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
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Ronnie Scott and Tony Crombie at the Royal Festival Hall (Live) + Tubby Hayes and the Jazz Couriers Feat. Ronnie Scott
Jazz - Released by Albion Jazz on 1 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100% Ronnie Scott, Vol. 2
Jazz - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sounds of Ronnie Scott, Vol. 1
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 Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best Of
Jazz - Released by Stardust Records on 20 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100% Ronnie Scott, Vol. 3
Jazz - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie´s Early Works
World - Released by Music Manager on 22 May 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie Plays, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Diamond Days on 5 May 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100% Ronnie Scott, Vol. 4
Jazz - Released by Diamond Days on 5 May 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie Scott:Not so Fast - The Complete Esquire Recordings 1951
Jazz - Released by Blue Velvet on 1 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie Scott: Fast & Loose (Live in 1954)
Jazz - Released by Blue Velvet on 19 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fast and Loose - Live in 1954
Bebop - Released by ACROBAT on 14 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Jazz Masters
Bebop - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 May 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ting-a-Ling, vol. 2
Bebop - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100% Ronnie Scott, Vol. 5
Jazz - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sounds of Ronnie Scott, Vol. 2
Jazz - Released by Lumi Entertainment on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ting-a-Ling, vol. 1
Bebop - Released by Top Tracks on 30 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Legend (Live)
World - Released by Music Manager on 17 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Evening at the Ronnie Scott Jazz Club, London, 7 September 1954 ( (Part of the "Esquire" Legacy)
Jazz - Released by The Digital Gramophone on 12 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie Plays, Vol. 7
Jazz - Released by Diamond Days on 5 May 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ronnie Plays, Vol. 6
Jazz - Released by Diamond Days on 5 May 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo