Upstairs at Ronnie’s reopens with a new layout on February 6

T­O Ronnie Scott’s for Saturday brunch. Not words I usually write – I rarely venture into jazz clubs in the daytime. But, beginning last year, the club has been putting on a series called Songs and Stories, where a well-known jazz artist is interviewed by singer Ian Shaw, while the kitchen turns out full English breakfasts and stacks of pancakes.

Last week it was Ian with Hastings’ finest, Liane Carroll, who not only gave a funny and achingly honest account of her career and struggles, but powerful renditions of tunes by Laura Nyro, Nina Simone and Joe Stilgoe. I never hesitate to recommend Liane to anyone who likes music, even non-jazz fans, as she knows how to get an audience onside even when, as last week, the crowd seem incapable of clapping on the off beat.

It was a very entertaining way to spend Saturday lunchtime and the music, chat and food were very satisfying, although there was a bit of a wait for coffee –the club isn’t usually subjected to a rush on lattes. Maybe they need another Gaggia, I thought… and then realised they’re about to get one. Upstairs.

There was, you see, another motive for visiting the club. On February 6 it will re-launch Upstairs at Ronnie’s after many months of darkness, and I wanted a quick peek. I have had some good times on that floor, especially in the days when you could flit up the staircase from the main club and back down again, but it has always been something of an awkward performance space, being a T-shaped room. They have reconfigured it so that the stage is in one arm of the “T” with amphitheatre seating opposite. It will have a capacity of 140 and the design echoes that of the main club.

Natalie Williams

The most exciting thing though is the calibre of the programme. Upstairs at Ronnie’s sometimes felt like a second string programme, here we have a broad, dynamic mix featuring many top-rank artists who would be equally at home on the main stage downstairs, and indeed have been.

Bill Laurance, Joe Webb and Ashley Henry are among the pianists booked in. Natalie Williams, Emma Smith, Tawiah and Georgia Cécile will occupy the vocal stool at various points and there is a classical series (a first for Ronnie’s) led by the mighty James Pearson and Lizzie Bell and the debut of the Ronnie Scott’s Gospel Choir. And showing that the club is still acknowledging the all-important grassroots of London jazz, a series of the Late Late Shows will be curated by Tomorrow’s Warriors. For details on the programme and showtimes (doors open earlier than downstairs as there will be more emphasis on dining before the show, which I approve of – I hate eating while the band is on) see the usual website: https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk, which will also contain details of the next Saturday Brunch show.

Talking of Ian Shaw, he has his annual “& Friends” festival at the Pizza Express, from January 25 to February 2, an astonishing 14 shows over 10 days. The breadth of guests is pretty amazing. Vocalists include Claire Martin (Jan 25), Natalie Williams (Jan 27), Vanessa Haynes (Jan 30), Carol Grimes (Jan 31) and Elaine Delmar (Feb 1), with singer/songwriter Georgia Mancio, who has produced world-class, award-winning work in the past couple of years with Alan Broadbent, stepping in to give Ian a break with her own show and band on Jan 29. Ronnie’s house pianist James Pearson with be moonlighting with her.

Ashley Henry

Other instrumentalists include heavy-hitting saxmen Iain Ballamy, who plays with Ian alongside the latter’s sometime co-writer and co-conspirator Jamie Safir on Jan 26. As an aside, Iain Ballamy has a quite splendid new album out, Riversphere Vol 1, featuring that versatile and involving guitarist Rob Luft and always-rewarding trumpeter Laura Jurd. Give it a listen.

Meanwhile, there’s also two of Ian’s other long-term sparring partners in prospect – altoist Toni Kofi (Feb 1) and trumpeter Guy Barker (Jan 28) plus Ian’s Italian Quartet (Jan 31), featuring some of the best players operating in Italy, including members of Mario Biondi’s band (who is playing the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in June – more on that another time). And all that really is only scratching the surface. See https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/article/ian-shaw-friends for further details and tickets.

The venerable and gloriously unreconstructed 100 Club in Oxford Street is running its January Jazz festival again. The line-up left to play includes our favourite “Geordie Jazz” outfit, Knats, on Jan 21, the glorious “progressive jazz” of the Tanhai Collective (Jan 22), the funk/jazz/soul mash-up of Don Glori (Jan 23) and the insanely talented pianist Joe Webb (Jan 24). Details: https://the100club.co.uk/100club-events/

Jazz Re:freshed, an outfit that is both promoter and record label, is another organisation that, like Tomorrow’s Warriors, did much to fire up the current jazz boom. For the past three years its weekly residency has been at Ninety One Living Room in Brick Lane but that has now come to an end, and it is looking for a new home.

However, on Jan 24 it comes north and takes over the Jazz Café in Camden. It is to highlight a new crop of young players with its “Sounds of 2026” show with three acts – Klara Devlin, Cassius Cobbson and Lox. I can certainly vouch for high-energy drummer Lox, whom I have seen live several times, and anyway, that trio for £12.50 is a real New Year bargain. Tickets: https://thejazzcafe.com/event/jazz-refreshed-sounds-of-2026/?

I am also excited by the immersive punk-jazz ethos of Poland’s Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet who play on Feb 11, who are also capable of off-kilter beauty – see 2024’s Beautiful People album. Tickets: https://thejazzcafe.com/event/wojtek-mazolewski-quintet-5/?