James Walton

Like much jazz, it might have benefited from being less solemn: BBC4’s Ronnie’s reviewed

Plus: a winning reminder of a once ubiquitous, now entirely vanished television genre, the song and dance spectacular

Did we learn what really went on at Ronnie Scott's in this reverential BBC4 doc? Image: BBC / Goldfinch Entertainment / Reel Art Press / Dave Brolan 
issue 21 November 2020
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  • Ronnie’s: Ronnie Scott and His World-Famous Jazz Club

    BBC4, Sunday

  • What We Were Watching: Song and Dance Spectaculars

    BBC4, Friday

Ronnie’s: Ronnie Scott and His World-Famous Jazz Club was like the TV equivalent of an authorised biography: impressively thorough, often illuminating, certainly long — and perhaps a bit too reverent for its own good.

The programme began with some of today’s jazz musicians testifying to just how great the club is.

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