Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Ronnie Scott's club under attack

After the legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scott's was refit for 2.5 million pounds, business is going well. Yet now the club is under attack, as Sholto Byrnes reports ( The Independent ). The Evening Standard criticized the price and program politics of the club, its atmosphere and the way artists were treated. Other papers joined the criticism and call Ronnie's "probably the most expensive jazz club in the world". Byrnes comes to its rescue: It was a good idea to reschedule the sets to an earlier beginning. For the 26 pounds they pay the guests can stay for the whole evening, hearing the resident piano trio, the main act and the late night jam session. Yes, there are some pop acts in between, but they are only booked at about 10 nights a year. The club is being criticized for not offering enough British jazz, but the club's founder Ronnie Scott already saw jazz as "an American sound, an American art form".

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