Everyone knows that the 1960s, the decade in which London swung as never before, were the Golden Era of Ronnie Scott’s club, the tiny bolthole of a basement that had swiftly gone from a strictly parochial phenomenon to an international marker on the jazz map. What’s less well-known, largely thanks to his own diffidence about recording, is that this was also the time in which Scott the player hit his peak.

These previously unreleased sessions from 1964-66 find him helming his own quartet – a band praised by critics of the time as a ‘powerful combo’ creating ‘full-blooded, exciting’ jazz – in three distinct t settings; live in Manchester (supporting jazz superstars the Dave Brubeck Quartet); in the studio; and accompanying a very special guest, the iconic American jazz vocalist Mark Murphy. Rarely has Scott been heard to better advantage, his playing throughout these sets bringing his legend back to vivid, hard-swinging and passionately communicative life.

PERSONNEL:

• Ronnie Scott (tenor sax)
• Stan Tracey (piano)
• Rick Laird (ass on tracks 1,2,3)
• Ronnie Stephenson (drums on tracks 1,2,3)
• Freddy Logan (bass on tracks 4,5,6,7,8)
• Bill Eyden (drums on tracks 4,5,6,7,8)
• Mark Murphy (vocals on tracks 5,6)
• Malcolm Cecil (bass on tracks 9,10,11)
• Jackie Dougan (drums on tracks 9,10,11)

JTracks 1-3 - BBC Jazz Club, London, February 8th 1965 JTracks 4-8 - BBC Jazz Club, London, April 17th 1966 JTracks 9 -11 - Free Trade Hall, Manchester, June 6th 1964

TRACKS:

• 01.Sweet and Lovely
• 02.Sweet Lotus Blossom
• 03.You Are My Heart’s Delight
• 04.Close Your Eyes
• 05.Waltz for Debby
• 06.Music That Makes Me Dance/When She Makes Music
• 07.The Night Is Young
• 08.I’ll Be Seeing You
• 09.Close Your Eyes
• 10.What’s New?
• 11.Avalon