Hello, welcome to 251, two pianists, five minutes, one subject. Today we're going to talk about the jazz documentary Ronnies. My name is Nick Tomlin. And my name is Simon Whiteside, and this is 251.

251. So the documentary Ronnies was released in 2020. It's around the time of the 60th anniversary, I think. It was started in, Ronnies started in 59, didn't it?

I think so, yeah. So it would have been 19, 2019 would have been the 60th anniversary. And it's basically, it's really, it's the story of the class. It's the story of Ronnie Scott himself, mostly.

Obviously, Pete King, the club owner, co-owner with Ronnie Scott, features quite a bit. But there's a load of talking heads, or actually more voiceovers than talking heads. There's not a lot of direct camera stuff. And, yeah, and obviously the current people like Simon Cook and Paul Pace, people like that,

talking about the club. Yeah. The first section, it's got some brilliant archive footage of Soho and also some midtown Manhattan stuff. And, you know, do you remember, was it called Giraldo's Army?

Mm-hmm. Where they'd go over to, they'd take the Queen Mary or something and go over and hang out in the clubs. Yeah. And that's where they got the idea, really.

That's what made them want to have a new, a 52nd Street style club in London. Mm-hmm. And it has all the jazz. It has all the jazz sort of, the odd thing is they don't mention that when the, what was it called, Club 11.

Club 11, was it? They don't mention any of that, which is quite interesting. I don't know why they didn't mention that. Maybe just because it was something else, but not Ronnie's thing.

So it's got all those people, you know, Cleo Lane, Johnny Dankworth, Ronnie himself, Tubby Hayes, those sorts of people, the sort of London jazz, British jazz. Mm-hmm. Heavyweights.

But then, of course, it has block footage of Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Sonny Rollins, all the, they came up, they came, once they got going, because they were starting against a trend, really. People, all the people who owned nightclubs didn't want there to be jazz in those nightclubs. They wanted it to be cabaret, basically.

Mm-hmm. Because that's what people, that's what they thought people would want. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

So it's a classic musicians' collective thing, where they started something that didn't exist, that they wanted to exist, I guess. Mm-hmm. And at the end of the film, they talk about trying to keep that legacy alive, which is, you know, I think they're probably doing that quite well, to be honest, don't you?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you get sort of, musicians grumble sometimes about, I think, especially, you know, since Ronnie's has, you know, it's kind of refurbished.

And sort of, it's, I think it's more, it's more professional now, in a way. Yeah. You know, in a sort of run, in a more professional way, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I think some musicians are a bit nostalgic, and they kind of like to get on these sort of, you know.

Rants. Rants about it. But, I mean, I think it's, I think it's good. I still enjoy going there, and I think it's.

Well, you're playing there, aren't you? I'm playing there. I'm playing there on the, yep, the 6th of September. I'm doing the Sunday lunch with my shearing band, with a singer, Lily Dior.

And doing stuff, shearing's arrangements, really, for Peggy Lee and Nancy Wilson. So, book your tickets. This comes out on the 1st of September, so you've got a few days. The thing, actually, it's funny you mention that, because there's one point where they were nearly going under.

Yeah. Well, I think there were a few times where they were struggling. And someone said to them, you know, if you're a better businessman, it would be a lot easier. And he just said, if we were better businessmen, we wouldn't have opened a jazz club.

You guys. And there. But the final third of the film is probably the most moving, I think, because it's all about Ronnie's depression, which wasn't really talked about in his lifetime.

No, no, it wasn't. But I think this was the first time it was, you know, sort of properly. And his partner was talking about all of that. Anyway, oh, yes, also got some original music by Alex Heffs, which Trish Clues plays on.

Anyway, I'm Simon Whiteside. Goodbye. And my name's Nick Tomlin. Goodbye.

Goodbye. Just a little reminder that you can find us on social media. On Instagram, we're 2-5-1. You can search for that, and we'll come up.

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Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! So, yeah, that's feedspot.com, basically. Check them out, and we'll put it in the show notes.

Thanks for listening. Thank you. Goodbye.