Saw him live maybe five years ago. He talked way too much between songs, gave his hits the swerve and came across a touch on the angry side. At one point he randomly shouted out, "fame is bullshit", which startled the first few rows of a packed theatre. He still sounded decent though and i still regularly play his 60s and early 70s stuff.

Genius. You can come at his music from so many angles.

To me what stands out is the way he has taken several established musical styles and managed to create his own cohesive sound.
There's wonderful album called something like Georgie Fame Heard Them First Here. It's a compilation of all the original artists recordings that he covered.Ska, Jazz, R&B even the pop of Paul Anka's Eso Beso.

On Youtube you can find a live studio type show where he talks about his early history including many tales of playing in Soho. The music that accompanies the stories are all beautifully crafted.

He is, together with Bar Italia, a figment of all that is left of the mystical Modernist Soho.

If you listen to his track Vinyl he also name checks the greatly missed Rays Jazz. I know he is a big fan of Basie at Birdland.

In the late Nineties he had two short lived radio shows on BBC Radio 2. He introduced me to some truly wonderful recordings including Shearing with Peggy Lee Do I love You, Joe Williams A Swinging Night at Birdland featuring Harry Edison, Oscar Brown Jnr Sin and Soul album, Eddie Jefferson take the A train and Jimmy Witherspoon (taken from Mod Jazz 1)

I am seeing him at Ronnies in September and can't wait.

"Sock it to 'em Georgie!" shouted an old 60s mod to Mr.Powell as he worked his B-3 the last time I saw him at Ronnie's, which was probably about 10 years ago. I saw him in Bar Italia a few years ago, the snaps of which are on my Instagram page. I think he's wonderful actually, the way he pulls together so many styles and comes up with his own sound and feel. He embodies what was good about that 'High Mod-Flamingo' period when black American culture fed into the whole scene.

I saw Georgie at the Flamingo around 15 years ago, superb, even my Wife who was reluctant to go enjoyed it, as we were leaving he was outside having a smoke, I managed to shake hands with the great man, there were a fair few old mods there that night, I may see if my Daughter would like to go to Ronnie's in September, my Wife won't ! Zoot Money ( & his ' Big Roll Band') was a contemporary of GF but not as successful, I persuaded a group of friends to go see Zoot in Reading 10-12 yrs ago, very small venue, no entourage for Zoot, he strolled in with what was probably all his belongings in a carrier bag, wasn't good, we left after 10 minutes,

I was digging through the GF recordings I own and was surprised by how diverse they are.
A jazz quartet, a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael, a BBC big band album, contemporary Blues. The list goes on.
The guy has tremendous tatste.

Point ^
I might prefer to see Zoot with his carrier bag than Jagger with his dressing-room, groupies, hangers-on.
Something to be said for small scale, low key, unassuming.

BTW, that Charlie Watts documentary on BBC iplayer is really very good indeed. Lots about his love of jazz and his fastidiousness in all areas, especially his clothes. And the best bit? That bloody word 'modernist' was not used once. What a meaningless word that has become, even though, ironically, Charlie really was a genuine, erm, modernist.

I'm quite wrong about the word 'Modernism' not being used as a jazz term, as John Fordham's book on Ronnie Scott demonstrates.

Yuca's right: sophisticated they are not, not unlike (perhaps) some of the stinkers Duke Ellington penned.  One of his biographers, James Lincoln Collier, is pretty unsparing about that aspect of Duke's output.  The lyrics to Billy Strayhorn's 'Satin Doll', written by Johnny Mercer, I adore: especially when sung by Billy Eckstine. 
Some of the early bebop singing is a little inane (although often quite enjoyable).

Thanks for the tip Stax. I don't have a TV licence as I don't watch live TV but I might have to rig up my aerial to watch that.

I've always had a soft spot for Georgie Fame especially when I found out that he played and lived in the Essex Arms pub, Silvertown at the start of his career. It was a pub I suspect my ancestors used. He played to a tough audience of dockers but I reckon they would have given a young boy like him a break.

Georgie Fame once said that his audience at the Flamingo was mostly made up of ‘Black American GIs, West Indians, pimps, prostitutes and gangsters.’
The Flamingo must have been a tougher gig. Ha.

Surprised your missus isn't interested Stax. It will be interesting what your boy and girl make of the show. Is GF still in reasonable shape? Some older artistes around today should probably call it a day.

Enjoyable listen - in two parts

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06s8brc