Ronnie Scott’s is not what you’d expect out of a Jazz club in London’s Soho district, instead it feels like you’ve accidentally walked into a backdoor jazz club in New York in the 1920’s. You could easily be sitting in an underground speakeasy listening to impromptu jam sessions rather than looking over one of central London’s trendier districts.

Jazz musician Ronnie Scott founded the club on 30th October 1959 and ran it with fellow musician Pete King. Ronnie Scott himself had played in the popular Jazz Clubs of New York City and wanted to recreate that experience in Soho, in this he was undoubtedly successful. The club gained a reputation as being the Jazz hang-out in London in the 60’s and 70’s, featuring resident musicians that went onto international success and several late night impromptu jam sessions with the now legends of Jazz. During the 60’s the house guitarist was Ernest Ranglin, one of the founders of the Ska movement and who went onto notoriety for his session work with Studio 1. In this same period the house pianist was Stan Tracey, a musician who went on to produce several highly influential albums including ‘Under milk wood’ and provided the piano soundtrack to Michael Caine’s cult film ‘Alfie’.

In its time the venue has played host to some historic musicians and provided a platform for some of their best live recordings. Artists who have played the venue include Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Jamie Cullum and Jeff Beck. The album ‘Watts at Scott’s’ by Charlie Watts was recorded on its stage, as was ‘How long has this been going on’ by Van Morrison, Georgie Fame and Pee Wee Ellis. In 2007 Jeff Beck recorded ‘Live at Ronnie’s’ and even more notably Ronnie Scott’s was the venue for Jimi Hendrix’s last live performance.

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