The Jazz Couriers - Some Of My Best Friends Are Blues

Styles: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:34
Size: 183,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:34)  1. Through The Night Roared The Overland Express
(5:24)  2. Royal Ascot
(5:05)  3. On A Misty Night
(4:17)  4. Cheek To Cheek
(4:45)  5. Oh My
(5:24)  6. Plebus
(4:56)  7. Reunion
(7:20)  8. A Foggy Day
(5:52)  9. What Is This Thing Called Love
(5:20) 10. Some Of My Best Friends Are Blues
(5:52) 11. The Serpent
(8:36) 12. Guys And Dolls
(2:54) 13. Time Was
(3:22) 14. Speak Low
(3:46) 15. Cheek To Cheek

Although the Jazz Couriers are widely held to be the finest and most influential of British bebop/hard-bop bands, little recorded material by the group has been available in recent years. Add to this the paucity of available solo releases by the two men who led the Couriers, tenor saxophonist and vibraphonist Tubby Hayes and fellow tenor player Ronnie Scott, and you have two good reasons why this reissue from Ember Records, which pairs the band's debut studio session from August 1957 with a live recording from February 1958, is so welcomeIt's no secret that Hayes and Scott modelled their band on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and this is in evidence in the opening number, “Through the Night Roared the Overland Express”. A Hayes composition, it features some effective, Latin-tinged drumming from Bill Eydon that recalls Blakey's work on “Nica's Dream”, from the 1956 <|>The Jazz Messengerssides on Columbia.

Trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar augments the band on the track, and also guests on “Royal Ascot”, in which composer Hayes switches from tenor to vibes. The unusual tenor/vibes/trumpet front line in this buoyant cut is a welcome step away from the two-horns-and-a-rhythm-section sound of the 1950s Messengers. Hayes' vibes are particularly suited to Tad Dameron's wistful “On A Misty Night”, which he furnishes with a shimmering solo. Of the live tracks, “Some of My Best Friends Are Blues” is an instantly memorable 12-bar blues by Scott, who contributes a couple of frenzied solo choruses. Pianist Terry Shannon raises his game in response and his solo is fluid, intelligent and soulful. “The Serpent” crawls on its belly, its Latin rhythms helping it insinuate itself in the mind after just one listen. The album closes with Hayes' witty, blaring arrangement of Irving Berlin's “Cheek to Cheek”, in which the whole outfit breathes fire. No mere Messengers clones, the Couriers took Blakey’s hard-bop template and stamped their own identity on it, aided by Hayes’ fresh compositions and arrangements and the judicious use of Tubby’s vibes. Today, Hayes is credited with a crucial role in establishing British modern jazz as a credible force. Although similarly fêted, Scott is known more as a club owner and jazz proselytizer than as a superb player and composer of talent. I hope this fine reissue redresses the balance.By Ronan Abayawickrema
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/some-of-my-best-friends-jazz-couriers-ember-records-review-by-ronan-abayawickrema.php#.VGdi5MmHmtg

Personnel: Ronnie Scott - Tenor Sax, Tubby Hayes - Tenor Sax, Vibes (2,3,7,10,12), Jimmy Deuchar – Trumpet (1,2), Terry Shannon - Piano, Phil Bates - Bass, Bill Eydon - Drums

Some Of My Best Friends Are Blues

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The Ronnie Scott Trio - Trio: On A Clear Day: 'Live' 1974

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:03
Size: 122,2 MB
Art: Front

( 8:16)  1. A Blues
(10:38)  2. What's New'
( 9:28)  3. Stella By Starlight
(11:24)  4. Angel Eyes
( 9:02)  5. On A Clear Day
( 4:13)  6. Lou's Piece

Amid fractious personal relationships and an ongoing battle with depression, and surrounded by a jazz scene whose very fabric had changed unrecognisably in a few short years, Ronnie Scott nevertheless remained one of the UK's great jazz catalysts  a central figure around whom much of what was considered newsworthy within the idiom still concentrated. At forty-seven, the saxophonist was no longer chasing the music's cutting edge; instead he had forged a style very much his own, one which tipped its hat to many of the good and the great who'd graced his own Soho club, but which now boasted even greater authority, maturity and individuality than ever before. And, despite his off-stage tribulations, he was happy with his band, a hitherto rare instance of a Scott-led line-up lasting more than a few years. Supported by organist Mike Carr and drummer Bobby Gein, he tore the roof off the White Hart, whose 'Jazz at The Icebox' presentations were a magnet for West Country jazz fans, probably unaware that what was undoubtedly just another night's work for him and his hard-grafting colleagues was being caught on tape. Issued here for the first time, this recording captures Scott doing what he did best: playing no holds-barred jazz, minus the pressures that came from being a frontman for his own club, or acting as 'support act' to his many American guests. As such, it reveals a Ronnie Scott rarely heard on record, an instrumentalist in full-flow, sounding relaxed yet forthright, and making a mockery of the notion that art must mirror life. Scott may have been sailing stormy waters elsewhere but On A Clear Day finds him at the eye of a creative hurricane. Ronnie is one of our finest jazz musicians and saxophonists - period, wrote one Melody Maker reviewer that same year, a declaration fully borne out on this album. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Trio-Clear-Day-Live-1974/dp/B07HSLSQF4

Trio: On A Clear Day: 'Live' 1974

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The Ronnie Scott's Club Quintet - The Sound of Soho

Styles: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:17
Size: 138,8 MB
Art: Front

( 7:07) 1. Stop the World, I Want to Get Off / Through the Night Roared the Overland Express
( 6:30) 2. A Pint of Bitter
( 6:32) 3. Yeah!
( 4:53) 4. Chelsea Bridge
( 6:32) 5. Alfie's Theme
( 4:55) 6. Half a Sawbuck
( 5:33) 7. Someday My Prince Will Come
( 3:06) 8. Exodus
(15:05) 9. Sister Sadie

'The Sound of Soho' was recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club by The Ronnie Scott's Club Quintet. On this album the band pay tribute to some of the greats in the hard bop and soul jazz era. These legends of the music all performed at Ronnie Scott's and include Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, Billy Strayhorn and Tubby Hayes. The Ronnie Scott's Club Quintet features James Pearson on piano, Alex Garnett on saxophone, Sam Burgess on bass, Freddie Gavita on trumpet and Chris Higginbottom on drums. The final track of the album also includes Brandon Allen on saxophone. This performances was recorded, mixed and mastered by Miles Ashton. https://www.propermusic.com/rsr002-the-sound-of-soho.html

Personel: Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Alex Garnett; Bass – Sam Burgess; Drums – Chris Higginbottom; Piano, Producer – James Pearson; Trumpet – Freddie Gavita

The Sound of Soho

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The Ronnie Scott's All-Stars - Jazz Classics

Styles: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:47
Size: 142,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:45) 1. Great Day
(6:31) 2. On the Street Where You Live
(4:06) 3. More
(5:25) 4. Lazy Afternoon
(6:36) 5. Bye Bye Blackbird
(5:27) 6. Wonderful World
(5:32) 7. Dat Dere
(2:30) 8. People Are Strange
(5:36) 9. For All We Know
(6:21) 10. Love for Sale
(8:54) 11. One Day I'll Fly Away

The CD Jazz Classics has catalogue number RSR001. I know what’s coming. Some are going to argue that it isn’t REALLY No 1…. that Ronnie Scotts has a whole history of previous recordings. While we’re at it, the pedant might also question whether all the songs are in fact “Jazz Classics.” Whatevs. The CD, recorded partly in front of an audience, and partly in the same acoustic of the club without one, works well as a showcase for the house trio of Ronnie Scotts music director, James Pearson - piano/arranger, Sam Burgess – bass, and Pedro Segundo – drums, who regularly play the early evening slot at Ronnie’s. They often have to work their socks off to distract the Ronnie’s punters from their workaday conversations and to concentrate on the music. Which they do brilliantly. Night after night. Segundo’s charm and theatricality have, in a very short time, become a fixture. The sleeve notes have a touching reminder of the tragic death of Ronnie’s house drummer Chris Dagley, which is still sorely felt at the club.

But the thought of this being the 1 stayed in the mind. The reason that the front line of this quintet, vocalist Natalie Williams and saxophonist Alex Garnett work so well as sparring partners is what they do with the 1, the first beat. Williams asserts it, lands hard on it, possesses it, reinforces it, often decorates it with an inverted mordent. Her work here is an affirmation. That originally Italian song “More than the Greatest Love” has probably never been performed with quite this level of conviction, of complete persuasiveness. She has a German heritage, and brings something personal and different to this music. There is a German word “betonen” untranslatable which just seems to me to describe well how Natalie Williams has a way of living on, at, with every first beat.

As a result Williams produces her best singing on record yet. RSR001 is Natalie on peak form. The words get the treatment. Rickie Lee Jones’ Dat Dere is characterful, teasing, hilarious, with some magic on the side-drum rim from Segundo, and Johnny Griffin-ish tenor swagger from Garnett. But there’s more: check out inimitable, ecstatic Natalie lion-house noises at 2' 16” and 5' 16” of Bye Bye Blackbird. We’ll offer a prize for the best transcription.As for Garnett, in the legacy of Hank Mobley, the saxophonist responds to the first beat, uses it as a springboard, hides behind it teasingly (as in “I can see you but you can’t see me” ), suggests it, tricks it, avoids it, finds surreptitious ways to lose it. What the hell, it’s something you can always pick up from lost property in the morning, because with a rhythm section of this class, it’s going to be there anyway.

As on his debut CD Serpent (Whirlwind Records, 2011), Garnett stakes his claim to be among the most inventive and subtle saxophonists we have. The CD is cheery, life-affirming, and will work superbly as what the Japanese call “Omiyage”, a present from a specific place check the references to Frith Street in Lionel Bart’s “On the Street Where you Live.” RSR001 contains good music, well played and recorded, and is an ideal means to remember, and keep in the memory, our No 1 Jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s. https://londonjazznews.com/2012/02/11/cd-review-the-ronnie-scotts-all-stars-jazz-classics/

Personnel: Bass – Sam Burgess; Drums – Pedro Segundo; Piano – James Pearson; Saxophone – Alex Garnett; Vocals – Natalie Williams

Jazz Classics

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Zoot Sims - Cookin'!

Styles: Saxophone Jazz 
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:40
Size: 91,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:45)  1. Stompin' At The Savoy
(6:13)  2. Love For Sale
(7:02)  3. Somebody Loves Me
(8:13)  4. Gone With The Wind
(7:40)  5. Autumn Leaves
(3:45)  6. Desperation

One of the greatest Zoot Sims albums of the 60s  a very smoking live set, recorded in the UK with a hip British rhythm section! Zoot's blowing in front of the Stan Tracy trio a group led by pianist Tracy, with a style that was every bit as swinging as it was modern and fresh. The style makes for a very different approach than some of Sims' American albums of the time a bit more edgey, with tracks that cut into the groove in unusual ways. Ronnie Scott and Jimmy Deuchar join the group for one track "Desperation" and other titles include "Love For Sale", "Autumn Leaves", "Somebody Loves Me", and "Gone With The Wind". (Japanese pressing on 180 gram vinyl, with obi and insert.)  © 1996-2018, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/493009/Zoot-Sims:Cookin%27

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone – Ronnie Scott, Zoot Sims;   Bass – Kenny Napper;  Drums – Jackie Dougan;  Piano – Stan Tracy;  Trumpet – Jimmy Deuchar 

Cookin'!

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Ronnie Scott & The Band - Live at Ronnie Scott's

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1969
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:21
Size: 108,6 MB
Art: Front

( 4:37)  1. Recorda me (Remember me)
( 6:49)  2. King Pete
( 7:22)  3. Second Question
( 6:30)  4. Marmasita
( 6:19)  5. Too late, Too late
( 5:10)  6. Lord of the Reedy River
(10:32)  7. Macumba

Ronnie Scott is something of a jazz legend here in the UK, though ironically, his iconic status has little to do with his musicianship, and more to do with the fact that he was an affable entrepreneur with a penchant for memorable one-liners who ran a famous andï very hip London jazz club. The great thing about this reissue is that it reminds us what a talented tenor saxophonist he was. Recorded live in 1968 at Scott’s eponymous club, this CD features an effervescent big band comprising Brit jazz luminaries (but then young lions) Kenny Wheeler, John Surman, Tony Oxley and Gordon Beck. The arrangements, some of which were supplied by US sax man Joe Henderson, who was in Britain in late ’68, are superb, with more swing than a Sugar Ray left hook. Kenny Wheeler’s Second Question, a stupendous organ-led workout, is one of the main highlights along with sinewy Latin grooves such as Marmasita and Ricorda Me. The original album, deleted years ago and now coveted by collectors, is bolstered with four bonus cuts, among them tunes by Hank Mobley, Antonio Carlos Jobim and a tasty Scott original, May Day. Stuart Nicholson’s detailed sleevenotes feature interviews with some of the musicians. Excellent! http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/live-at-ronnie-scotts

Personnel:  Tenor Saxophone – Ronnie Scott;   Alto Saxophone, Flute – Ray Warleigh;  Baritone Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – John Surman;  Bass – Ron Mathewson;  Drums – Kenny Clare, Tony Oxley;  Piano, Organ – Gordon Beck;  Trombone – Chris Pyne;  Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Kenny Wheeler

Live at Ronnie Scott's

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Tubby Hayes & Ronnie Scott - The Couriers of Jazz!

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1958
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:38
Size: 98,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:30)  1. Mirage
(7:55)  2. After Tea
(3:49)  3. Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!
(4:04)  4. In Salah
(4:11)  5. Star Eyes
(4:40)  6. The Monk
(6:21)  7. My Funny Valentine
(6:04)  8. Day In - Day Out

Tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott looms among the towering figures of Britain's postwar jazz scene, exerting equal influence as a performer and as the owner of the world-famous club bearing his name. He was born Ronald Schatt in the east end of London on January 28, 1927 his father, dance band saxophonist Jock Scott, separated from his mother shortly after his birth. After first purchasing a cornet from a local junk shop, Scott then moved to the soprano saxophone, finally settling on the tenor sax during his teens; at a local youth club he began performing with aspiring drummer Tony Crombie, and soon began playing the occasional professional gig. After backing bandleader Carlo Krahmer, Scott toured with trumpeter Johnny Claes in 1945, joining the hugely popular Ted Heath Big Band the following year; however, changing economics made the big bands increasingly unfeasible, and as the nascent bebop sound developing across the Atlantic began making its way to the U.K., he and Crombie traveled to New York City to explore the source firsthand. Scott would regularly return to New York after signing on to play alongside alto saxophonist Johnny Dankworth on the transatlantic ocean liner the Queen Mary. Despite his travels Scott remained a linchpin of the growing London bop scene, and in late 1948 he co-founded Club Eleven, the first U.K. club devoted to modern jazz. During this time he developed the lyrical but harmonically complex style that would remain the hallmark of his career, first backing drummer Jack Parnell before finally forming his own band in 1953. The nine-piece group made its public debut in conjunction with a London appearance by Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic touring revue working from arrangements by trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar, the Scott band's debut proved a landmark moment in the history of British jazz, in many respects heralding the true starting point of the postwar era. Not all of Scott's instincts were sound in 1955, he briefly assembled a full-size big band, to disastrous creative and commercial results but when he officially dissolved the group in 1956, he was a household name throughout Britain. In 1957 he co-founded the Jazz Couriers with fellow tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes, scaling to even greater heights of fame. The Jazz Couriers amicably split in 1959.     

Around this time Scott began to again entertain the notion of a London-based jazz club in the tradition of the landmarks dotting New York's 52nd Street along with Pete King, a longtime collaborator who'd recently retired from active performing, he borrowed the money necessary to lease the building at 39 Gerrard Street and on October 31, 1959 opened Ronnie Scott's Club for business. Scott himself co-headlined the opening night along with Hayes and Parnell sales were promising, but the venue only began reaching true critical mass in 1961 when it hosted its first American act, Scott favorite Zoot Sims. In the months to follow, Ronnie Scott's was the setting of performances by a who's who of American tenor icons including Dexter Gordon, Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Ben Webster, and Sonny Rollins. In late 1965 the club moved to its present location on Frith Street, where before the end of the decade it would host everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Albert Ayler, becoming the epicenter of London's jazz community. Although the club consumed much of his time, Scott continued touring with a quartet featuring pianist Stan Tracey during the late 1960s, he also spearheaded an eight-piece group with whom he created the most idiosyncratic and experimental music of his career. At the time of Scott's death on December 23, 1996, his namesake club was perhaps the most famous jazz venue in all of Europe.~ Jason Ankeny https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ronnie-scott-mn0000332807/biography                           

Personnel:  Tubby Hayes & Ronnie Scott (tenor sax), Terry Shannon (piano), Jeff Clyne (bass), and Bill Eyden (drums).

The Couriers of Jazz!

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Tubby Hayes Orchestra - 100% Proof

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1966
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:34
Size: 97,7 MB
Art: Front

(14:13)  1. 100% Proof
( 6:31)  2. Night In Tunisia
( 7:43)  3. Milestones
( 4:39)  4. Sonnymoon For Two
( 5:06)  5. Bluesology
( 4:19)  6. Nutty

"But being as this is 100% Proof, the most powerful big band album in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk? As a jazz fan himself, I'm sure Clint 'Dirty Harry' Eastwood wouldn't object too much to the plagiarising and adaptation of one of his most famous lines, but it does seem strangely appropriate to apply it to one of the best big band albums ever made. But, "and I know what you're thinking , why all the hype? Well, maybe hype is what's needed in order to get folks to listen to something of outstanding quality and originality that's been sadly overlooked for nearly forty years. 100% Proof represented the pinnacle of modern British jazz in the '60s. The stellar line-up of musicians employed on the record underpinned its sumptuous and gloriously overstated arrangements. In order to assess the album in terms of the canon of outstanding jazz recordings, it is important to avoid the all-too ubiquitous stereotyping of Brit-jazz or 'British ness' (whatever this means) as applied to Tubby Hayes. Although certainly one of the UK's most famous jazz musician by a mile, (perhaps second only to his friend and one time fellow Jazz Courier, Ronnie Scott who was undoubtedly the most famous jazz musician in Britain, probably because he owned one of the greatest jazz clubs in the world, although Scott himself, like Hayes was a world-class tenor player and indeed played and soloed on 100% Proof) Hayes was also England's most accomplished musician and arranger. His fame was not limited to the parochial shores of the sceptered isle. Tubbs travelled on more than one occasion to the USA where he played as part of a musician exchange deal. He recorded with many of the greats of jazz including, amongst others, Clark Terry, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, James Moody, Louis Hayes, Horace Parlan, Eddie Costa, and had already recorded in the UK with the likes of Dizzy Reece, Victor Feldman and John Dankworth. He even famously sat in with the Ellington band on one of their concerts in London, with virtually no notice.

So without doubt, Tubby Hayes was a global player who, had he lived longer than his 38 years and been in good health, which had steadily deteriorated over the latter part of his life, would have been recognised as the most significant and talented musician to emanate from the United Kingdom, even in comparison to other later eminences from Britain including the redoubtable John McLaughlin, John Surman and Dave Holland. By the beginning of the '60s, Hayes had moved from the small British Tempo label to the Philips-owned Fontana label which had international connections and other prestigious jazz stars recording for it, such as John Dankworth. 100% Proof, recorded in London on 10, 12 and 13 May 1966, was a follow-up to Hayes' previous big-band album Tubbs' Tours recorded in 1964. Tubbs' Tours was a very successful session with some wonderful tracks which drilled deeply into the memory banks of the brain. Perhaps the most notable, though least vaunted, of these tracks was Tubbs' own composition, the elegant "In the Night on which he played flute. Other standout tracks include "Pedro's Waltz and "The Killers of W1. Tubbs' Tours really has to be heard to appreciate the dynamism of Tubbs' big band arrangements. 100% Proof was different to Tubbs' Tours in that there were fewer tracks and a warmer sound, perhaps due to being performed by a more well-rehearsed big band that had played together for quite a while.

The arrangement of the title track was Tubby Hayes own work. He also did a fine job arranging "Milestones and "Bluesology. Trumpeter Ian Hamer did a superlative job arranging "Sonnymoon for Two and especially "Night in Tunisia transforming it into something extremely different, volatile and very powerful, and arguably one of the best arrangements ever heard of this terrific number. The final track "Nutty was arranged by Stan Tracey, who was an excellent arranger as well as a superb pianist with a unique style. All the arrangements are so good that they transform what might otherwise be a predominantly 'standards' type album into a totally novel one. To a certain extent it's the arrangements of these standards that push the boundaries of this recording into unchartered waters of cohesion, dynamics and originality. The personnel on the album comprised some of the most talented jazz musicians in Britain at that time and included Roy Willox, Ray Warleigh, Ronnie Scott, Bob Efford, Ronnie Ross and Harry Klein on saxophones. Kenny Baker, Ian Hamer, Greg Bowen, Les Condon and Kenny Wheeler played trumpets. Keith Christie, Nat Peck, Johnny Marshall and Chris Smith were on trombones. The rhythm section was made up of Gordon Beck on piano, Jeff Clyne on bass and and Ronnie Stephenson/Johnny Butts on drums. Tubbs plays with equal confidence and ability tenor, flute and vibes and positively tears up a storm on "100% Proof with his trusty tenor sax deployed in his typically shaken not stirred style, although paradoxically leaving the listener both shaken and stirred. Interestingly there are a couple of short phrases in Tubbs' solo here that seem to have influenced at least a couple of other British sax players of the next generation.

His sensitive flute playing is heard on Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia and Miles Davis' "Milestones where Gordon Beck has a good piano solo too followed by further Tubby tenoring. Sonny Rollins' "Sonnymoon for Two has further typically coruscating Hayes tenor and on the penultimate track, Milt Jackson's "Bluesology he demonstrates his outstanding ability on vibes which is closely followed by an excellent Ronnie Scott tenor solo. The recording concludes with Thelonius Monk's "Nutty where Tubbs takes a step back to allow Ray Warleigh and Les Condon to shine on the solos whilst Hayes can be heard on flute in the orchestra. Perhaps the defining 'proof' of the success of 100% Proof was its success in the Melody Maker jazz polls of 1968 where it came top in the LP of the year section. Also in that poll Hayes won first position in the top musician, flute, tenor and vibes categories. Although originally issued in both mono and stereo on the Fontana label and a few years ago disappointingly issued in mono only on a Japanese CD reissue, it really is important to hear this album in stereo. Produced at a time when stereophonic recording was still something of a novelty, it clearly demonstrates how essential it is to have big band jazz spread out over a wide aural spectrum, and the mono and stereo versions of the album do sound different, the former distinctly less effective. One of the ironies of Hayes dying so young was that his fame was based primarily on his playing and his recordings, yet during the '60s, the last full decade of his career, his composing abilities had begun, albeit in a modest way, to burgeon. It was only with his penultimate Fontana studio album Mexican Green that he had composed an entire album of material. 

Listening to the BBC recording that was posthumously released as 200% Proof on the Mastermix label, it was clear that his compositional skills were on an upward trajectory. It is quite probable that the main obstacle to his composing hitherto was the fact that he was kept so busy with playing both live gigs and as an in-demand session musician and ironically, only when he, perforce, started to slow down due to ill-health did he have more time to write. As it states on the LP's original sleevenotes, written by Terry Brown, it was without hesitation and a unanimous decision by all concerned that when they heard the playback tapes of 100% Proof the only title that could possibly be used for the LP title was indeed 100% Proof. This was surely not merely a measure of loyalty but a gauge of the strength of the music Hayes had composed and arranged. 100% Proof will certainly 'blow your head clean off.'~Roger Farbey http://www.allaboutjazz.com/tubby-hayes-100-proof-by-roger-farbey.php 

Personnel: Tubby Hayes (tenor sax, flute, vibes); Roy Willox, Ray Warleigh, Ronnie Scott, Bob Efford, Ronnie Ross and Harry Klein (saxophones); Kenny Baker, Ian Hamer, Greg Bowen, Les Condon and Kenny Wheeler (trumpets); Keith Christie, Nat Peck, Johnny Marshall and Chris Smith (trombones); Gordon Beck (piano); Jeff Clyne (bass); Ronnie Stephenson, Johnny Butts (drums).

100% Proof

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Ronnie Scott Quintet - Never Pat A Burning Dog

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:18
Size: 170,5 MB
Art: Front

(12:36)  1. Contemplation
( 4:31)  2. I'm Glad There Is You
(12:00)  3. White Caps
(11:52)  4. All The Things You Are
( 4:10)  5. This Love Of Mine
(13:43)  6. When Love Is New
(15:23)  7. Little Sunflower

Tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott looms among the towering figures of Britain's postwar jazz scene, exerting equal influence as a performer and as the owner of the world-famous club bearing his name. He was born Ronald Schatt in the east end of London on January 28, 1927  his father, dance band saxophonist Jock Scott, separated from his mother shortly after his birth. After first purchasing a cornet from a local junk shop, Scott then moved to the soprano saxophone, finally settling on the tenor sax during his teens; at a local youth club he began performing with aspiring drummer Tony Crombie, and soon began playing the occasional professional gig. After backing bandleader Carlo Krahmer, Scott toured with trumpeter Johnny Claes in 1945, joining the hugely popular Ted Heath Big Band the following year; however, changing economics made the big bands increasingly unfeasible, and as the nascent bebop sound developing across the Atlantic began making its way to the U.K., he and Crombie traveled to New York City to explore the source firsthand. Scott would regularly return to New York after signing on to play alongside alto saxophonist Johnny Dankworth on the transatlantic ocean liner the Queen Mary.

Despite his travels Scott remained a linchpin of the growing London bop scene, and in late 1948 he co-founded Club Eleven, the first U.K. club devoted to modern jazz. During this time he developed the lyrical but harmonically complex style that would remain the hallmark of his career, first backing drummer Jack Parnell before finally forming his own band in 1953. The nine-piece group made its public debut in conjunction with a London appearance by Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic touring revue working from arrangements by trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar, the Scott band's debut proved a landmark moment in the history of British jazz, in many respects heralding the true starting point of the postwar era. Not all of Scott's instincts were sound  in 1955, he briefly assembled a full-size big band, to disastrous creative and commercial results but when he officially dissolved the group in 1956, he was a household name throughout Britain. In 1957 he co-founded the Jazz Couriers with fellow tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes, scaling to even greater heights of fame. the Jazz Couriers amicably split in 1959.

Around this time Scott began to again entertain the notion of a London-based jazz club in the tradition of the landmarks dotting New York's 52nd Street along with Pete King, a longtime collaborator who'd recently retired from active performing, he borrowed the money necessary to lease the building at 39 Gerrard Street and on October 31, 1959 opened Ronnie Scott's Club for business. Scott himself co-headlined the opening night along with Hayes and Parnell sales were promising, but the venue only began reaching true critical mass in 1961 when it hosted its first American act, Scott favorite Zoot Sims. In the months to follow, Ronnie Scott's was the setting of performances by a who's who of American tenor icons including Dexter Gordon, Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Ben Webster, and Sonny Rollins. In late 1965 the club moved to its present location on Frith Street, where before the end of the decade it would host everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Albert Ayler, becoming the epicenter of London's jazz community. Although the club consumed much of his time, Scott continued touring with a quartet featuring pianist Stan Tracey during the late 1960s, he also spearheaded an eight-piece group with whom he created the most idiosyncratic and experimental music of his career. At the time of Scott's death on December 23, 1996, his namesake club was perhaps the most famous jazz venue in all of Europe. ~ Jason Ankeny   http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ronnie-scott-mn0000332807/biography

Never Pat A Burning Dog

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