Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club Doc Lands North American Deal Via Greenwich Entertainment

EXCLUSIVE: Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club is coming to audiences in North America.

Greenwich Entertainment has acquired distribution rights to Ronnie’s, directed by Oliver Murray and produced by Goldfinch Entertainment, and will release the feature film early next year.

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It comes after the doc premiered at DOC NYC last year and follows a UK theatrical run.

Ronnie’s chronicles the life of saxophonist Ronnie Scott, a poor, Jewish kid growing up in 1940s East End, London who became owner of the Soho, London night club. Musicians who have played the club include Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Chet Baker, and Jimi Hendrix, who played there the night of his death.

Murray previously directed Bill Wyman doc The Quiet One, directs with Goldfinch Entertainment CEO Kirsty Bell and Eric Woollard-White producing and COO Phil McKenzie executive producing. Greenwich’s Ed Arentz negotiated the deal with Abacus Media Rights, which will distribute the documentary internationally.

It is the latest music doc for Greenwich Entertainment, which recently distributed Moby Doc and was responsible for Echo in the Canyon and Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.

“To music fans all over the world Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club is a temple to musical excellence,” said Oliver Murray.

“This film is a celebration of the men and women who dreamt of building such a place. They were uncompromising, resourceful, and ferociously loyal to one another in their quest to explore new sounds and create the perfect environment to play and listen to music. Ronnie Scott was as complex and colourful as the music played on his stage and his untimely death left the jazz community bereft of a favourite leader. My hope is that the film offers a look at the truest, most honest version of Ronnie. It’s a tale of great achievement, but also a deep-seated struggle with a traumatic illness and music was Ronnie’s medicine. Long live Ronnie Scott’s Club, the memory of its founders Ronnie Scott and Pete King, and the joys of live music,” he added.

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