Ronnie Scott
Tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott looms among the towering figures of Britain's postwar jazz scene, exerting equal influence as a performer and as the owner of the world-famous club bearing his name. He was born Ronald Schatt in the east end of London on January 28, 1927 -- his father, dance band saxophonist Jock Scott, separated from his mother shortly after his birth. After first purchasing a cornet from a local junk shop, Scott then moved to the soprano saxophone, finally settling on the tenor sax during his teens; at a local youth club he began performing with aspiring drummer Tony Crombie, and soon began playing the occasional professional gig. After backing bandleader Carlo Krahmer, Scott toured with trumpeter Johnny Claes in 1945, joining the hugely popular Ted Heath Big Band the following year; however, changing economics made the big bands increasingly unfeasible, and as the nascent bebop sound developing across the Atlantic began making its way to the U.K., he and Crombie traveled to New York City to explore the source firsthand. Scott would regularly return to New York after signing on to play alongside alto saxophonist Johnny Dankworth on the transatlantic ocean liner the Queen Mary.
Despite his travels Scott remained a linchpin of the growing London bop scene, and in late 1948 he co-founded Club Eleven, the first U.K. club devoted to modern jazz. During this time he developed the lyrical but harmonically complex style that would remain the hallmark of his career, first backing drummer Jack Parnell before finally forming his own band in 1953. The nine-piece group made its public debut in conjunction with a London appearance by Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic touring revue -- working from arrangements by trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar, the Scott band's debut proved a landmark moment in the history of British jazz, in many respects heralding the true starting point of the postwar era. Not all of Scott's instincts were sound -- in 1955, he briefly assembled a full-size big band, to disastrous creative and commercial results -- but when he officially dissolved the group in 1956, he was a household name throughout Britain. In 1957 he co-founded the Jazz Couriers with fellow tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes, scaling to even greater heights of fame. The Jazz Couriers amicably split in 1959.
Around this time Scott began to again entertain the notion of a London-based jazz club in the tradition of the landmarks dotting New York's 52nd Street -- along with Pete King, a longtime collaborator who'd recently retired from active performing, he borrowed the money necessary to lease the building at 39 Gerrard Street and on October 31, 1959 opened Ronnie Scott's Club for business. Scott himself co-headlined the opening night along with Hayes and Parnell -- sales were promising, but the venue only began reaching true critical mass in 1961 when it hosted its first American act, Scott favorite Zoot Sims. In the months to follow, Ronnie Scott's was the setting of performances by a who's who of American tenor icons including Dexter Gordon, Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Ben Webster, and Sonny Rollins. In late 1965 the club moved to its present location on Frith Street, where before the end of the decade it would host everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Albert Ayler, becoming the epicenter of London's jazz community. Although the club consumed much of his time, Scott continued touring with a quartet featuring pianist Stan Tracey -- during the late 1960s, he also spearheaded an eight-piece group with whom he created the most idiosyncratic and experimental music of his career. At the time of Scott's death on December 23, 1996, his namesake club was perhaps the most famous jazz venue in all of Europe.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
-
Live At Ronnie Scotts
Jazz - Released by SONY BMG Catalog on 10 May 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Soho Blues: The Ronnie Scott Anthology 1956-62
Bebop - Released by ACROBAT on 13 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Couriers of Jazz / England's Greatest Combo
Jazz - Released by Fresh Sound Records on 1 Jan 1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Couriers Essentials
Jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Jun 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100% Ronnie Scott, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Scott! Ronnie Scott Studio Recordings, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Esquire Records on 14 Dec 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trio: On A Clear Day: 'Live' 1974
Jazz - Released by ACROBAT on 23 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ting-a-Ling, Vol. 1
Bebop - Released by Supreme Media on 9 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Not so Fast - The Complete Esquire Recordings 1951
Bebop - Released by ACROBAT on 9 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bop at Club 11
Ronnie Scott, John Dankworth, John Dankworth Quartet
Bebop - Released by Esquire Records on 4 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Presenting the Ronnie Scott Sextet + the Jazz Couriers in Concert (Live)
Jazz - Released by Albion Jazz on 1 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100% Ronnie Scott, Vol. 4
Jazz - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Live From Club XI
Ronnie Scott, John Dankworth, Ronnie Scott & John Dankworth
Jazz - Released by BritBop on 4 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ting-a-Ling, Vol. 2
Bebop - Released by Supreme Media on 9 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ronnie Scott Collection, Vol. 2
Jazz - Released by Lumi Entertainment on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ting-a-Ling, vol. 3
Bebop - Released by Supreme Media on 9 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie Scott Studio Recordings, Vol. 2 - Battle Royal (Remastered 2016)
Ronnie Scott, Kenny Graham, Kenny Graham's Afro Cubists
Jazz - Released by Esquire Records on 1 Dec 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In Concert (Live)
The Jazz Couriers, Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes
Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 7 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ronnie Scott Collection, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Lumi Entertainment on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Couriers of Jazz + the Last Word (Bonus Track Version)
Jazz - Released by Albion Jazz on 1 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo