Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America & All the Ships at Sea and Tom Scott

“Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America & All the Ships at Sea” and Tom Scott (135)

“Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America & All the Ships at Sea” was composed by drummer John Guerin and recorded by Tom Scott and the L.A. Express for the 1975 album Tom Cat. The title references broadcaster Walter Winchell’s famous opening line. The track is a great example of 1970s jazz fusion, combining jazz harmony and improvisation with funk and rock rhythms. It is also a tune you rarely hear called at a jam session—and for good reason. Compared with most jazz standards, its form, melody, harmony, and rhythms are unusually demanding. The arrangement moves through several contrasting sections, including an extended solo form. Much of the piece is built around a funky bass line and unique chord movement. Later sections introduce dominant chords loaded with tensions, shifting meters of harmonic activity, challenging sixteenth-note figures, and unexpected movement. Guerin’s driving backbeat and Scott’s saxophone ultimately hold the complicated arrangement together. 

Tom Scott and L.A. Express 

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