The new Vortex Jazz Club is small, if not quite intimate—with the stage across one end of a longish room, I felt a bit distant from the Carol Grimes Trio, who we saw there last Saturday. Admittedly, due to arriving just before nine, we were stuck by the bar, at the back of the room, but a good venue should be able to fill right up and still give everyone a good experience.
That said, the atmosphere was good: the clean lines and high ceilings gave it a distinctly modern feel, quite different from the dim, smoky den of Ronnie Scott’s. Floating above a backstreet Hackney car park, next to a small arcade of low-rent business units, the Vortex glows blue and white, its full-height windows revealing the audience inside, like an oversized fish tank. The empty ground floor and long staircase, lined with portraits, make both entrance and exit an event.
North London’s quite a trek, but the prices were reasonable—£10 on the door—and it was nice to scout a new venue; I’ll be keeping an eye on their listings. Carol herself was certainly a good singer, and I admired the band’s versatility, but in the end their sets were too eclectic for their own good. At her best, singing blues and jazz numbers, her voice was engaging, even occasionally mesmerising. However, despite including an enthusiastic drummer and a pianist who could really rattle off the notes, the group’s penchent for melodrama (Australian birth poetry! Palestinian protest poems set to music of their own composition!) dampened my enthusiasm. Miles Davis’ ‘All Blues’ really didn’t need a vocal over the top, while caterwauling and spineless, floaty folk music distracted from what was, really, a good little jazz outfit. That said, the lively opening cover of Tom Waits’ ‘New Coat of Paint’ deserved its applause—it really got the set going, and gave a good impression that took a while to really dent.
I should probably mention that the expedition to the wilds of Hackney was actually in aid of my 23rd birthday. My thanks goes out to those who helped organise the event, came along, bought me drinks, gave me cards, or just wished me well on the day. I’ll see if I can’t get a few pictures of cards and things up on Flickr. You can see photos of our little trip to the pub on my birthday proper here, and some shots of the trip to the Vortex can be found from this photo onwards. This one’s a personal favourite…
