The Vortex Jazz Club

The world-renowed jazz club in Dalston, North London

Programme

For full details and online booking see the programme page.

Long-established In North London for over 20 years, the club is a beacon for contemporary jazz in the capital.

With seven evening performances a week The Vortex programmes cutting-edge jazz alongside contemporary folk and world music.

While it places a strong emphasis on, and provides support for, young local talent, it also regularly features leading world-class artists, both from the UK and overseas – for example – from the UK, Stan Tracey, Tony Kofi, Evan Parker, Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, Mercury Music Prize Nominated Polar Bear and Zoe Rahmann, pianists John Taylor and Gwilym Simcock and award-winning saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock.

From abroad, the club has connections with New York downtown scene musicians such as Tim Berne and Claudia Quintet, as well as European groups such as [em], radio.string.quartet, Lotte Anker and Wolfgang Muthspiel.

There is something to appeal to all musical tastes: straightahead, big-band, contemporary, piano trio, vocal, free-impro, world-music, Gypsy/East European and folk-orientated...

'Guest' nights at The Vortex include:

Gypsy Jazz Night
JazzArc Jam Sessions
Vocals@Vortex open mic night
Last Amendment (jazz with the emphasis on jazzbo - with punk poet Penny Rimbaud)

The website also features CD and gig reviews by Chris Parker. See links below.

Chris Parker's reviews

Gigs reviews
CD reviews

Time Out enters The Vortex

The jazz club was invented in New York but perfected in London. Now, half a century after the opening of Ronnie Scott’s, the capital has another venue as cool as any in the Big Apple. To celebrate the London Jazz Festival, Time Out enters The Vortex. Read the complete article on the Time Out site.

Polar Bear at The Vortex

Review on Spoonfed by Tom Hewson

Have you ever heard a balloon play in tune? If the answer is no, I'd advise getting out to see the current line-up of Polar Bear, the Mercury-nominated UK jazz group to see how it's done (and more). Read the rest of the Polar Bear review at Spoonfed.

History of The Vortex

How the club began in Stoke Newington.

FAQs

Anything you need to know?

The Ochre Works

New bistro and bar now open

Downstairs from The Vortex, the bar offers a menu of delicious, simple, modern dishes and a range of wines and beers.

More details on The Ochre Works page.

Gillett Square

Formally launched in November 2006, Gillett Square is London's newest town square and the first of a promised hundred new town squares across the capital. Housing Dalston Culture House, The Bradbury Street Workspace, small retail units and a small car park, it is a vibrant urban area.

Dalston Culture House

The Vortex Jazz Club is housed in Dalston Culture House, a stunning four-storey cultural and arts workspace designed by Hawkins/Brown architects.

See the Gillett Square website.

"I was at the Vortex for the first time yesterday at Issie Barret's gig, which I found beautiful. I liked the venue very much...the location on the square, the pizza place downstairs, the ambience overall, the people so polite behind the bar..."

The Vortex is a member of the Europe Jazz Network

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CD reviews

Gig reviews

Chris Parker's gig reviews

Ochre Works

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