Was this a lot or little for a ticket in 1974?

[Hardbopjazz]

I was speaking with someone last at at the Vanguard who saw Sonny Rollins at Ronnie Scott's in 1974. The price of his ticket was 5 pounds. To me that sounds very inexpensive but then again this was 1974. Would anyone know if this was what ticket prices were going for to see a show at Ronnie Scott's?

Edited August 15, 2010 by Hardbopjazz

[J.A.W.]

I don't know today's equivalent of £5, but if I remember correctly it was quite a lot back in 1974.

[Dave James]

I think that would have been around $11.00. That's a fair amount in 1974.

[sidewinder]

Sounds about right. Standard admission was around £8-9ish I recall in the late 70s. I used to get in as a student member for £1 mid-week.

£5 was a tidy sum back in the mid-70s. Hardly more than a pint of beer in London now.

Edited August 15, 2010 by sidewinder

[Hardbopjazz]

So the artist playing at the club really didn't dictate the cost?

[sidewinder]

Some of the performers at Ronnies did command a premium admission price - and you also got only 1 show too (2 sets - both early and late show) instead of the full 4 sets 9pm through to 2am. I can remember making that arrangement to see both Buddy Rich and Woody Herman's orchestras.

Edited August 15, 2010 by sidewinder

[Hardbopjazz]

Sounds about right. Standard admission was around £8-9ish I recall in the late 70s. I used to get in as a student member for £1 mid-week.

£5 was a tidy sum back in the mid-70s. Hardly more than a pint of beer in London now.

So Sonny was demanding more for admission then most acts.

[mjzee]

Wasn't there also a charge to "join the club"? I visited England in 1981, and was surprised to find that pubs weren't allowed to sell beer after 9 PM (10 PM on weekends). But after-hours members-only clubs were allowed to serve members until 1 or 2 AM. On that trip, I went to Ronnie Scott's (I forget who the main act was, but Susanna McCorkle opened), and remember being charged a surcharge to join the club. Can anyone corroborate?

[marcello]

Yes, until recently, Ronnie's had a club membership. Members were entitled to a lower ticket price.

[sidewinder]

Wasn't there also a charge to "join the club"? I visited England in 1981, and was surprised to find that pubs weren't allowed to sell beer after 9 PM (10 PM on weekends). But after-hours members-only clubs were allowed to serve members until 1 or 2 AM. On that trip, I went to Ronnie Scott's (I forget who the main act was, but Susanna McCorkle opened), and remember being charged a surcharge to join the club. Can anyone corroborate?

I remember seeing Susanna McCorkle on a couple of occasions at the club. Accompanied by Keith Ingham I think. One of those occasions might have been opening for George Coleman or Cedar Walton. She was living in the UK back in the 70s.

Back then, most places were licensed to 10.30pm during the week or 11pm at weekends. Not the case now. I think at Scotts you used to have to buy food (e.g. a basic sandwich) to get a drink after midnight. I used to stick to coffee for the late show (cheaper). You got to know how to make a pint last all night !

Ronnies used to do annual memberships giving discount admission during the week. The student deal was pretty good - I remember buying one from Pete King in his back office. As a young student you also had a good chance of getting a prime seat up front - a deliberate policy of Ronnie Scott apparently (God bless him..)

Edited August 15, 2010 by sidewinder

[medjuck]

I remember not going to Scott's to see Cecil Taylor on a double bill with Joan Armatrading (what a strange pairing) in the early '70s because it was too expensive. Five pounds would have been more than I could afford then.

(I was just remembering this because Armatrading played a small theater her last week. My wife went and said it was great.)

[Shrdlu]

I went to Ronnie's in 1972 to see Roland Kirk and Bill Evans, and then, in 1974, to see Zoot Sims and Jackie Caine and Roy Kral. (All excellent.)

I don't remember the admission price, but it was very reasonable, and there was no requirement to join the club. I didn't need to order any food, and I don't recall any restrictions on serving drinks while the club was open. Of course, the U.K. still had some rather antiquated drinking hours back then (these have only fairly recently been extended), but clubs such as Ronnie's must have had some kind of late license.

The new U.K. fascist government (and the previous Labor administration) seems to be planning more strict laws, using the excuse of pretending that they care about kids hanging out in the streets drinking. You know, the "nanny state" stuff. Minimum prices for booze are in the pipeline. This won't stop kids getting booze. All it will do is penalize adults, and, above all, make more money for the greedy government - that is the real reason for the plans.

One place that was bad back then was Ontario, Canada. I was in Toronto in 1977, and, the licensing laws forced an early close. I was at a Jack de Johnette concert, and Jack announced a new set, but was told that they had to close. He was surprised by that.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Different country and different decade, but I'm always amazed by the prices listed on my framed, autographed poster of Ornette Coleman, from the first concert (May 25, 1981) on Prime Time's world tour. This was at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

"Reserved seats $6.50

Students $3.50"

[BFrank]

Music was much cheaper back then.

I saw Jimi Hendrix in 1968 for $3.50.

[sidewinder]

Minimum prices for booze are in the pipeline. This won't stop kids getting booze. All it will do is penalize adults, and, above all, make more money for the greedy government - that is the real reason for the plans.

What is being proposed is optional local legislation, depending on the area, for councils to impose a minimum pricing on alcohol units sold by supermarkets etc, targeting those 'loss leader' cheap booze deals. Aimed at those areas where there is currently a delinquency problem caused by 'pre loading' at home on the cheap stuff. Personally like a lot of people over here I stay well away from those areas prone to delinquency issues if I can help it and if that is what it takes to sort out there (local) issues, then so be it.

Edited August 16, 2010 by sidewinder

[mjazzg]

The new U.K. fascist government (and the previous Labor administration) seems to be planning more strict laws, using the excuse of pretending that they care about kids hanging out in the streets drinking. You know, the "nanny state" stuff. Minimum prices for booze are in the pipeline. This won't stop kids getting booze. All it will do is penalize adults, and, above all, make more money for the greedy government - that is the real reason for the plans.

Whilst no fan at all of our new Con-Dem government I somehow think they've not quite earned the label 'fascist' just yet. I often feel uneasy when I see this word thrown around quite so lightly given the very real horrors (not alcohol legislation) carried out in its name.

I do however agree that the proposed legislation is likeley to fairly ineffective as my memory suggests that teenagers were, and are, very resourceful when it come to accessing cheap stimulants of whatever stripe.

What's propose is amply explained by Sidewinder, above and it might not be a bad thing for this country's health if the ridiculously low costs charged by our major supermarkets are addressed. I would also just add that some people have very little choice but to live in the areas affected by alcohol-related 'delinquency'.

[J.A.W.]

No politics outside the political forum, please.

[carnivore]

Going to Ronnie's in the 70s was an expensive proposition for most of us - the admission price was a sizeable chunk of your pay at the time and if you stayed to the end of the last set there was the cost of getting home, as public transport had closed down except for the ghostly 'night buses' that never went anywhere that anyone actually lived. We gladly shelled out for Ben, Zoot, Getz, in particular. Don Byas's gig was ruined by the inappropriate choice of Tony Oxley on drums . Were they insane? Was Tony Crombie awol?

Downers: The dreaded after hours sandwich also looms large - you had to buy it to carry on drinking but you'd be crazy to eat the dried curled-up object - oh - and the uncomfortable chairs became excruciating after four hours, which didn't help when the alternating act - the otherwise excellent Tubbs used the penultimate set to show that he could play faster, longer and, ultimately more tediously than whoever it was we'd actually come to see.

[sidewinder]

Downers: The dreaded after hours sandwich also looms large - you had to buy it to carry on drinking but you'd be crazy to eat the dried curled-up object -

Glad some-one else remembers this !

Food-wise it wasn't the greatest of places back then - and expensive. The chile con carne was quite passable though.

The beer was some of the most expensive I ever consumed in London at the time. Damned Watneys as well ! And that night bus escapade went on into the 80s. I remember trundling up and down Edgeware Road on one of those and on one occasion having to get a guy who was on one of these (there were only a couple of us travelling) to casualty, who had OD'd on something. Once I'd got him to the hospital (the Middlesex I think) they knew immediately what to treat him with !

Edited August 17, 2010 by sidewinder

[danasgoodstuff]

According to www.measuringworth.com, 5 pounds sterling in 1974 is now worth:

38.80 using the retail price index

£39.80 using the GDP deflator

£62.10 using the average earnings

£75.20 using the per capita GDP

and then there's the relative worth of pounds versus dollars...

£82.60 using the share of GDP

Does anyone else have probs from not having enough room to type/see what you're typing?

Edited August 17, 2010 by danasgoodstuff

[A Lark Ascending]

In 1974 an LP cost around £2.50; say around the £15 mark for a premium priced CD today. So entry to Ronnie's would have been around £30 in current money. Double what I'd expect to pay for a jazz concert ticket (though you'd pay far more for a big name rock act or jazz 'legend'). Would the £5 get you in for the night or just for a set? Doesn't seem extortionate for a club setting with high overheads.

I've never been to Ronnie Scott's. Been to the Village Vanguard, but not Ronnie Scott's!

Edited August 17, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Admission at Ronnies usually got you in for the full night - although as previously mentioned for the 'big names' bookings were for 2 sets only (main act plus support). They then cleared the club out for a second audience.

Some famous names could occasionally be seen. Once had Marty Feldman dragged right passed me by a couple of bouncers heading for the exit, pretty well out of it. On another night Oscar Peterson and a companion were at the next table !

The student club member mid-week deals at £1 for the whole night to see Woody Shaw, Gil Evans, Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, Pullen/Adams, George Coleman, Cedar Walton, Mingus Dynasty led by Danny Richmond etc. were the best.

Edited August 17, 2010 by sidewinder

[B. Clugston]

Different country and different decade, but I'm always amazed by the prices listed on my framed, autographed poster of Ornette Coleman, from the first concert (May 25, 1981) on Prime Time's world tour. This was at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

"Reserved seats $6.50

Students $3.50"

Last time I saw Ornette, it cost me $75 Canadian.

[BillF]

Admission at Ronnies usually got you in for the full night - although as previously mentioned for the 'big names' bookings were for 2 sets only (main act plus support). They then cleared the club out for a second audience.

Some famous names could occasionally be seen. Once had Marty Feldman dragged right passed me by a couple of bouncers heading for the exit, pretty well out of it. On another night Oscar Peterson and a companion were at the next table !

The student club member mid-week deals at £1 for the whole night to see Woody Shaw, Gil Evans, Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, Pullen/Adams, George Coleman, Cedar Walton, Mingus Dynasty led by Danny Richmond etc. were the best.

Was there for Woody Shaw. Ronnie Mathews was on piano - you'll have remember the others for me!

[Jazzjet]

Admission at Ronnies usually got you in for the full night - although as previously mentioned for the 'big names' bookings were for 2 sets only (main act plus support). They then cleared the club out for a second audience.

Some famous names could occasionally be seen. Once had Marty Feldman dragged right passed me by a couple of bouncers heading for the exit, pretty well out of it. On another night Oscar Peterson and a companion were at the next table !

The student club member mid-week deals at £1 for the whole night to see Woody Shaw, Gil Evans, Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, Pullen/Adams, George Coleman, Cedar Walton, Mingus Dynasty led by Danny Richmond etc. were the best.

My first time at Ronnie's I sat just behind Pete Townshend watching Roland Kirk. This was his Whistleman period - must have been 68 or 69.