GREAT SCOTT! IT'S JAMIE'S HEROES

It Is hard to imagine the British music scene without Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club at its heart.  As the famous venue celebrates 50 years of fantastic gigs,

Getty Images Gallery invited  Jamie Cullum to curate The Spirit of Jazz, a photographic exhibition that captures the club’s most memorable, symbolic and poignant moments of the past half century, as well as exploring the history  of the influential genre.

Naturally, Jamie leapt at the opportunity. “The Spirit of Jazz combines two loves of mine: jazz music and photography,” he says.

“Ronnie’s is essential not only to the UK jazz scene but to the world. It sets the bar for jazz clubs and as soon as you walk through its doors you really feel the history and the weight of the great musicians who have played and continue to play there.”

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To Jamie, Ronnie Scott’s is such an iconic venue that the first time he took to the stage himself, he was terrified. “I had played much bigger gigs but Ronnie Scott’s was the most frightening,” he admits.

Getty Images provided Jamie with hundreds of photographs, which he then whittled down to 50, including a reflective Count Basie smoking at his piano, Miles Davis on stage but lost in thought and a larger than life George Melly laughing and doffing his pork pie hat. Here, Jamie talks exclusively to us about his favourite pictures.

The Spirit of Jazz is at Getty Images Gallery, 46 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8DX until November 28 (Mon to Fri: 10.00-18.30, Sat: 12.00-18.00. Admission free. www.gettyimagesgallery.com, 020 7291 5380,

Jamie Cullum’s new album The Pursuit is out on November 9 (Decca).