sidewinder

Freddie H. seems to have spent a fair bit of time over this side of the pond in 1965. Simon S’s essay confirms that he was touring Europe with Friedrich Gulda’s Orchestra (along with Tubby Hayes and JJ Johnson) and got stuck between flights in London, facilitating an impromptu Bull’s Head gig with Tubby. Talking of Ronnie and jokes - he used to occasionally get comedians into the club. Prof. Irwin Corey was one - and I caught one of those occasions where he shared the bill with Cedar Walton. Pretty surreal - Ronnie was watching from stage left and laughing his head off, can picture it now.

On tour at a pub in Wiltshire.

John Nott Alan Knott David Nutt

Art has also been doing impromptu solo spots from his doorway to his neighbours in Henley at the height of the lockdown. Looking forward to seeing him and his band at Swanage. First time I saw the Scott group at the club it was a Quartet with Louis Stewart, Ron Mathewson and Martin Drew. Then around 1980 John Critchinson on piano came in for Stewart. A few years later Dick Pearce was added on trumpet/flugelhorn then they added Mornington Lockett on second tenor. One early appearance I remember was the group backing the singer Julie Amiet, who I believe was an Australian expat.

NY USA, mono

Hopefully, the Westbrook Derams will get a quality vinyl reissue in the Decca ‘Explosion’ series. Cover photo taken at Bovington Tank Museum? 47w63rd DG Mono, lovely big and precise sound. Incredible for an LP that is well over 60 years old !

Yeah, that Ella Memorex ad even made it over here.

And it is just heresay, at the end of the day. To be categorised under ‘myth’ until proven otherwise.

Those episodes filmed at The Marquee are distinguishable from the striped marquee feature at the back of the stage, indicative of that club just after it had opened on Wardour Street.

Interesting - per the documentary one of the ‘patrons’ of the club was gangster ‘Italian Albert’ Dimes, who backed them in the move to Frith St and kept other gangsters away. No mention of any financial arrangement - apparently he liked them. The ‘misterious’ bit of Ronnie was probably pinning down his character. Again, the doc mentions him being referred to as ‘a nice bunch of guys’ by club doctor Wally Hauser. I wonder if Pete King knew?

I think my Cadet ‘Art’ has one of those B&W covers from the depths of the 70s. Golson’s ‘Take a Number...’ as well. Mole Jazz was full of them.

I thought they were recorded at The Marquee on Wardour St, as well as BBC studio facilities including the Shepherds Bush Empire. I saw Elvin around 1999/2000 at the club too. That was the band with Ravi - and Sonny Fortune I think.

I think that gig was around 1980 but I saw him on quite a few occasions there up until the late 90s/early 2000s.

I remember paying either 1 or 2 pounds per night, Tues - Thurs (off peak) with a Student’s Union Club Member admission (£20 per season). Remember buying that card from Pete King in person, in his inner sanctum office. Prices were at a premium when the big names such as Ella, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman etc. were on. 2 separate shows per night for those. Yes, the late sets were always the best when the noisy ‘gold card expense’ brigade had thinned out.

Just watched a re-run of the documentary. Interestingly, there’s a shot of Ronnie at the front of the club taken on one of the weeks I was there (Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, Joy Yates plus the Dave McRae Trio). Uncanny !

An institution and legend (along with John Chilton’s Feetwarmers). They used to do 2 weeks at Xmas/New Year every year without fail. That documentary is great and has been broadcast on TV (BBC4) here. Some great footage and interesting interviews. First time I went to the club I think was about 1979 to see George Coleman, Hilton Ruiz, Herbie Lewis and Billy Higgins. Great start ! Most recent was right before the pandemic with the Mingus Big Band. That was my first time in the ‘new’ club - a pleasant surprise. One of the tracks from the Miles Ronnie Scott’s performance survives and a snippet of it is in the documentary. The only reason it survived is that was included in a ‘series highlights’ program. I think a whole number of major stars were recorded over a week or so around 1969/70 and featured on programmes but only the highlights show escaped the tape wiping. It was some years after ‘Jazz 625’. I think there is a short bit of the CBBB at the club in the doc. Of particular note is Dizzy heading up a UK Big Band at the club sometime in the 70s, playing ‘Manteca’ and doing his ‘I don’t want to go back to Georgia’ thing. Would have loved to have seen that !

CD3 previously unissued session of Music Inc. with NDR Big Band, 1979.

Think I mentioned it before but there were reports in the UK music press (Melody Maker, remember reading it) of on stage bust up situation at Ronnie Scott’s. One of these days I’ll make a trip to the UK Jazz Centre in Essex, where the have a Melody Maker archive and dig out the reviews of that era just to check. Retirement project !

Cult Library LP reissued by Trunk

Nice !

This one arrived with the Jon Hendricks bio. Figured it was about time I got a copy, before it gets more difficult to find. Pleased to see that it is full of Wolff photos, including some of those negative strips recently on sale at Mosaic.

An unlikely title, to say the least. Meanwhile, Glenn Gould Plays Cubano Chant.

47W63rd DG mono