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Born
Ronald Schatt in London, Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the
age of sixteen. he toured with Johnny Claes, the trumpeter, from 1944 to
1945, and with Ted Heath in 1946, as well as working with Ambrose, Cab
Kaye, and Tito Burns. He was involved in the short-lived
In
1952 Scott joined Jack Parnell's orchestra, then led his own nine-piece
group from 1953 to 1956. He co-led the Jazz Couriers with Tubby Hayes
from 1957 to 1959, and was leader of a quartet including Stan Tracey
(1960–1967), an octet including John Surman and Kenny Wheeler
(1968–1969), and a trio including Mike Carr (1971–1975). He then
went on to lead various groups, most of which included John Critchinson
and Martin Drew. Scott
was among the earliest British musicians to be influenced in his playing
style by Charlie Parker and other bebop musicians. His playing was much
admired on both sides of the Atlantic, Charles Mingus saying of him in
1961: "Of the white boys, Ronnie Scott gets closer to the negro
blues feeling, the way Zoot Sims does. Despite
his central position in the British jazz scene, Scott recorded
infrequently during the last few decades of his career. He suffered
periods of depression and, while recovering slowly from surgery for
tooth implants, died accidentally from a mixture of brandy and
prescription sleeping tablets - at the age of sixty-nine. At the
subsequent inquest in to his death, the coroner's verdict was
"death by misadventure". Scott
is perhaps best remembered for co-founding the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club,
which opened on October 30, 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in
London's Soho district, later moving to a larger venue nearby at 47
Frith Street in 1965. The original venue continued in operation as the
"Old Place" until the lease ran out in 1967, and was used for
performances by the up
The
club, mainly run by Pete King, Scott's business partner, by now had
become the premier British venue for live jazz. It achieved this
position mainly by negotiating with the American Federation of Musicians
(AFM) and the British Musicians'
Union to remove the complete ban on American jazz musicians working
in the U.K.,
and replaced it with an exchange system. Zoot Sims was the club's first
transatlantic visitor in 1962, and was succeeded by many others (often
saxophonists) in the years that followed. ALBUMS 1948: Boppin' at Esquire (indigo) 1958: The Couriers of Jazz! (Carlton/Fresh Sounds) 1965: The Night Is Scott and You're So Swingable (Redial) 1965: When I Want Your Opinion, I'll Give it to You (Jazz House) 1969: Live at Ronnie Scott's (Columbia) 1977: Serious Gold (Pye) 1990: Never Pat a Burning Dog (Jazz House) 1997: If I Want Your Opinion (Jazz House) 1997: The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (Jazz House) 2000: Boppin' at Esquire (Indigo) 2002: Ronnie Scott Live at the Jazz Club (Time Music) |
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