All That Jazz: 8 London Venues Where You Can Party Like The Great Gatsby | By Russell Higham | Publisher Luxurylifestylemag 

Jazz is back…not that it ever really went away.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about the highs and lows of the jazz age was published 100 years ago, and now a musical version of it, direct from New York’s Broadway, has just opened at London’s Coliseum.

Running until September 7th, it’s a great show, featuring stage and screen star Jamie Muscato in the title role (more on him below) and is bound to be this summer’s hot ticket – to book, visit londongatsby.com.

Meanwhile, just an hour from London, the UK’s biggest outdoor jazz and jazz-adjacent music festival, Love Supreme (named after John Coltrane’s iconic 1965 album), takes place at Glynde in East Sussex from July 4th to 6th.

This year’s headliners include Nile Rogers and CHIC, En Vogue, Smokey Robinson and Branford Marsalis. More information can be found at lovesupremefestival.com.

If ‘all that jazz’ awakens your taste for what Leonard Bernstein once called ‘the original American art form’ then consider checking into these, some of London’s most swinging bars, clubs and restaurants.

As George Gershwin said: “Life is a lot like jazz…it’s best when you improvise”. But while spontaneity is one of the key attractions of jazz music, sometimes it’s better to plan ahead. These joints are jumpin’ – especially in the summer – so book now for the best cocktails, food and jazz to be had this side of the Atlantic.

Ronnie Scott’s

Founded in 1959 by two East End jazz musicians, Ronnie Scott’s needs very little introduction. The iconic club on Soho’s Frith Street has played host to some of the biggest names in show business, both up on stage and down in the low-lit tables that surround it. These hallowed walls are lined with pictures of the legends who have performed here over the last seven decades: Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Lady Gaga, Chaka Khan. Whilst Elton John, Kate Moss and the Rolling Stones – even royalty – have sat and watched them in reverential silence.

There are two shows nightly: one early and one late (check the schedule for acts). Take a seat at the bar to mix with the artists’ friends and industry types who sit and sip there. Great Gatsby star Jamie Muscato (who plays lead in the new musical) is a fan; he told LLM: “What I like about Ronnie’s is you can turn up at whatever time and see incredible musicians.” Or book a cosy table for a choice of classic dishes such as Ronnie’s fish pie or Hereford fillet steak. Whether you come to drink, dine or just adore the music and atmosphere, this really is the king of clubs.

ronniescotts.co.uk

Pizza Express Dean Street

Just a ‘slow strut’ up the road from Ronnie’s, and around the corner from Soho Square, is Pizza Express Dean Street. Walk through the familiarly styled, brightly lit restaurant above to descend into the dusky ambience of one of London’s most intimate, not to mention tastiest, jazz venues. The food, needless to say, hits all the right notes.

Hardly surprising: they’ve been nailing it for 60 years and, to celebrate, have reinstated some classic recipes from 1965 when founder Peter Boizot (who also founded the Soho Jazz Festival) brought proper pizza to the UK from Italy.

The chain is a champion of the musical genre and has even been releasing jazz albums on its own label ‘PX Records’ since 2023. You can just drink here whilst you watch the acts, which have included over the years, Van Morrison, Sting, Jamie Cullum and Charlie Watts. Cocktails are well made, potent and just £10 each which is crazily good value for Soho. But you’d be mad not to also enjoy my favourite pizza, their American Hot, whilst you listen to some of the coolest jazz in town.

pizzaexpress.com

606 Club

Reached via an inconspicuous hole in the wall by Chelsea Creek, this is truly a club with hidden depths. Regulars call it ‘The Six’, whilst Jamie Callum called it ‘the best live music in London’. Press the buzzer and wait to descend the darkly lit staircase but don’t be put off by the exposed brickwork and wooden floors. The decorations may be rustic but the welcome is warm and the jazz is on fire.

If he’s working that day, owner Steve Rubie, a musician himself and a doyen of the capital’s musical community, will regale you with tales from the club’s nearly 50-year history.

“Ronnie Scott himself used to love it here,” he told me. “He said it reminded him of home: dirty and full of strangers!” In reality, it’s neither; Ronnie probably just wanted to keep this special place a secret for himself, and I don’t blame him.

The staff are friendly, the food is excellent, and the low prices are a rare treat in Chelsea. I enjoyed a delicious Sunday roast whilst watching a quartet featuring legendary saxophonist Art Themen work his magic to an audience of appreciative jazz aficionados and delighted newcomers.

606club.co.uk

The Jazz Café

This North London institution, mere steps away from Camden High Street, regularly stages shows from some of the best jazz, soul, reggae, Afrobeat and other musical artists from around the world.

Adele, Amy Winehouse, Jamiroquai and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry have joined the likes of Ahmad Jamal, Ben E. King, Don Cherry, Mulatu Astatke and Pharoah Sanders on the stage of this 500 space auditorium.

There’s plenty of standing room to soak up the atmosphere beneath a giant mirrored disco ball, whilst upstairs is a full service restaurant serving dishes that reflect worldwide provenance of the acts below.

I tucked into miso marinated cod with masala rice whilst my companion enjoyed their jerk chicken with rice ‘n’ peas. Once again, as in all good jazz clubs, conversation was kept to a minimum as we enjoyed the show; in this case, a stellar quintet featuring jazz legend Jean Tousssaint playing a rendition of Herbie Hancock’s 1965 classic album Maiden Voyage.

thejazzcafe.com

Toulouse Lautrec

Down in Kennington, brothers Nolan and Florent Regent (who have worked in Michelin-starred eateries including La Gavroche and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay) have lovingly converted a former pub into a shining beacon of South London’s gastronomy and nightlife scene. Three floors of fine food and world class music await you at this restaurant, piano bar and jazz club which has been one of the capital’s best kept secrets since 2008.

The brothers have forged links with Birdland (Charlie Parker’s revered New York jazz club) and regularly bring over fresh and established talent from across the pond, as well as homegrown and European acts to perform here for one-offs or short residencies which are advertised on their schedule. As well as jazz, blues, funk and soul, there’s more than a decent spread of big band, swing and Latin to tempt all tastes.

The food, which is some of the best of all the venues listed here, is French in influence – try the steak tartare which is prepared tableside and is divine – but the place has a welcoming New York neighbourhood trattoria feel; something you seldom find done well in London. Best of all, there’s an easy-going vibe that makes it suitable for a romantic dinner for two, a family and friends’ night out or just an excuse to pop down to enjoy top-level cuisine whilst listening to some of the best live music in London.

toulouselautrec.co.uk

Old Ivy House

This lively and highly likeable pub in fashionable Clerkenwell is where you can see the new British jazz stars of tomorrow for free before they become the headline acts of major clubs like Ronnie Scott’s.

Owned by Shepherd Neame, the oldest brewery in Britain, this proper old-school boozer is run by licensee Kate Davidson and business partner Del Currie.

The latter was a member of rock band Fono who have supported Bon Jovi and toured with Robert Plant, so his music credentials are impeccable. So too is his taste in food which, appropriately enough given his surname, tends towards the spicy: there’s a real tandoori oven upstairs knocking out pukka Indian street food.

The jazz, each Friday night, comes courtesy of students at the nearby Guildhall School of Music (one of the top four performing arts schools in the world) who play collectively under the name of ‘Room 3’. Anyone is welcome, though, Jane tells me. “At the end of the second set, they invite people up to jam, so bring a horn!” she says, using the jazz-speak for trumpet. I’d recommend bringing your appetite, too – the beers are cold, the food is fiery – and be prepared to hustle for a view of the band; this is one of the buzziest, and friendliest, pubs in the city.

oldivyhouse.co.uk

Crazy Coq’s at Brasserie Zedel

It’s hardly a secret that Brasserie Zedel, the Parisian-styled grand café located just behind Piccadilly Circus, is one of London’s favourite eateries. Popular with locals and visitors alike, it serves excellent French classics such as choucroute, a fabulously tasty meat and sauerkraut dish from Alsace. As well as an all-day brasserie, Zedel’s also boasts a pavement café with outside terrace and a subterranean American cocktail bar.

What you might not know, however, is that downstairs, past the marble pillars and walls lined with glamorous jazz age posters and Art Deco furnishings, is one of the capital’s most entertaining, not to mention well hidden, jazz venues. Crazy Coqs is an intimate yet elegant 50-80 capacity space with a stage (complete with Markson grand piano) that puts on performances of jazz, soul, funk and pop as well as live cabaret, comedy, magic and theatre shows.

The venue has a reputation for debuting new and emerging talent, as well as showcasing established acts such as the excellent Remi Harris Hot Club Trio who, when I visited, were playing a blistering set of gypsy jazz classics and new arrangements as part of their national tour. There are two shows each night but if that’s not enough for you, there is also a band playing live music in the main restaurant every evening, too.

brasseriezedel.com

The Montague on the Gardens

The Montague’s opulently styled Leopard Bar hosts live jazz on Wednesday to Saturday evenings from 6.30pm till late

For the ultimate jazzed-up weekend of which even the Great Gatsby would be proud – as well as the perfect base for exploring all of the venues listed here – The Montague on the Gardens (a Red Carnation hotel) is the connoisseur’s choice. The Egyptian sphinx statues standing guard outside – accompanied by a brace of suavely behatted doormen – are a nod to the British Museum just around the corner, but it’s an ​even ​cooler cat that draws the capital’s jazz aficionados to this smart Bloomsbury address.

The Montague’s opulently styled Leopard Bar hosts live jazz on Wednesday to Saturday evenings from 6.30pm until late. Martin Winning, an accomplished saxophonist, who has played with everyone from Van Morrison to Ray Charles, leads a ​high class trio performing jazz standards and compositions from across the spectrum of soul, swing and pop music. Even the Leopard Bar’s manager, Everett Chambers, is a jazz and funk DJ (and the nephew of Lynval Golding, founding member of British two-tone band The Specials) so don’t be surprised to find him tapping his toes rhythmically as he mixes you one of his signature cocktails (mine’s a Montague Spritz).

You can also hear and see the jazz from the hotel’s Garden Terrace. Dishes such as their superlative duck cottage pie are served alfresco (or indoors, if outside is ​really too ‘cool for cats’) ​whilst overlooking the elegant greenery of the aristocratic Bedford Estate Gardens, a private square belonging to the Duke of Bedford. Meanwhile, the luxuriously appointed bedrooms and suites upstairs offer an exquisite retreat, complete with whimsical jazz age touches that you put right on the doorstep of the West End’s many attractions, and ‘all that jazz’​ which Britain’s capital has to offer.

montaguehotel.com