R.I.P. Pete King

[Cyril]

Club owner and former saxophonist Pete King, who with Ronnie Scott founded the world’s most famous jazz club exactly 50 years ago, died Sunday after a long illness. Exhausted and increasingly troubled with Alzheimer’s and deafness, he had been in poor health since selling the club to theatre producer Sally Greene in 2005.

More:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/6860255/Pete-King.html

[Teasing the Korean]

Is this the same Peter King who was very active as an arranger for vocalists?

[David Ayers]

damn - I assume this is the Pete King who worked with Al Haig when he used to play in England? Great bop altoist; also made a very notable appearance on the PBS blues documentary a few years back -

Pete King http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_King_(saxophonist) is not to be confused with Peter King http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_King_(saxophonist).

[A Lark Ascending]

Should not be confused with Peter King the alto player.

[Cyril]

Is this the same Peter King who was very active as an arranger for vocalists?

Pete King was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and the manager of London's famous jazz club, Ronnie Scott's

[Teasing the Korean]

Is this the same Peter King who was very active as an arranger for vocalists?

Pete King was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and the manager of London's famous jazz club, Ronnie Scott's

Well then it is apparently the same guy I'm talking about if we can believe this:

http://peterkingjazz.com/bio.html

[Head Man]

Is this the same Peter King who was very active as an arranger for vocalists?

Pete King was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and the manager of London's famous jazz club, Ronnie Scott's

Well then it is apparently the same guy I'm talking about if we can believe this:

http://peterkingjazz.com/bio.html

No, that bio is for Peter King the ALTO player..a completely different person and, BTW, an excellent musician.

Very sad news about the death of Pete King..the end of an era. I'm starting to feel old again!

[Teasing the Korean]

Two saxophonists named Pete King who were both associated with Ronnie Scott...

[BillF]

Two saxophonists named Pete King who were both associated with Ronnie Scott...

Yes, it's all very confusing. I never saw Ronnie's colleague, Pete King, but heard his fruity cockney voice on the radio. I've seen the other one, who calls himself the full PETER King, several times in his career from the 1960s to the present and he has now developed into one hell of an altoist - Britain's secret, you might say, now we no longer have a Tubby Hayes or Victor Feldman to offer. Here's a curiosity: Peter King playing Bird's alto!

My link

[Teasing the Korean]

Two saxophonists named Pete King who were both associated with Ronnie Scott...

Yes, it's all very confusing. I never saw Ronnie's colleague, Pete King, but heard his fruity cockney voice on the radio. I've seen the other one, who calls himself the full PETER King, several times in his career from the 1960s to the present and he has now developed into one hell of an altoist - Britain's secret, you might say, now we no longer have a Tubby Hayes or Victor Feldman to offer. Here's a curiosity: Peter King playing Bird's alto!

My link

Thanks for clarifying.

Except that Peter did occasionally go by "Pete," at least in the states. Unless there is a third guy out there.

[Jim R]

Two saxophonists named Pete King who were both associated with Ronnie Scott...

Yes, it's all very confusing. I never saw Ronnie's colleague, Pete King, but heard his fruity cockney voice on the radio. I've seen the other one, who calls himself the full PETER King, several times in his career from the 1960s to the present and he has now developed into one hell of an altoist - Britain's secret, you might say, now we no longer have a Tubby Hayes or Victor Feldman to offer. Here's a curiosity: Peter King playing Bird's alto!

My link

Thanks for clarifying.

Except that Peter did occasionally go by "Pete," at least in the states. Unless there is a third guy out there.

Unless I'm confused, I thought there was a third guy out there (another alto player). I had seen that video of Peter King playing Bird's alto before, and I just assumed it was a different person from the Peter King I was somewhat familiar with. Just to clarify, here is a photo of Peter King the alto player, already mentioned here (the guy playing Bird's alto in the above video):

The Peter King I was familiar with had lighter (blond) hair which he wore differently (combed forward over the upper forehead)...

...and wore glasses in the only video I had seen of him (which was a performance with Louis Stewart, which is one of the uploaded videos on my Youtube page:

(the camera isn't on King until about 4 1/2 minutes in, btw).

I also found a link to an undated video which shows that same Peter King (referred to as "Pete" here) in an earlier performance where he isn't wearing glasses: http://www.pogledaj.name/pete-king-1-of-3/video/cudIy4qRJ3Y

I'm seeing a facial resemblance between the two, but the hair and the glasses have me confused...

Edited December 22, 2009 by Jim R

[Teasing the Korean]

That's it, I'm ditching my piano for the alto sax and changing my name to Peter King.

[Jim R]

I know people can change their haircut style, and can switch to contact lenses, and there's the father time factor, of course, but... the dark hair is probably the thing that really throws me. When I look at the video (Louis Stewart group) that I uploaded, and compare it to the video with Bird's alto, I would never have connected those dots (assuming they're the same guy)...?

Edited December 23, 2009 by Jim R

[marcello]

Sad news about Pete King, who kept Ronnie's going for so long.

Yes, he did play saxophone professionally, at least in the 50's, when he played with Ronnie Scott in various situations.

The musicians who played for him at Ronnie's, all dug him.

A down to earth, West End character.Pete King

Pete King was born in Bow, London in August, 1929. On his return to London after the second world war he he took tenor sax and clarinet lessons and got his first professional work with Leslie 'Jiver' Hutchinson in 1947. He subsequently worked in the bands of Kenny Graham, Teddy Foster and Leon Roy. He was then with Oscar Rabin from 1948 until joining Kathy Stobart's band in May, 1950, and he stayed until 1952 when he joined Jack Parnell. He left that band along with other musicians who became the nucleus of Ronnie Scott's legendary nine piece orchestra that for three years from 1953 was the top attraction in British jazz for nearly four years. When Ronnie Scott formed the Jazz Couriers with Tubby Hayes in 1957, King became the manager of the group. In 1959 he and Ronnie Scott formed ronnie scott's which, after a shaky few years, became the premier jazz club in the world. King gave up his playing career to concentrate on running the club while Scott concentrated on the music.

He was a lifelong friend of Ronnie's and became his personal manager. After Ronnie's death in 1996 the club continued in Pete King's hands for another ten years. He had always been the partner who dealt with the business side of the club and was responsible for it's eventual success.

[AllenLowe]

are you sure it's not Congressman Pete King?

http://peteking.house.gov/

Edited December 22, 2009 by AllenLowe

[sidewinder]

Very sad news and yes - as mentioned above - the end of an era. Pete King - as well as being the 'business half' of the Scott/King management of the Club in its prime, was a very good sax player who played in the larger Ronnie Scott 50s groups, including the short-lived orchestra that he fronted. He can be heard on some of those old Esquire recordings with Scott.

He sold me a club membership on one occasion back in the early 80s, directly from his back office. A small, wiry and no-nonsense Londoner with a boxer's build and great dedication to the club (he could be seen most nights in those days sorting out various issues, welcoming folks in etc). I'm sorry to hear about the problems with Alzheimers after he sold the club to Sally Greene; that is very sad. For sure, the UK jazz scene owes this dedicated man a great deal - RIP

Edited December 23, 2009 by sidewinder

[clifford_thornton]

I too got confused & thought the thread was about the great altoist.

Well, RIP to one who was obviously a British jazz institution.

[BillF]

Two saxophonists named Pete King who were both associated with Ronnie Scott...

Yes, it's all very confusing. I never saw Ronnie's colleague, Pete King, but heard his fruity cockney voice on the radio. I've seen the other one, who calls himself the full PETER King, several times in his career from the 1960s to the present and he has now developed into one hell of an altoist - Britain's secret, you might say, now we no longer have a Tubby Hayes or Victor Feldman to offer. Here's a curiosity: Peter King playing Bird's alto!

My link

Thanks for clarifying.

Except that Peter did occasionally go by "Pete," at least in the states. Unless there is a third guy out there.

Unless I'm confused, I thought there was a third guy out there (another alto player). I had seen that video of Peter King playing Bird's alto before, and I just assumed it was a different person from the Peter King I was somewhat familiar with. Just to clarify, here is a photo of Peter King the alto player, already mentioned here (the guy playing Bird's alto in the above video):

The Peter King I was familiar with had lighter (blond) hair which he wore differently (combed forward over the upper forehead)...

...and wore glasses in the only video I had seen of him (which was a performance with Louis Stewart, which is one of the uploaded videos on my Youtube page:

(the camera isn't on King until about 4 1/2 minutes in, btw).

I also found a link to an undated video which shows that same Peter King (referred to as "Pete" here) in an earlier performance where he isn't wearing glasses: http://www.pogledaj.name/pete-king-1-of-3/video/cudIy4qRJ3Y

I'm seeing a facial resemblance between the two, but the hair and the glasses have me confused...

All these images are of Peter King the altoist whom I've seen regularly from the sixties to the noughties. Yes, he's dyed his hair black and now combs it back rather than forward. He also talks of some Coltrane influence in his playing now, so perhaps he's modifying both aurally and visually!

[Niko]

All these images are of Peter King the altoist whom I've seen regularly from the sixties to the noughties. Yes, he's dyed his hair black and now combs it back rather than forward. He also talks of some Coltrane influence in his playing now, so perhaps he's modifying both aurally and visually!

and he looks real good with the black hair! he also plays a great solo on one of my favorite pop songs (ben watt's waiting like mad); glad he's alive! and RIP to the other

[A Lark Ascending]

Peter King the alto player also writes operas!

Has a great affinity for Bartok - did a great tour with his quartet and a string quartet about ten years back.

He used to be a regular at Appleby and could always be guaranteed to tear the place up on those three horn jam session things they did so well there.

http://peterkingjazz.com/bio.html

This is a great disc to sample his playing:

******************

I don't know much about the recently deceased Pete King - but given the importance of Ronnie Scott's in UK jazz life has achievement was considerable.

Edited December 23, 2009 by Bev Stapleton

[The Rep]

A very sad loss, a man who gave so much for UK jazz but is so little known outside London. Thanks for all the hard work helping to keep Ronnie's at the forefront of jazz clubs, R.I.P Pete.

As for the other Peter King, altoist, may I recomend his version of "Hi Fly" with the Philippe Briand Trio and have a listen to the albums "Speed Trap" and Footprints, this should give you an idea of just how good he is.

The Rep

[Jim R]

All these images are of Peter King the altoist whom I've seen regularly from the sixties to the noughties. Yes, he's dyed his hair black and now combs it back rather than forward. He also talks of some Coltrane influence in his playing now, so perhaps he's modifying both aurally and visually!

Thanks for clearing that up, Bill.