Last night – to end a great weekend – we visited the 606 Jazz Club in South London. This is exactly the kind of place I have been looking for since I arrived in town in 1993 and, for some reason, none of the venues that I have previously tried have come close.
It’s an intimate basement Jazz Club and last night Claire Teal and Anita Wardell performed. It was an excellent 3-hour-ish set of new Jazz standards, some new songs and some scatt jazz (which, I believe, is Anita’s trademark). Both of the women’s voices were superb and the backing trio fantastic. You sit right next to the stage area. All the musicians were good but the dexterity exhibited by the drummer was incredible.
The club only has a dinner licence so you have to eat to be able to drink and the menu, if a little pricey, was certainly very good. They do crowd people in – there is very little room between tables – but it added to the atmosphere rather than being uncomfortable.
I shall be going again.
The Bull’s Head, Barnes is worth a visit, too.
http://www.thebullshead.com/