Vortex Jazz Club
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The Vortex Jazz Club is a London venue that primarily features live jazz music but will occasionally have intriguing programmes of other music, with performances by Martin Simpson and leading exponents of calypso.
For many years the Vortex was located in Church Street, Stoke Newington, however following the acquisition of that building by property developers, the club has as of 2005 relocated to the Dalston Culture House in Gillett Street, N16, where it is at the heart of the newly-created Gillett Square, one of mayor Ken Livingstone's 100 public spaces for London. The Square opened on 10 November 2006 with a performance by Andy Sheppard's Saxophone Massive, comprised of 200 saxophonists.
Many respected jazz musicians have played at the Vortex, ranging from Last Amendment, F-IRE Collective, Derek Bailey, Kenny Wheeler, Evan Parker, John Etheridge, Tim Berne to name but a few.
The club was started by ex-taxi driver David Mossman in the late eighties, and through his open-minded booking policy it became perhaps the only venue which consistently was able to put on contemporary jazz nightly, justifying the epithet "London's listening jazz club". The new venue in Dalston continues this approach and attitude.
The club was nominated as a venue of the year by the Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group in 2006.
