Seven Dials Jazz Club

The Seven Dials Jazz Club opened its doors in 1980 as a venue for live music in Covent Garden, London. It hosted a range of artists and styles of jazz and began to attract a regular audience. Starting in 1983, a series of saxophone festivals was held on the premises each year.

It started in the Seven Dials Community Centre on Shelton Street and later moved nearby to 46 Earlham Street, opposite the Donmar Warehouse. In 1986 it moved to the Black Horse, 6 Rathbone Place, W1T, Fitzrovia.

During the mid-1970s the Seven Dials Community Centre, in Shelton Street, London WC2, was briefly used by the Jazz Centre Society (founded 1969) as a venue for music. After some building alterations, the Seven Dials Jazz Club reopened on a regular basis in July 1980, but soon met with financial difficulties. In 1982, saxophonists Evan Parker and Dave Chambers, on behalf of local musicians, approached Matthew Wright of Collets Jazz & Folk Shop (soon to transform itself into Ray’s Jazz Shop), Shaftesbury Avenue, to take over and run the club.

It was at this time, during a visit by Matthew Wright to Ronnie Scott’s club, that Scott mentioned to him that he had heard he had taken over the Dials. Wright replied in the affirmative and extended an invitation that any time the club owner and saxophonist wanted to drop by, his name would be on the door as his guest. "And I suppose you’d like me to reciprocate?" was Scott's characteristically deadpan riposte, the difference between the two venues in terms of profile not escaping the attention of both men.

However, the Dials soon started to pick up and attracted a regular audience with a wide range of artists and styles of jazz. Jazz-rock was represented by the Dick Morrissey-Jim Mullen group, Ian Carr’s Nucleus and the Latin band Cayenne. African and Township Jazz were featured and Julian Bahula's Jazz Africa, Dudu Pukwana and Zila, Brian Abrahams' District Six and the explosive bands of Louis Moholo were all regular attractions. South Africa trumpeter Hugh Masekela dropped by on one occasion he was in town and sat in to play.

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