Rural Still Life

The Allmusic review by Jim Todd awarded the album 1½ stars stating "This 1968 LP from the early days of jazz fusion lacks the seamless merging of styles that would mark the commercial success of Tom Scott's later career. Instead, the 19-year-old reed player and the members of his quartet careen all over the style map – with varying degrees of success... At the time of this recording, Scott was already a fixture of the Los Angeles studio scene. As he makes clear on Rural Still Life, jazz was – and would remain – a side interest only".^[1]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]

All compositions by Tom Scott except as indicated

1. "Rural Still Life #26" (Mike Lang) - 3:27
2. "Song #1" - 6:34
3. "Freak In" - 7:08
4. "With Respect to John Coltrane" - 8:03
5. "Just Messin' Around" (Mike Barone) - 5:21
6. "Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green) - 6:08

• Recorded in Los Angeles, California in 1968

• Tom Scott - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, multivider
• Michael Lang - piano, harpsichord
• Chuck Domanico - bass
• John Guerin - drums