Jazz goldmine unearthed at Ronnie Scott's

Performers at Ronnie Scott's have included Ella Fitzgerald.

Famous London jazz venue Ronnie Scott's is set to sign a recording deal that would bring previously unreleased live recordings from its archives to a new generation.

The jazz club, which reopened this week after a £2.5 million ($7.6 million) refurbishment by its new management, is in talks with Universal Music Group on setting up a label to make its vast archive of sessions available on CD and to download.

A few live performances recorded at the venue by the biggest names in jazz have been released before.

Everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker to Miles Davis and Count Basie has played there.

The finds following the refurbishment have yet to be catalogued and some of the labels have peeled off the tapes so the full extent of the discovery will not be clear until experts listen to the haul and report back.

A spokesman for the club said: "Everyone has played there but very little has been released before. Half of it was never even released on 78, let alone 33. There was stuff in different rooms, different lock-ups, different places all over the country. When they bought it, they found all this stuff. It's like finding a goldmine."

The club was founded by Ronnie Scott and business partner Pete King in Gerrard Street, London, and moved to Frith Street in 1965.

Scott died in 1996 and King struggled on running the venue until last year when it was bought by theatre impresario Sally Greene, who had previously rescued the Old Vic theatre.

She took Kevin Spacey, the Hollywood star who is artistic director of the Old Vic and a jazz fan, with her to convince Pete King she was the person he should sell to. The ploy worked.

But while keeping key aspects of the old club, notably the low ceiling which was widely regarded as vital for the excellent acoustics, she has embarked on major modernisation.

The venue now has a proper restaurant, a chill-out bar and up-to-date recording facilities and a mixing desk for the preservation of sessions in future - whenever artists agree.

The club is also initiating regular podcasts via its website, in conjunction with iTunes, to make jazz more accessible to modern listeners. However, dim red lamps, red velvet banquettes and a similar shade of nicotine-effect khaki on the walls recalls its glory days.

One of the headaches of capitalising on the old recordings will be tracking down who owns what rights. That will take time but should prove lucrative for the venue once achieved.

The new club manager and booker is Leo Green, son of the bandleader Benny and himself a former musician who has played with the likes of Van Morrison and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The 250-seat club reopened with the Monty Alexander Trio and forthcoming appearances include Wynton Marsalis and Chick Corea.

It has been claimed that Spacey, who has sung in a movie about Bobby Darin, may perform there.

- INDEPENDENT