The Crypt

You don’t find many jazz clubs hanging out in church basements, so it’s pretty safe to call the Crypt a one off. A snug fit, among what are essentially the foundations of an institution, it’s a dusty cellar bar complete with its own cobwebs in the corners.

It’s a response to the more schmoozy Soho clubs, and the style of music is a mixture of the avant-garde and the unheard up and comings. Tamco recently played their whisky-fuelled album here and to throw some names down these are the multi-instrumentalists who have backed up the likes of Nick Cave, Damon Albarn and Portishead.

Camberwell may be a little too way out there but the journey is balanced by a £5 cover charge that’s a small price for a genuine treat that can turn you onto the kind of breakneck jazz that’s as far from your saccharine lounge bar as you’re going to get.

It’ a cosy fit and the simplicity of a bunch of tables squashed all the way up to a raised stage is what it’s about. The crowd are a more mature group than some might be used to but the hysteria knocked out from the stage ensures a buzz, and on most tables there are double the amounts of wine bottles as the people sat at them.
There’s probably an excellent church, slash, religion pun to be lent to this final sentence, but then seeing as The Crypt is no gimmick I’ll just save that for another time, so forgive me (oops)…