James Sylvester Scott (James Scott) was born on February 12, 1885 in Neosho, Missouri.
Scott died on August 30th , 1938 (at the age of 53) in Kansas City, Kansas.
Although, his genre of music was ragtime he also took part in march and waltz.
His parents, James Scott, Sr. and Molly Thomas Scott both former slaves.
At the age of 16, he began taking piano and music lessons.
In 1902 he began working at the music store of Charles L. Dumars where he would soon print his own song.
In 1904, two more of Scott’s songs were published, “Fascinator March: and “On the Pike March”.
He became highly noticed because he was the only one in southwestern Missouri.
Scott was also known as the “Little Professor”.
James S. Scott is the most known composer/pianist in the ragtime era because he used a mixture of musical ideas to create a unique sound.