Jonathan Kreisberg - Ronnie Scott's, London

Another quick trip down to London - this time to see American jazz guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg.  We had seen him once before, in November 2023, at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho.

Down on the 15.12, arriving at 16.27, and a short ride on the tube to Oxford Circus.  A stroll down Argyle Street towards Liberty, and then left, along Great Marlborough Street towards Soho.

Eventually we reached Dean Street, cut through towards Soho Square and then down Frith Street to Ronnie Scott's - where the famous sign was partially obscured by scaffolding:

A 30-odd minute wait:

and we made it to the hallowed portal:

The view from the entrance through the long narrow foyer / corridor towards the main room:

Much to our delight we had been allocated the table that I had requested when I made the booking:

which has a great view of the stage:

I do like a venue that is not afraid to make clear to its punters what is and isn't acceptable behaviour:

The view back over my left shoulder towards the bar and, in the far corner, the entrance to the room:

A more general shot of the room as it started to fill up:

Dinner - lamb rump for Amanda:

and my usual - though, following a slight change to the menu, now topped by one of the largest deep-fried pickles I've ever eaten:

For dessert - Sticky Toffee Pudding and Vanilla Ice Cream for me: 

and Treacle Tart for Amanda:

And so to the music - which was as good as we had expected.  

The club's strict "no photography / videography" policy prevented me from getting any action shots.  However, I have to say that, as the band closed out the second set with an arrangement of the 1934 standard "Autumn in New York" that was about as far from the original as one could imagine, and featured an extended exchange between Kreisberg and drummer Colin Stranahan, I have never in my life been so tempted to try to take a sneaky video!  Exciting stuff, and the house exploded at the end, after which the band returned for two encores which brought the temperature down and eventually sent everyone home with smiles on their faces.

Aside: Early in the evening a married couple and their clearly neurodivergent teenage daughter arrived and sat at a table directly in my line of sight (they are not pictured in any of the photos above). The daughter ate nothing and drank only a mineral water over a period of nearly three hours. She had no interest in the music, and sat with her back to the stage all evening.  It appeared that the only way she could cope with her surroundings was by continuously and obsessively playing video games on her phone, which she held about six inches from her face as she tapped furiously away throughout the entire gig.  During the interval, club staff tried, to no avail, to get her to desist, while her parents sat unconcerned on the other side of the table, quaffing cocktails and making no attempt to resolve the situation. I hope they enjoyed themselves, because their daughter clearly didn't, and neither did those of us who had to endure the distraction she caused for two hours.  

Out onto Frith Street, and down to Shaftesbury Avenue where we hailed a cab back to St Pancras.  Drinks acquired from Starbucks and then up to the platform, where a slightly greater than normal police presence was a sign of a number of Arsenal fans returning home after their team had beaten Real Madrid 3-0 in the quarter final of the UEFA Champions League.

When we first started going to Ronnie Scott's, the usual format was that an opening act  - perhaps the house band - would play for around 45 minutes, after which the main act would come on and play until relatively late. Nowadays, there is usually no support act and the main act comes on at around 18.30, which means that it's often all over, bar the shouting, by around 20.45. One advantage of the new timing is that we can get an earlier train home, which has the additional advantage of using the main, direct route, rather than the much longer circuitous late route.  As a result we were back in Leicester by around 23.35 and home before midnight - result!