UPDATE: FRIDAY NIGHT JAZZ AT THE CRYPT CONTINUES. THE ORGANIZERS HAVE SENT OUT A PRESS RELEASE WHICH WE HAVE REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY. THE POST BELOW SHOULD BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THAT PRESS RELEASE.
I’ve just signed the petition in support of reinstating JazzLive and Jazz Umbrella, a registered charity, as promoters of the Friday nights at the Crypt under St Giles Church Camberwell.
The Friday nights at the Crypt of St Giles have been going for fifteen years. They have been promoted by JazzLive in asscociation with Jazz Umbrella. This is one of the cornerstone gigs of the London scene. Although the new managers are asserting that the Friday night jazz will continue, that all existing bookings will be honoured, the manner in which the running of the gig was wrested from the hands of the promoters in July does not bode well at all. I have a call out to the vicar, and I am hoping that he will be able to answer quite a few questions.
Here is the Jazzlive website which explains more. Anyone want to explore with us the foundation a London venues and promoters forum as a support network? We’re happy to host it here at Kings Place.
Categories: miscellaneous
To everyone who understandably may be concerned over the recent change of management and the security of jazz's future at St Giles' Crypt in Camberwell:
Jazz performance every Friday night is fundamental to ongoing operation of the venue. This will not change.
The new management, Some Kind of Blue Ltd, was set up specifically to sustain, nurture and develop the performance of jazz at Camberwell Crypt.
New, improved spec PA has already been installed and piano replaced.
Any concerns or inquiries about anything please contact mark@camberwellcrypt.com
And see the website for future gigs:
http//:www.camberwellcrypt.com
In July Jazz Umbrella, in association with JazzLive, were given immediate notice to stop promoting jazz at the Crypt, and a mere 7 days to remove all our equipment, after 15 years in situ. All existing gig bookings were ordered cancelled by the new management, then re-instated.
If Mr Dodds' pub-based company has been set up to “sustain nurture, and develop the performance of jazz” he must explain how evicting good natured and successful promoters at 7 days notice fits in to this. Naturally the result has been to horrify and anger many jazz fans, Camberwell punters and jazz musicians.
Jazz Umbrella has promoted over 2,500 gigs since 1991 including a major 10-year operation at Ealing Jazz Festival. Readers old enough to remember the important values associated with the setting up of our organisation by Simon Purcell, Pete Saberton, Martin Speake and others in 1991 will no doubt find the behaviour of this church and its agents extraordinary and will be very curious about the motivation of the people behind this decision.
Jazz Umbrella/Jazz Live has moved its Camberwell project to Le Petit Parisien, a great brasserie round the corner at 16 Grove Lane, SE5 8SY.
TONY KOFI is playing TONIGHT – Sunday – at 8pm.
see http://www.jazzlive.co.uk
Please sign our petition
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jazzlive/
Pete Watson, Secretary, Jazz Umbrella
jazzumbrella@hotmail.com
I attended The Crypt a couple of times and I have to say I found it a disappointing environment to listen to live jazz. This is mainly because loads of people go there not to listen but to chat loudly to their friends. It made it very hard to enjoy the music and there didn't seem to be any real attempts by the promoters to have any sort of quiet policy. I raised this with them through their Facebook page but I didn't feel these concerns were taken seriously. I can't understand why people go to a jazz club and then don't listen to the jazz – maybe they would be better served by a noisy wine bar or something. I decided not to go back to The Crypt after an awful evening trying to hear Zoe Rahman. I wasn't the only punter fed up with the noisy chatter. If the new promoters address this I might be tempted back.
Thank you for your comments Bill. We do listen.
Many thanks to Pete Watson for inviting me to more fully explain what has been happening at Camberwell Crypt. I’ve been drafting a fuller response which I’ll post here soon. For now I will point out that before setting up The Sun and Doves pub fifteen years ago, I was general manager and licensee of a West End night club where I established a jazz night and booked all the performers. I was pleased to be able to showcase Jimmy Witherspoon and Slim Gaillard among many other, more locally based musicians. At Pacific Bar in Camberwell I ran a weekly jazz gig for three years in the late nineties . More recently at The Sun and Doves our ‘Headhunters on Coldharbour Lane’ jazz events saw perfomers such as Graeme Blevins, Charly Richardson and The Blessing play while we had guest appearances by Jamie Cullum (twice) and Rain Pryor. Not bad going for just a ‘pub based’ company I hope you agree.
Since setting up the pub based company I chaired Camberwell Arts Festival for a number of years and set up http://www.se5forum.org SE5 Forum for Camberwell with a grant from UnLtd.
Here's an example of Some Kind of Blue's treatment of Jazz:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camberwellcrypt/sets/72157625061357706/
We aim to make a set of images of each gig available for the venue archive which hopefully are also suitable for use by musicians; royalty free.
The sets contain an intro to members of the band, links to their myspace and other sites so they can be contacted directly.
This evening's gig, Friday 1 October, is Martin Speake Group.
see http://www.camberwellcrypt.com for detailed information.
COMMENTS FOR THIS POST ARE NOW SUSPENDED.
THE FRIDAY NIGHT GIGS CONTINUE AT CAMBERWELL CRYPT.
SOME KIND OF BLUE LIMITED AND JAZZ UMBRELLA WILL BE LOOKING TO RESOLVE THEIR DIFFERENCES IN PRIVATE.