Melody Brooker, a firm favourite of Swaffham Jazz Club returning this November coveing lots of swing numbers and standards from the American Songbook and laid-back jazz, backed by her highly accomplished band.
A view from the rear of Swaffham Jazz Club
Swaffham Jazz Club is another of our favourite Norfolk Jazz Haunts. An intimate cosy spot where you can get nice and close to the band. It's another not-for-profit Jazz Club, run by volunteers; a place where you will always find a friendly welcome.
The Jazz Nights are held on the second Tuesday of every Month except during January and February. see the dates for 2025 below
The Jazz is held in the back room of Swaffham Conservative Club. Everyone is welcome, you do not need to be a member of the club to watch the jazz
The club bar has a wide range of beers, wines and spirits and also hot and cold non-alcoholic drinks.
Entrance is via the side-door, to the right of the club, £10 cash please, payable on the door.
There is now plenty of FREE parking at the rear of the club accessed through the long alley off Beech Close, scroll down for the map. Make sure you leave your car registration number at the bar or you will receive a parking fine!
Should the rear parking be full or unavailable there is copious free parking in the market square just a few minutes walk away.
The History of Swaffham Jazz Club
Geoff created this account of Swaffham Jazz Club's history for the Swaffham Newsletter and has allowed us to reproduce it here. Thank you Geoff (and Bar. for acting as sub-editor).
Norman and I started up the Jazz Club, in Swaffham, 10 years ago.
We met on Swaffham Arts Committee, where we discovered a shared love of Jazz. Having persuaded the rest of the committee to include a jazz event in the Swaffham Arts programme, we found it such a success that we thought we'd give a regular Jazz Club a go, and see how it worked out.
Norman found what seemed a suitable venue, but after a few sessions we realised it had its drawbacks. In a pub function room, above the kitchen, it was reached by steep, narrow, stone stairs, with a groove in the side wall as a ‘hard-to-grip’ hand rail. It was very difficult both for our audience and for musicians, with their drum kits, keyboards and sometimes double basses. It also seemed a bit of a fire risk. Neither was there parking close by.
Norman soon fixed up our present venue, which solved all the problems. Brilliant!
We decided on monthly sessions, as there are only so many jazz fans in any area. We reckoned midweek would be better than a weekend and found that Tuesdays, especially the second in the month, didn’t clash with similar events
.
We thought it would be more interesting to have a variety of different bands rather than a resident group (which is how Ronnie Scott’s London Club works).
Then we had to decide how much to charge. We thought a very affordable price of £5 would help to bring in enough people to cover our costs. At £10 now, it is still considered low compared to other live music. When we approached the Swaffham Iceni Partnership they were very enthusiastic and offered to help us with advertising — printing posters and allocating us a column for a monthly write-up in this Newsletter — which they still very kindly do.
The Club has become very popular with the musicians, often travelling from quite far afield. Many of them approach us, and having performed here, immediately ask to come back. They find our audiences very attentive and appreciative. The success of the Club over the past ten years, I think, demonstrates that we mostly got it right?
A few videos from previous events at Swaffham Jazz Club
"Norweigian Wood - recorded at Swaffham Jazz Club, March 2025"
The Beatles "Norwegian Wood" Played by The (Dave) Jackson Five Recorded at Swaffham Jazz Club for The Upwell Jazz Club website
Dave Jackson (drums), Joel Humman (bass), Dave Franklin (reeds), Derek Scurll
"Wes Way - recorded at Swaffham Jazz Club, 8th July 2025"
The Chris Watson Band play a homage to Wes Montgomery
Chris Watson – guitar, Andy Clifton – drums, Peter Ravenhall
"Days Of Wine and Roses - recorded at Swaffham Jazz Club, April 2025"
Recorded at Swaffham Jazz Club by Richard Exall with the Graeme Culham Quartet
Graeme Culham drums, Phil Brooke guitar, Richard Exall sax & clarinet, Mark Adams bass.
