Notes on Jazz: In Conversation with Sarah Weller, Head of Music at Ronnie Scott’s

Riverstone is a wonderful and progressive initiative. Community and connectivity are essential at any age but especially when you finish your working life and the day-to-day relationships of work colleagues are no longer there. Music is like a relationship you have from when you are born to when life ends; a soundtrack that punctuates all of life’s important moments. When music is important to you then you gravitate to the places that host it, and meet with others who share that love. The beauty of later living is that engagement can be increased, those conversations can continue and music has always had the ability to elevate all life experience.

From the moment you walk into Ronnie’s you walk into a world that cocoons you.  The warm colours, the muted lights, the soft velvet seats; it all adds to the ambiance and that’s before the music starts.  Waiters deftly move around the space delivering delicious cocktails and food.  Then the music starts.  You are so close to the best jazz in the world, witnessing something that will be a unique and improvised event that you will be part of, never to be repeated.

Some people want to hear the familiar and others hunger for the new, but I believe that music is timeless.  If you love music, you will embrace music from any era, it just might have to be framed slightly differently.  Someone in their 60s was born in the 60s, a time of great social change and music revolution.  At Ronnie’s in the 60s you would have seen members of the Beatles watching the latest music coming over from America and even now jazz artists like to reinterpret the music of the Beatles.

Each generation looks to the past to discover, be inspired, the cycle of invention and re-invention.  Last week we had a band from Poland hugely influenced by the hip hop artist J Dilla but because they were in the UK they referenced Gary Numan, a distinctive pop star from the 70s, then they referenced James Brown from the 60s.  Each generation influences the next, adding their own cultural references and therefore, expanding the vocabulary and re-presenting it to the next generation. Those who remember the music the first time around can enjoy remembering the original references.  I say to my kids all the time, ‘that song you’re listening to, the sample they are using, I have the original of that.’ And so things go on.

When I was five, I said to my mum, ‘I want to be a singer.’ That connection I felt towards music on an instinctive level aged five is exactly how I still feel about music. I might analyse my choices and why I like what I like but instinct now is just hours of listening practise.  I think about audiences a lot. I watch what’s happening on the stage and then I look at the audience and think about the music that appeals to them. My favourite audience is one that has the biggest span of ages because I do believe that music is universal and if open, can appeal to anyone at any age. 

We pigeon-hole music into genres; it helps with marketing and gives people reference points when choosing what they are coming to see but music is such a big part of our cultural identity. We do Sunday lunches at Ronnie’s, and I used to do a Doris Day tribute show, where I would don a blonde wig and a beautiful 50s dress and sing all my favourite songs from her huge repertoire. Sunday lunches and our brunch shows attract people who used to frequent Ronnie’s in the 60s and are now in their 80s.  Their love for the music hasn’t changed but daytime shows are now preferable to them. They bring along their children and grandchildren.  I love the cross generational shows that everyone can enjoy.  They pass their love of the music to the next generation.  

Music is my life-long companion and jazz never ages for me.  Listening to John Coltrane’s Favourite things or Bill Evans’ Peace Piece sound just as fresh.  Maybe it’s the way music was recorded back then but jazz (not all jazz) has such a timeless quality. You can listen to music from the 90s and it sounds so dated because of the production but recording instruments acoustically you hear the beauty of the instrument and the player.  A pure sound. Listening to Sarah Vaughan will never get old to me.  The beauty of her voice is ageless, and no one has ever got close to replicating what she could do. Jazz doesn’t confine; it accepts experimentation, the freedom for it to progress.

Music facilitates community, it provokes an emotional connection to people, the places, and events in our lives.  It’s coming together to enjoy a shared experience. Music can cheer you up and music can move you to tears; music is everywhere.  I also believe that music keeps you young – it’s all about embracing the new but still honouring what went before.

There are hours and hours of work that go into every show. There is no glamour behind the scenes, just a lot of teamwork. Each one of us is a small cog in the machine, working in harmony to provide the night people expect when they walk in. Once the show is over, we are on to the next one. We want people to experience and remember the magic of the institution that is Ronnie Scott’s.  Ronnie’s is 68 this year and I am part of the history.  We have to make sure that Ronnie’s is still around for the next generation to be able to look back on.  I stand on the shoulders of the amazing job done before me.

Riverstone Living regularly hosts private sets and recitals with its cultural partners and special guests. Discover what your Riverstone life could look like.