Peter King, the co-founder of Europe's most famous jazz club Ronnie Scott's, has died aged 80.

King was the surviving half of a 1950s saxophone duet with Ronnie Scott with whom he launched the jazz club in London's Soho district and turned it into a mecca for jazz fans, becoming the first venue to bust American union rules on US jazz artists performing in the UK.

But unlike Scott who became the public face of the club, King was the entrepreneur who used a sharp mind and forceful management skills to attract world class jazz performers to the London club, including Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus, Nine Simone, and - before he was really famous - Michael Buble.

After Scott's death - peculiarly also in December, 1996 - King continued to bring in staple performers, including Cuba's Irakere, Brazil's Fourth World and Jose Neto, America's Monty Alexander, Maynard Ferguson and Roy Ayers, as well as Britain's Georgie Fame, Charlie Watts, George Melly and Mark Knopfler's Notting Hillbillies.

But there was also a Polish connection.

George Matlock, presenter of London Jazz on Radio ORLA, met and interviewed King, when in 2005 he decided to sell the club to theatre producer Sally Greene. In the indepth interview, King was asked to name a Polish act he had heard about. But King did better than that: he said "Namyslowski" and recalled Zbigniew Namyslowski's visit to the club in 1967 as one of the most sensational multi-instrumentalists of the last 50 years.

King also brought Polish jazz band Little Egoists to a British audience, when they appeared in 2003 as the warm-up act for Roy Ayers' Ubiquity.

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Frith Street, London, launched just over 50 years ago in October 1959. Often the audience was s famous as the performer. Famous jazz fans, such as the former UK finance minister Kenneth Clarke, as well as Liza Minelli, rocker Bill Wyman and jazzman Jamie Cullum could be seen in the 150-seater intimate club setting, brushing shoulders with less well-known members of the audience.

"It has been said that tall Peter was an imposing figure and that some people mistook him for the bouncer. It's true he didn't have the odball humour of business partner Ronnie. But I remember Peter most of all as an artist: to him the jazz came before the banknotes. He once bent his own admission rules, allowing my guest inside for the lower members' fee because my partner did not have enough money to get into the always-packed club," recalled George Matlock.

"Peter was also generous to understand the importance of media. He ensured that singer Dianne Schuur knew I was waiting to interview her backstage. Latterly Peter suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, but when I interviewed him just over 4 years ago, his recollections were superb. He will be sorely missed by everyone who was fortunate enough to meet him," Matlock added.

Radio ORLA listeners will be able to hear the interview George conducted with Peter King in REPLAY/Special Broadcasts from January 1, 2010.