CHAUT-09. Ronnie’s

UK, Feature Documentary, 2020, 103 min

Featuring never-before-seen footage of some of the greatest jazz stars of all time.

Ronnie’s made me cheer, laugh and weep. I am beyond speechless. It’s a revelation that’s beautifully, sensitively, and perfectly presented. Stephen Fry

In 1959, tenor-saxophonist Ronnie Scott started a jazz club in London that was a huge success from the very beginning to today. The club has been the ground-zero of jazz in Europe for six decades, and has featured legends like Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Roland Kirk, Van Morrison, Buddy Rich and Nina Simone, and included superstars like Prince, Lady Gaga and Jimi Hendrix, who made his last spectacular performance at Ronnie’s before his death. Ronnie himself died in 1996, remembered for the money he handed out to down-on-their-luck musicians, many of whom made their comebacks right there at Ronnie’s. The film not only shines a light on the world-famous club’s 60-year history, but on the inner darkness that Ronnie lived with throughout his life.

Directed by Oliver Murray

Colorado Premiere