Jazz With John Taylor at 606 Club

Entering the 606 Club on Lots Road you have the distinct feeling that you have hacked into an elite jazz circle. From its off the beaten track locale near Chelsea Harbour to the buzzer you have to ring before the metal grill swings open and a man with a clipboard gives you a cool once over, this is a not a place you just stumble into.

The atmosphere only grows as you descend into a cosy low-ceilinged basement with maximum tables crammed between the burnt orange, yellow and brickwork walls. The walls themselves are something to behold. For one, photos of full-cheeked trumpeters and grinning saxophonists make for the jazz fan equivalent of a teenager’s bedroom. For two, some of these guys are literally drawn onto the wall. Hello classy graffiti.

The 606 Club has many events on its calendar but on the night in question, produced by Yamaha, we had the pleasure of John Taylor, ‘a subtle pianist with brilliant technical abilities’. This Jazz cat has won BBC awards and worked with the Ronnie Scott quintet in the ’70s. The first half of the bill featured him tickling the ivories of a grand piano, a club instrument that the compere referred to with true love in his voice.

It started slow with a plink here and a plonk there but soon erupted into full-throttled jauntiness and I was forced to admit that John Taylor is a vastly superior pianist. Aside from transporting us back to an age where speakeasies were all the rage and girls wore low-waisted dresses, John Taylor was charm personified. An unlikely hero, he introduced his numbers in gruff emotional whispers alluding with humility to jazz masters gone by. During one Kenny Wheeler tune he leapt to his feet and began strumming the strings inside the piano.

The second half of the night saw the introduction of Diana Torto, a teacher and performer, who began dueting with Mr Taylor. I don’t even know what she did at that mike but words were not involved. When you or I squeak and shriek and groan it is not melodic but she styled it. The mouth would open and out fell notes, excitable jazz notes. She was a divine lady scat who moved up and down with her song. She was a frenzied Robin with a curtain of chestnut hair.

As you might imagine classy entertainment in Chelsea does not come cheap. You could seriously injure your bank balance with the price of food and booze at the 606 Club. However the door price, £12, is serious value for money and with the variety of evenings on offer I recommend that jazz fans brave the member’s club insularity for oh what sounds you’ll hear.

606 Club
90 Lots Road
Chelsea SW10 0QD

Tel: 020 7352 5953

Photograph by Robert Cifarelli