Ronnie Scott

[sidewinder]

The Ronnie Scott Quartet and Quintet of the late 70s and 80s was featured a lot at the club. Most of the time the band were support act for the main attraction (with Dick Pearce on trumpet/flugel, John Critchenson on piano/fender, Ron Mathewson on bass and Martin Drew on drums - latterly with Mornington Lockett on tenor). Ronnie was an extremely good and under-rated player on tenor - his love for Hank Mobley was obvious from his style (I think I read somewhere that he had most of Mobley's Blue Notes on LP on his shelf - maybe that was in the book written by his daughter?). Very melodic and always seeking new and interesting directions in his solos. And without a doubt he was one of the funniest jazz musicians who ever lived. Maybe only Buddy Rich could match him in that respect.

In fact some of the funniest interludes I saw from him were when the club was seriously threatened with bankruptcy back around 1980 due to tax demands and could easily have gone under. Impressive !

I have to say - for me personally he's the favourite of the 3 tenors in the CBBB (although they are all great). Check out his solos on the 'Change of Scenes' LP.

Edited November 22, 2008 by sidewinder

[The Rep]

My recollections were from about 1960

[sidewinder]

My recollections were from about 1960

Yeah, that would be about the right timescale for Harriott & co. at the Marquee. Would have loved to have seen that !

Is it true that the band-room there had a pet rat?

[The Rep]

My recollections were from about 1960

Yeah, that would be about the right timescale for Harriott & co. at the Marquee. Would have loved to have seen that !

Is it true that the band-room there had a pet rat?

only saw it after quite a few bevvies

[carnivore]

I am a very lucky fellow, I saw Scott most saturday nights for about two years. Ronnie Scotts old club 39, Gerrard Street, Soho. On a saturday night we would go firstly too a club called the Marquee to hear The Joe Harriott Quintet. This was a great experience for some one in their late teens, finding jazz in all its many forms. At least part of each performance was devoted to free form jazz, which did not always work out but when it did, sheer joy!. The members of this quintet were, Joe Harriott - alto, Shake Keane - flugal horn, Pat Smythe - piano, Coleridge Goode - bass, and Phil Seamen - drums. We would then grab something to eat and go onto 39, Gerrard St, for what was termed as the all night session. There we would see both Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott, sometimes together sometimes as seperate bands. When they play in the same front line it was magic, it was all you could talk about for the rest of the week. Also when they were together it was very noticable that Scott was the power house and Hayes was the technician. If Hayes was going to do a set by himself the stage would have an array of instruments. Tenor, alto and baritone saxes, then flute also vibes. Some of the musicians here were, Jimmy Deuchar - trumpet, piano mainly Stan Tracey but also John Chritchinson and at times Terry Shannon. Bass was Lennie Bush, drums was play by Allan Ganley and Spike Wells. Of course the all night session had its un-official guest, mainly americans playing somewhere else or in England without a permit. Really any jazz musician or singer in the audiance that would catch Ronnies eye, he would invite on stage. It would finish around five on sunday morning and in those days the tube (underground railway) did not start running till about 7 o-clock, so we would go to a main line station to get a coffee from a vending machine. Scratched on the side of one such machine was these immortal words.

Drink varnish, it will kill you but give you a lovely finish.

Sorry to ramble on, I only ment to say a few words about Ronnie but the memories come flooding back.

Much as I respected Tub's playing he did go on a bit....many memories of waiting, well after midnight, for the last set of whomever was appearing at Ronnie's - Ben, Getz, Zoot etc. The penultimate set of the night was invariably Tubby's quartet and he always seemed intent on putting down a marker for the guest. His solos - great for the first 5 or 6 choruses - and the set, seemed interminable and an exhausted audience would have drifted off to sleep had it not been for the extraordinary discomfort of the club's chairs.

Then there was 'the sandwich' - not for eating, but as a means of buying drinks 'after hours'

[sidewinder]

Then there was 'the sandwich' - not for eating, but as a means of buying drinks 'after hours'

Interesting. Even back in the early 80s you had to buy food at Ronnies to get a drink late on. The Spag Boll was always a good (safe) option.

[medjuck]

My recollections were from about 1960

Yeah, that would be about the right timescale for Harriott & co. at the Marquee. Would have loved to have seen that !

Is it true that the band-room there had a pet rat?

I saw the Harriot Quartet at the Marquee in the summer of '64.