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| Ronnie Scott Orchestra... |
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Ronnie Scott led many small groups, often just for recording sessions, but the band for which he is most remembered, apart from the Jazz Couriers, is the Ronnie Scott Orchestra. The band had started life in 1952 when Scott assembled a group for a one-off BBC show. A disagreement had led to him quitting the Jack Parnell band and he was later followed by Derek Humble, Peter King, Jimmy Deuchar and Ken Wray who also quit. Following a meeting at the Harmony Inn in Archer Street a new co-operative band was formed and was initially called the Ronnie Scott Jazz Group. The full line up was: Scott (tenor), Jimmy Deuchar (tpt), Ken Wray (tmb), Derek Humble (alto), Benny Green (bar), Norman Stenfalt (pno), Lennie Bush (bs), Tony Crombie (drums). This group was recorded live in December 1952 and a CD of the session was re-issued by Time Music International called Ronnie Scott Live At The Jazz Club. It seems to have disappeared from lists but is worth keeping an eye out for. The cover had no details of the band or date. Luckily five of the tracks have re-appeared on a comparatively recent CD by Giant Steps Records. In early 1953 Pete King (tenor) was added and the Ronnie Scott Jazz Group became the The Ronnie Scott Orchestra. Under the sponsorship of the New Musical Express and manager Harold Davidson, Scott's new band went to Manchester where, for a month, they rehearsed daily and gigged nightly around the area to enthusiastic audiences. The repertoire came from Shorty Rogers, Gerry Mulligan, Harry Klein and Tony Crombie.  Barbara Jay (above) sang with the band for ten months in 1953 and recalls:It was very hard to sing with that band... Ronnie was never very happy with girl singers but I got the job... the band was fantastic, but they had to be a bit commercial, I was the commercial commodity. We travelled in an old airways bus - no heater, in the winter I had a fur coat, a hot water bottle and a blanket... Barbara Jay sang with a number of bands besides Ronnie Scott's including Geoff Love, Harry Hayes and Benny Goodman. She married tenor sax player Tommy Whittle and through the 1990s and 2000s his quartet accompanied her in the successful Ella Fitzgerald Songbook show devised by herself. |
 This unique sounding little band became the most popular modern jazz attraction in the UK, and according to pundits was the very best of its kind throughout Europe. It survived for another two and a half years with hardly any changes in its star personnel. It apparently became very difficult to keep everybody happy and clashes in temperament plus general desire for change among its members led to its demise. In 1955 Ronnie formed a short-lived big band... "The Ronnie Scott band received the tribute of a multitude stunned into submission rather than entertained. It had been assailed by a rhythmic barrage rare from an English band or any nationality for that matter. No doubt bassist Lennie Bush pulled his weight, he could rarely be heard, ...the band set out to startle rather than woo... all it needs is an entertaining musical policy". Melody Maker, April 18th, 1953 "It took six months to build the controversy they call Ronnie Scott". Melody Maker, October 31st, 1953 "Ronnie Scott - best small band of the year - Ronnie Scott, first place, tenor - Derek Humble, second place, alto - Benny Green, second place, baritone - Jimmy Deuchar, second place, trumpet - Victo Feldman, first place, vibes - Lennie Bush, third place, bass - Ken Wray, third place, trombone". Melody Maker, readers poll, 1954 "There were so many stars in that band that the clash of temperaments became more and more frequent, but it was tremendous fun and very satisfying musically. I never laughed so much in my life as I did with that band". "Jimmy Deuchar, now he was a brilliant natural musician. He could write an arrangement and did, riding on the bus from say, London to Manchester. He'd not only write the score but all the parts in the score would be transposed in each instrument's keys as he wrote it, so when you got to the gig, you just put up the parts and played it. Everything fell under the figures, fantastic!". "It was a kind of co-operative band. I know I was enjoying myself". Ronnie Scott "People tend to take Ronnie's playing for granted. If he's in the context where he has to struggle a bit, he tends to rise, be himself. That band it was a roaring thing. He got to tremendous heights in that band". "It was a closed community band. That's why you felt that wall, you talk about. There was no room for anybody else. no room for the audience. If they liked it, fine, if they didn't too bad". Tony Crombie "Ronnie's nine-piece band was a great band. Easily the best from a jazz point of view for me before Francy Boland". Derek Humble Scott was enthusiastic about the mix of of spontaneity and structure that the band had and reckoned that much of the success of the band was due to it's arrangers, an art that forever mystified him. The band was recorded at regular intervals by Esquire but only the 1953 records have been re-issued on CD. A lot of material from 1954 and 1955 unfortunately, has never been re-issued and it seems unlikely now that it ever will be. Ronnie Scott |
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Thanks to Trevor Lee for permission to use excerpts from the Festival Hall East Kirby - Band Call 1950-1963 - issue 4. 
"The Scott orchestra had to play many dance dates in their early years and had to keep a "commercial eye" on their repertoire. Their technically gifted jazz musicians needed to tame any instinct that may have lead them to self-indulgence. The customer always had to be right.""Ronnie - always a hip, sharp suited character - had the band outfitted in sleek blue uniforms with check waistcoats, standing behind glowing sky-blue Plexiglas music stands. The Scott orchestra certainly looked the business!" "The band played at the Festival Hall, East Kirby on eight occasions from November, 1953 to March, 1956. The dance influenced repertoire meant that the band used a number of vocalists over the years not normally associated with the jazz orchestra." "The star vocalist was Art Baxter (1953-55) - a singer of quality who perfected a rather eccentric and languid style of delivery. He didn't always receive the audience response that he deserved, but he could certainly sell a song." "Other vocalists included Barbara Jay (1953), Pattie Laine (1954), Bobbie King (1954-55), Steve Wise (1955), Linda Russell (1955) and Joe Burnett (1956). None of the vocalists ever recorded with the band."  (Picture 1953) Rhythm section: Norman Stenfalt (piano), Lennie Bush (bass) and Tony Crombie (drums)... | |
The group made a number of recordings for the Esquire label, a number of which have now been re-issued on CD...This was an ad-hoc line-up for a BBC World Service broadcast from the Paris Cinema Studio in London. Prophetically it was to form the personnel, within weeks, of the legendary Ronnie Scott nine-piece band. With the exception of Popo this was the first Esquire 12" LP issued. Three further World Service broadcasts appeared on Esquire (32.002, 003 and 006). Ronnie Scott Jazz Group - December 1st, 1952 (Esquire 32.001) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Norman Stenfalt (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). All The Things You are/Pantagrulian/Mullenium/Nemo/Got The Message/The Nearness Of You/The Champ/Popo. Ronnie Scott Jazz Group - February 10th, 1953. A BBC World Service broadcast from the Paris Cinema Studio in London. (Esquire 32.002) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Pete King (ts), Benny Green (bs), Norman Stenfalt (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). I May Be Wrong/On The Alamo/Day Dream/Stringin's The Jug/Lullaby Of The Leaves/Seven Eleven/What's New?/How Am I To Know?/Just One Of Those Things. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - April 13th, 1953 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Norman Stenfalt (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). Lover Come Back To Me/Compos Mentis. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - August 13th, 1953 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Norman Stenfalt (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). Double or Nothing/Hard Feelings/Stompin' At The Savoy/Body Beautiful. February 1st, 1954 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). I Get A Kick Out Of You/Cymbalism/Humble Pie/Dear Old Southland. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - March 17th, 1954. A BBC World Service broadcast from the "Criterion Restaurant" in London. (Esquire 32.003) (JJ4) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). Fast And Loose/Body Beautiful/Yardbird Suite(1)/If I Should Lose You/In The Land Of Nimbupani/Laura(2)/Oo-Shoo-Be-Do-Be(rs,pk voc)/This Can't Be Love(3)/Dear Old Southland/El Sino(4)/I Wished On The Moon/Nemo (1) JD, DH + rhythm only. (2) RS + rhythm only. (3) VF (vibes) + b + d only. (4) KW, PK, BG + TC (pno) + b + d. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - May 17th, 1954 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). Perdido/Cherokee/In The Land Of Nimbupani/Fast And Loose. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - September 7th, 1954 (Esquire 32.006) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Mac Minshull (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). Fine And Dandy/Bouncin' With Bud (JD, DH + rhythm only)/Things Ain't What They Used To Be/Serenade In Blue (VF vibes, +b and d)/Humble Pie/'Cuse These Bloos/Perdido/Tenderly/Fuller Bop Man/Nice Work If You Can Get It (VF vibes, +b and d)/Tin Tin Deo/Fools Rush In (RS + rhythm only)/In The Land Of Nimbupani. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - November 2nd, 1954 (Esquire EP31*) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Hank Shaw (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Phil Seamen (d). Taboo/Second Helping/Seamen's Mission*/Lester Leaps In*. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - January 4th, 1955 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Hank Shaw (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Phil Seamen (d). Evening In Paris/After You've Gone/But Not For Me/Serenity. Ronnie Scott Orchestra - February 23rd, 1955 (Esquire EP61) (JMC22) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Hank Shaw (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Phil Seamen (d). Parisian Thoroughfare/Don't Worry 'Bout Me/Quicksilver+/Time After Time. (+ Different take to original 78) Ronnie Scott Orchestra - April 13th, 1955 (Esquire EP81) Ronnie Scott (ts), Derek Humble (as), Pete King (ts), Hank Shaw (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Phil Seamen (d). S'il Vous Plait/Jordu/Pearl/This Heart Of Mine. |
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