Bruno Heinen’s The W ft. Maria Chiara Argirò – Mikrokosmos Album Launch
Tonight they will be launching the new album inspired by Hungarian composer and pianist Béla Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, which Bruno studied as a child. Bartok composed these books of short pieces as an educational tool to teach his own son at the piano.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Vortex Collective presents: Future Standards & Downstairs Jam
“Standards are engaging and accessible for musicians and listeners alike, but nearly all of jazz’s standard repertoire is from a 50 year period ca. 1920 – 1970.
Time: 2.30 - 7.30PM
FREE ENTRY
Byron Wallen’s Hurricane Bells
Back in 2019 Filthy Lucre commissioned Byron Wallen to write music for 8 musicians responding to Peter Shenai’s “Hurricane Bells”. Peter is a contemporary artist who has cast 5 bells, whose shapes are modeled on the structure of Hurricane Katrina – the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005. These cyclonic, irregularly shaped bells produce a tonally complex web of sounds reminiscent of Chinese bells and gongs.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £19 / Vortex Members £17 / Students & UC beneficiaries £15
Dalston Song Club: Harry Orme
Our monthly series brings together some of the most prominent voices in contemporary songwriting, hosted by Matthew Herd. This month brings the beautiful, personal songs of Yorkshire-based Harry Orme.
Time: 6.45 - 8.30PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Vortex Jam Session with Sean Gibbs
A weekly session on Sunday evenings, hosted London’s finest – members and musicians go free!
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £6 / Free entry for Vortex members & participating musicians
Midweek Downstairs Jam
Welcoming and relaxed, come for a drink, sit back and enjoy the music, or bring your horns, sticks and strings to join in during the second set.
Time: 7 - 10.30PM
Free Entry
Eleventh Hour Jazz Orchestra
Eleventh Hour Jazz Orchestra is a new project co-led by bassist Chris Diamand and pianist Lorenzo Bellini. The big band features some of the most promising young stars of the UK and European jazz scenes, with a modern sounds that is rooted in tradition.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £18 / Vortex Members £16 / Students & UC beneficiaries £14
Li-chin Li / John Butcher / Julian Woods
The second meeting of this truly unique improvising trio, consisting of Paris-based Chinese traditional music performer and rising contemporary music star Lichin Li on Sheng.
Time: 6.45 - 8.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Nikki Yeoh Trio
Award-winning pianist and composer Nikki Yeoh presents a new trio with bassist Ewan Hastie and drummer Miranda Radford. Having first crossed paths with Hastie at the BBC Young Jazz Musician competition.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £12.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Argia (Tara Cunningham / Caius Williams / Theo Guttenplan)
Doors 6:45 PM, Music 7:15 PM – 1 set of music Line-up: Tara Cunningham – Guitar Caius Williams – Double bass Theo Guttenplan – Drum kit About: Argia…
Time: 6.45 - 8.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Olie Brice Quartet
The Olie Brice Quartet – featuring Rachel Musson, Alexander Hawkins and Will Glaser – play music from their debut album ‘All It Was’. Brice’s most personal album to date – with most of the music written shortly after the death of his father – ‘All It Was’ combines powerful freedom and exploration with memorable melodies.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £16 / Vortex Members £8 / Students & UC beneficiaries £7
Queer Jazz (Faye Thompson / Yumé NET / Jonathan Enser / Arowah)
Queer Jazz, founded by Tina Edwards and Arowah, exists to platform, nurture and celebrate the emerging queer jazz scene. For this night they have assembled a very special quartet of exceptional and experimental musicians from the emerging queer jazz scene.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Elina Duni & Rob Luft: Reaching for the moon
Together, they weave a tapestry of songs that evoke the mystery and joy of the night, the moon, and the magic that lives within us all. This musical journey is a gentle caress, a soothing lullaby that offers hope in the darkness.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £20 / Vortex Members £18 / Students & UC beneficiaries £16
Mopomoso: International Free Improvised Music – May 2026
Doors 2:00 PM About We are thrilled to present London to Brighton – a collaboration between London Mopomoso and Brighton Safehouse – via Spain and Sweden! Mike Cooper (guitar) Spain…
Time: 2 - 6PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £8 / Students & UC beneficiaries £8
Vortex Jam Session
A weekly session on Sunday evenings, hosted London’s finest – members and musicians go free!
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £6 / Free entry for Vortex members & participating musicians
Loz Speyer’s INNER SPACE with James Allsopp
Inner Space plays Jazz of a rare warmth and immediacy, in the form of compositions for improvisers with roots in both jazz and free playing.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
Zak Scerri – In Case I Don’t See You (Album Launch)
Zak Scerri is a guitarist and composer from Australia who now lives in London. His love for guitar began at age 12, and he has built his music upon the rich jazz tradition while also taking inspiration from more modern and contemporary sounds.
Time: 6.45 - 8.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
TOMORROW’S WARRIORS presents FRONTLINE and YOUTH ENSEMBLE
As they celebrate their 35-year anniversary, renowned jazz development organisation, Tomorrow’s Warriors, shines a spotlight on some of the finest young emerging jazz talent in London as two of their ensembles come to Vortex for this special double-header.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
Golding, Edwards, Noble Trio
Binker Golding, John Edwards & Steve Noble play an improvised set based on the music of their album “Moon Day”.
Time: 6.30 - 7.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
M Field
Over two albums, the Cape Town-based trio alchemised a distinctive global sound, fusing modern pop production with complex rhythms, lilting indie rock and folk.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
The Flame (Robert Mitchell, Olie Brice, Johnny Hunter)
Robert Mitchell is an award-winning pianist/keys player, composer, curator, poet, and author. He released 16 albums of his own projects, four poetry books and played in 100+ projects as a sideman and performed in 40+ countries.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £18 / Vortex Members £16 / Students & UC beneficiaries £14
Julian Siegel Quartet
With the Julian Siegel Quartet, the BBC Jazz Award winning saxophonist and composer Julian Siegel can be heard alongside some of this generation’s most distinctive voices, creating an in-demand Quartet on the UK and European Jazz scene.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £20 / Vortex Members £18 / Students & UC beneficiaries £16
Vortex Jam Session
A weekly session on Sunday evenings, hosted London’s finest – members and musicians go free!
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £6 / Free entry for Vortex members & participating musicians
Midweek Downstairs Jam
Welcoming and relaxed, come for a drink, sit back and enjoy the music, or bring your horns, sticks and strings to join in during the second set.
Time: 7 - 10.30PM
Free Entry
Poppy Helmer Quartet
Poppy Helmer is a flautist and saxophonist from Brighton, now based in London where she studies jazz at Trinity Laban. Her influences include Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk.
Time: 6.45 - 8.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Noga Ritter Quartet
After spending the past months in Brazil recording her upcoming album and collaborating with renowned artists including Brazilian legend Chico César, London-based singer-songwriter and bandleader Noga Ritter returns to one of her favourite venues with her beloved quartet.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
EXTRA – Peter Evans/Petter Eldh/Jim Black (2 Shows)
In EXTRA, three of contemporary music’s most fearless improvisers collide in a sonic high-speed chase that redefines what a jazz trio can be. Far from revisiting standards or offering tidy interplay, the group constructs an explosive, multilayered language where glitchy electronics, hardcore grooves, and unruly textures crash into one another—often within a single phrase.
Time: 7 - 11PM
Standard £22 / Vortex Members £20 / Students & UC beneficiaries £20
Peter Evans & Evan Parker
Evan Parker and Peter Evans have a relationship going back over 20 years to the early 2000s, when the (then) young trumpeter sought out a major influence and inspiration.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £22 / Vortex Members £20 / Students & UC beneficiaries £20
The Pocket Ellington
Born out of pianist/arranger Alex Webb’s love of Ellington, The Pocket Ellington manages what ought to be impossible – creating a classic Ellingtonian sound with just four horns and a rhythm section. But with a top-drawer horn section, and with veteran bassist Dave Green and powerhouse drummer Winston Clifford providing the swing, the group does justice to classic Ellingtonia – and a lot more.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Vortex Jam Session
A weekly session on Sunday evenings, hosted London’s finest – members and musicians go free!
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £6 / Free entry for Vortex members & participating musicians
Bruno Heinen Trio ft. Nasheet Waits & Rio Kai
Renowned pianist Bruno Heinen joins forces with legendary New York drummer Nasheet Waits (Jason Moran, Andrew Hill, Fred Hersch) and the formidable, groove-heavy double bassist Rio Kai.
Time: 6.30 - 8PM
Standard £19 / Vortex Members £17 / Students & UC beneficiaries £15
Kassa GJ Quartet
Doors 6:45 PM, Music 7:15 PM – 1 set of music Line-up: Kassa Green-Jakcsi – Alto saxophone Diarra Walcott-Ivanhoe – Piano Rio Kai – Double bass Luke McCarthy –…
Time: 6.45 - 8.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Andrea Di Biase’s Oltremare
The Band plays on the differences of Andrea Di Biase’s two musical worlds, divided by the sea: one is rooted in his native Italy with the melodic and poetic approach of Italian masters such as Nino Rota and the band’s first pianist Antonio Zambrini.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
Kit Downes/Alex Ward/John Edwards
Pianist and improviser Kit Downes is playing again downstairs at the Vortex, as part of a series of improvised nights.
Time: 6.45 - 8.15PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Tara Minton Quintet
Diving deep into Aztec mythology and Latin American dance traditions, Tara Minton and her band lead the listener through a dark and joyous exploration of what it means to be human.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £16 / Vortex Members £8 / Students & UC beneficiaries £7
Downstairs Living Room: Immy Churchill presents Songs That Shaped Me
Immy Churchill presents an evening of acoustic singer songwriters; debuting songs from her upcoming EP alongside the music of artists that shaped her own writing.
Time: 6.45 - 8.30PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £6.25 / Students & UC beneficiaries £5
Rebecka Edlund with Hans Koller Quintet
Pianist/composer Hans Koller returns to the club with his long-time musical collaborateur, saxophonist John O’Gallagher in a new band featuring the amazing vocalist Rebecka Edlund, the brilliant rhythm section of Tom Sheen (bass) and Sacha Harlan (drums), plus the exciting new trombone player on the scene, Louis Koller – featuring new and old compositions around the poetry of Fernando Pessoa, Joseph Brodsky, and Friedrich Hölderlin.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
London Jazz Orchestra Vortex Sessions – “celebrating Stan Sulzmann”
The London Jazz Orchestra, drawn from the capital’s top soloists and writers, is celebrating its 35th year.
Time: 3.30 - 6PM
Standard £12.50 / Vortex Members £10 / Students & UC beneficiaries £8
Midweek Downstairs Jam
Welcoming and relaxed, come for a drink, sit back and enjoy the music, or bring your horns, sticks and strings to join in during the second set.
Time: 7 - 10.30PM
Free Entry
Matt Anderson Quartet
Celebrating ten years together as a band, the Matt Anderson Quartet performs selections from their three albums as well as new material. Their latest release Live at Leeds Jazz Festival was awarded four stars by Jazzwise
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
Paul G. Smyth at 50
To mark his 50th birthday, one of Ireland’s most distinctive improvising pianists, Paul G. Smyth, returns to the Vortex for an evening of sets with old friends and close collaborators.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
Leo Richardson Quartet
London-based saxophonist Leo Richardson presents his high-octane quartet performing entirely original music, firmly grounded in contemporary hard bop. The music is very much inspired by the hard bop and post-bop era of jazz.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Zoe Francis/Jim Mullen/Ross Stanley
Tonights trio have recorded and toured 2 albums together, “Blue Town” & more recently “Somewhere in The Night”. The combination of Zoe’s warm, beautiful voice, Jim’s blues drenched melodic lines, and Ross’s rich layers of harmonic sound, add a fresh take on a great choice of classic songs!
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Raffy Bushman – New Life Album Launch
Acclaimed UK pianist Raffy Bushman has been a key voice in the UK jazz underground for several years. From his early piano trio projects – rooted in exploring the symbiotic relationship between jazz and hip-hop.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Sun-Mi Hong’s NOCTILUME feat. Mette Rasmussen
NOCTILUME is a band where composition and improvisation meet somewhere in between, shaped by layered electric sound and a shared sense of exploration. The music draws from wide, cinematic post-rock atmospheres and psychedelic rhythms.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £18 / Vortex Members £14 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12
Nick Ramm Ensemble
Nick Ramm Ensemble is proud to present fresh compositions drawing from Ramm’s roots in souful piano and contemporary jazz ft. Pete Wareham, Byron Wallen, Tom Herbert & Corrie Dick.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
David Austin Grey – A Hologram Maze
A welcome return to the Vortex from this highly acclaimed Birmingham-based ensemble Led by pianist/composer David Austin Grey.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £17.50 / Vortex Members £15 / Students & UC beneficiaries £12.5
Midweek Downstairs Jam
Welcoming and relaxed, come for a drink, sit back and enjoy the music, or bring your horns, sticks and strings to join in during the second set.
Time: 7 - 10.30PM
Free Entry
Evelyn Axton with strings
Following the release of her debut EP ‘The Birds’ in May, Evelyn will be performing her songs with a full band, accompanied by a string quartet, for the very first time.
Time: 7.45 - 10.30PM
Standard £15 / Vortex Members £7.5 / Students & UC beneficiaries £6.25
Fergus McCreadie – Solo
Mercury Prize-shortlisted pianist Fergus McCreadie returns to the Vortex for a very special solo show, exploring improvisation across jazz and classical styles through the music of Brahms. Fergus will perform Brahms’ Op. 10 Ballades, and take them as the musical DNA of his own improvisations around them.
Time: 7.15 - 9.15PM
Standard £22 / Vortex Members £20 / Students & UC beneficiaries £20