One of the main attractions of London for me was the fact that there are all walks of life here and no matter what interests you there is always someone else who shares your passion.
I have always loved the idea of having a few drinks whilst listening to Jazz music, Australia does have some Jazz music venues but it’s not a prominent music choice of a Rock loving nation.
I think I will accredit my interest in Jazz to my mother who used to play Harry Connick Jnr and Frank Sinatra around the house. Certain songs from the Red Hot and Blue Cole Porter tribute cd take me back to my childhood and evoke some great memories. At the end of the day I think Jazz is just so romantic and easy to listen to.
Upon my arrival in London I was so excited to read about all the legendary Jazz venues within the Soho area and I have been begging numerous people to come with me to any of them. I was in luck that one of my close friends agreed to come to a Sunday afternoon session at the one and only Ronnie Scotts.
The inside of the venue was exactly what I pictured a proper Jazz club was like. Dark, moody and sexy. The layout of the main area of the club is proper old school with allocated seating for couples (or in our case good friends!)and it is tiered so that we are all faced to the stage. Each tier is broken up with small red lamps indicating each table.
On a Sunday Ronnie Scotts runs a lunchtime session which varies its featured acts each week but our chosen week was Tony Bennett and Sinatra classics sung by Jeff Hooper.
Jeff is known as a big band singer who was for many years the featured vocalist with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. For our performance he appeared with the John Horler Trio. The band and Jeff had fantastic chemistry, the banter was amusing and it was very entertaining to see older men still riling each other up!
Jeff had a fantastic smooth voice, he was a crooner and a crowd pleaser (he dedicated a beautiful track to a lady in the audience who was celebrating her 90th birthday!) Given that 90% of the audience was over the age of 40 and almost everyone was coupled up he was the perfect choice for a Sunday afternoon of love songs. The set was very intimate with the tiny stage allowing Jeff to walk around and sing close to people, this only added to the fantastic vibe of the concert.
My favourite tracks were played after the interval as the second session was dedicated to audience requests. Stand outs for me included ‘Fly me to the Moon’ and ‘It had to be you’- two sensational tracks that will forever stand the test of time in my mind.
Throughout the performance most of the guests treated themselves to a roast lunch (which looked delicious) as well as copious cocktails or glasses of wine.
I must say I was longing for more despite the fact we had been there for over 3 hours. It was very strange leaving at 4pm and re entering society whilst the sun was still up having consumed half a bottle of red wine- it made the tube journey home very entertaining!
I would go back to Ronnie Scott's in a second and I am happy to report that Frank has seen a few more replays on my ipod since!
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