy Store. A year later he moved to legendary Better Days, where he built a mixer in order to be able to mix records since back then real sound systems for discotheques did not exist yet. His firend Nick Siano was one of the first DJ to have one at the Gallery. Also, Dave Mancuso at the Loft had one of the very first club sound systems. In an interview he gave in 1994, Tee recalls the sound systems of these two clubs: " They had these fantastic systems, while I had to work with simple equipment. It was a continuous struggle with customers", who also used to visit the two aforementioned clubs.
It was during the early seventies that Tee Scott helped two young DJ's start their careers: Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles. The latter became resident on Mondays and Tuesdays at Better Days, until approximately a year later Frankie received an offer from Chicago and moved there. Does it ring a bell? Sure, it was in Chicago that Knuckles threw the bases of house music... Tee Scott was the very first person to give Frankie a job as a DJ!
Thanks to another old hero of those years, Larry Patterson, Scott was provided with the opportunity to work at the Clubhouse in Washington D.C. and at the Man in Detroit as well as Better Days between 1975 and 1980. In the early eighties, before Tony Humphries became resident DJ, Larry Levan and Tee Scott worked at Zanzibar in Newark.
Scott's career stopped in 1992 after some years spent at the Empire Skating Rink, a roller disco in Queens, where Tee worked to make some bread. Because of health problems he was forced to leave his job as a DJ and died at the age of 47 years in 1995.
More than for his career as a DJ, Tee is remembered for his mixes and remixes. In his career he made approximately 150 of them. The first one was "Love Thang" by First Choice for the Salsoul label. But the song that left an unforgettable trace in music is "Happy Days" by Northend, recorded in collaboration with another unforgettable figure: Arthur Baker.