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A RARE 78 FROM RONNIE SCOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA FEATURING BENNY GREEN, TONY CROMBIE, KEN RAY, DERECK HUMBLE, PETE KING, NORMAN STENFELT AND RONNIE SCOTT!

LOVER COME BACK TO ME

b/w COMPOS MENTIS (written by Tony Crombie)

Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate in East London in 1927. He was attracted to music when quite young buying a cornet from a junk shop, then a soprano saxophone, until his step-father was persuaded to buy him a tenor sax. He was soon proficient enough to play local youth clubs, weddings, dances etc. Eventually by hanging around bands and musicians in London's West End clubs he began to sit in and became a fully fledged professional in 1943 at the age of sixteen.

He spent eighteen months with Johnny Claes' Clae pigeons from 1944 to 1945, where he first met Denis Rose, and joined Ted Heath in 1946 also playing with the bands of Ambrose and Tito Burns (with Dankworth and Denis Rose). He stayed with Heath for only nine months, becoming noticed and developing a personal following when he played with the Jack Parnell quartet, a band within the Heath band. With Johnny Dankworth and other young musicians he worked on the transatlantic liners in what became known as Geraldo's Navy where he learned about the 'new' bebop being played in New York. Other employers include Cab Kaye, Vic Lewis and Ambrose again.

He was a founder member of Club Eleven, where bebop was born in Britain and played there from 1948 to 1950 when the club folded following a 'drugs bust'. He subsequently worked with Jack Parnell (1952) and then formed his own nine piece group which operated from 1953 to 1956. This band was generally regarded as the best of its type within Europe at this time. His best known group was the Jazz Couriers which he co-led with Tubby Hayes from1957 to 1959. When the group split in 1959 he started his now world renowned club in partnership with Pete King at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho where he worked with many top rank visiting American musicians. He continued to play there with a quartet that often included Stan Tracey (1960 to 1967). The club later moved to bigger premises in Frith Street.

He continued to play at the club with his own quartets and quintets, usually including younger players and a few live recordings appeared, some, years after they were recorded. Scott had always hated studio recording, he felt it was impossible to just turn his playing on when the recording light went on and his later records were, with very few exceptions, live from the club.

Ronnie Scott's post bop modern playing was bold and authoritative, and he absorbed many influences including Zoot Sims, Stan Getz and Lester Young. He could play a powerful blues followed by an exquisite ballad with an instantly recognisable sound and style. He was always a jazz man, his bands and groups never compromised. His death in 1996, following a period of despair and inactivity, left a gap in British modern jazz. He has been much missed. He truly was the father of British modern jazz.

THIS MEGA COOL UK ESQUIRE 78 FROM APRIL 1953 IS VERY RARE

Disc Details

UK ESQUIRE 10-291 10" 78rpm SHELLAC

CONDITION: - E-

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