Ronnie Scott | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Schatt |
| Born | 28 January 1927 Aldgate,London, England |
| Died | 23 December 1996(1996-12-23) (aged 69) London, England |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Instrument | Tenor saxophone |
Ronnie ScottOBE (bornRonald Schatt; 28 January 1927 – 23 December 1996) was a Britishjazztenor saxophonist andjazz club owner.[1] He co-foundedRonnie Scott's Jazz Club in London'sSoho district, in 1959.
Ronnie Scott was born inAldgate,East London, into a Jewish family.[2][3] His father, Joseph Schatt, was of Russian ancestry, and his mother Sylvia's family attended the Portuguese synagogue in Alie Street.[4][5][6] Scott attended theCentral Foundation Boys' School.[7]
Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of 16. He toured with trumpeterJohnny Claes from 1944 to 1945 and withTed Heath in 1946.[1] That same year, he appeared as one of the band members inGeorge in Civvy Street. He worked withAmbrose,Cab Kaye, andTito Burns. He was involved in the short-lived musicians' co-operative Club Eleven band and club (1948–50) withJohnny Dankworth. Scott became an acquaintance of the arranger/composerTadd Dameron, when the American was working in the UK for Heath, and is reported to have performed with Dameron as the pianist, at one Club Eleven gig.[8]
Scott was a member of the generation of British musicians who worked on the Cunard linerQueen Mary intermittently from 1946 to around 1950. The ship would sail to New York City where they were exposed toBebop, the new form of jazz being played in the clubs there.[1] Scott was among the earliest British musicians to have been influenced byCharlie Parker and other players of modern jazz.
In 1952, Scott joinedJack Parnell's orchestra and from 1953 to 1956 led a nine-piece band and quintet which includedPete King, with whom he later opened his jazz club,Victor Feldman,Hank Shaw, andPhil Seamen. He co-led The Jazz Couriers withTubby Hayes from 1957 to 1959 and was leader of a quartet that includedStan Tracey (1960–67).[1]
From 1967 to 1969, Scott was a member of theKenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band,[1] which toured Europe and includedJohnny Griffin andEddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Simultaneously he ran his octet, which includedJohn Surman andKenny Wheeler, and a trio withMike Carr on keyboards and Bobby Gien on drums (1971–1975). Scott's other bands often includedJohn Critchinson on keyboards andMartin Drew on drums. He did occasional session work, which included performing the solo on "Lady Madonna", the 1968 single bythe Beatles, playing onRoy Budd's score for the filmFear Is the Key (1972), and performing the tenor sax solo on "I Missed Again", the 1981 single byPhil Collins.
In the1981 New Year Honours, Scott was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to jazz music.[9]
Charles Mingus said of him in 1961, "Of the white boys, Ronnie Scott gets closer to the negro blues feeling, the wayZoot Sims does."[10] Scott recorded infrequently during the last few decades of his career. He suffered from depression. While recovering from surgery for tooth implants, he died at the age of 69 from an accidental overdose ofbarbiturate prescribed by his dentist. The Westminster coroner's inquest in February 1997 recorded a verdict of 'death by misadventure'.
Ronnie Scott's widow, Mary Scott, and her daughter, Rebecca Scott, wrote the memoirA Fine Kind of Madness: Ronnie Scott Remembered, with a foreword bySpike Milligan. The book was published in 1999 in London byHeadline Book Publishing.
Scott is perhaps best remembered for co-founding, with former tenor sax playerPete King,Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, which opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39Gerrard Street inLondon'sSoho district, with the debut of a young alto sax player namedPeter King (no relation), before later moving to a larger venue nearby at 47Frith Street in 1965.[11] 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-and-coming generation of domestic musicians.[12]
Scott regularly acted as the club's genialmaster of ceremonies, and was noted for his repertoire of jokes, asides and one-liners. A typical introduction might go: "Our next guest is one of the finest musicians in the country. In the city, he's crap". Another memorable announcement was: "Next week we're proud to have a quartet featuringStan Getz and violinistStuff Smith. It's called the 'Getz-Stuffed quartet'."[citation needed] Ronnie often used in later days the services of John Schatt to book rock bands for Ronnie Scott's upstairs.
Ronnie Scott told Showbusiness journalistDon Short in 1970:
Pop has poached on jazz without apology. That may irritate many jazzmen, but not me. I would never lose any sleep over it. It’s for the fans to choose the music they want to hear. I play. I don’t attempt to convert. But many young people are discovering just how hip jazz is.[13]
After Scott's death, King continued to run the club for a further nine years, before selling the club to theatre impresarioSally Greene in June 2005.
In September 2013, while the club was being redecorated, a 12-metre-square (39 ft2) hoarding was placed on the Frith Street façade as a tribute to its eponymous founder, bearing a giant photograph of Ronnie Scott byVal Wilmer, alongside one of his one-liners: "I love this place, it's just like home, filthy and full of strangers."[14]
As well as participating in name orchestras, Scott led or co-led numerous bands featuring some of Britain's most prominent jazz musicians of the day.
On 7 April 1957, The Jazz Couriers, co-led byTubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott, debuted at the newFlamingo Club inWardour Street, Soho. The group lasted until 30 August 1959.
With theKenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
With others
