JAZZLIVE at the Crypt was established in 1995 as St. Giles Jazz Club and quickly gained a deserved reputation as one of the UK’s premier jazz venues. JAZZLIVE teamed up with musicians collective ‘Jazz Umbrella’ in 2000 and the two organisations were merged shortly afterwards to establish a charity and a trading arm dedicated to promoting jazz and jazz education. Its weekly Friday night concerts have featured the top musicians from London, the UK and Europe, and beyond.

With its ancient and varied history, the Crypt is the perfect setting for a live jazz venue. Its gothic architecture adds to the mystery of the space deep below the renowned George Gilbert Scott’s “St. Giles’ Church” on Camberwell Church Street. The Crypt is actually part of the original Anglo-Saxon Church which stood on this site from at least the 11th Century until it was destroyed by fire in 1841.

Concerts take place every Friday evening and on some Thursday and Saturday evenings. See our gig guide for details of upcoming concerts and events. The club has a late licence (2am) on Thursday – Saturday and is available for hire for private events and parties.

We are recognised as one of the leading jazz promoters in London and the UK and are highly respected in the jazz and arts scene with a reputation in particular for successful and diverse programming and for bringing new audiences to live jazz. We have been nominated on many occasions for a variety of jazz awards and honours and were recently awarded an honorary “Freedom of the Old Borough of Camberwell” for our work in the local community.

We always like to hear from musicians and bands wanting to play at The Crypt. If you are thinking of requesting a gig with us please bear in mind that we get hundreds of requests every year and therefore can’t always respond to your requests quickly.

We have a bookings policy which ensures we treat our musicians fairly. We book bands based on musical talent and musical merit only. Your request will be considered by our programming team which meets monthly.

When you contact us please include a link to examples of your work online. If you need to send us physical media, CD’s etc, then please let us know.

We like to hear from new and up and coming musicians/bands as well as established ones. If your music is jazz or jazz influenced we’d like to hear from you.