“Feelin’ good tonight, huh?” Cory Wong asks the crowd. The Ronnie Scott’s audience replies with a whoop before settling back into an almost off-putting level of hush, ready to soak up every note of tonight’s set. And there’s a lot to take in.

Having taken the stage to Shaggy’s ‘Boombastic’, it’s been clear from the get go that Cory and his funk-lovin’ bandmates are here to play. Play in the musical sense: the set is speedy, tight and funky from the first chart. As as well as playing in the not-taking-anything-too-seriously way: plenty of the songs are introduced with tongue-in-cheek silliness. This is a great way to keep everything feeling fresh for the band who’ve played 6 shows as part of this mini-residency. Cory makes a point of reminding the crowd that usually when they see him it’s with a larger band and in a larger venue. Here in Ronnie’s though, they’re enjoying the intimate setting and trying out some different things with a smaller band.

The band may be small that said it is mighty. We get a taste of Kevin Gastongiuay’s keys early doors, quickly followed by Sam Greenfield on the sax. It’s hot in London this weekend — in Ronnie Scott’s the solos are burning. As the smoke clears from the first round of tunes, Cory treats the crowd to a heart-felt explanation of artistic inspiration before they pay homage to a particular totem: Adam Sandler via the tune ‘Sandman’. The intro is as flippant as the music is captivating. The same pattern is repeated in Cory’s intro to their version of Henry Mancini’s ‘Lujon’ and a Fountains of Wayne chart — the vibe in the room is good.

Cory really does know how to pack a stage with talent. Petar Janjic fizzles on the drums and delivers every time he’s given the opportunity. Felix Pastorius joins the band on stage for a tune and delivers some crazy fret-board gymnastics. There’s a moment in their penultimate tune when each member of the band does a solo with some spiraling chromatic ascents. And in this high-wire act, Cory still dazzles most brightly. His ability to lead a band, build a solo, send a helter-skelter of triplets out across a crowd (all preceded by a Brubeck ‘Take Five’ fake out) is deserving of attentive audience in big dance-filled rooms and (like tonight) smaller devoted ones. Wherever he’s playing, there will be fun and it will be funky.

Checkout Ronnie Scott’s full ongoing listings here. Image © 2026 Tatiana Gorilovsky.