Publications
Partners
Cape Town - 3 months and 80 sold-out shows later, The Crypt Live Jazz Club continues to shine as Cape Town's premier live jazz venue.
Cape Town can expect exciting things from the club less than two months from the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF), with many of the artists playing at the Crypt making appearances at the world-famous festival.
The Crypt first opened almost seven years ago on 19 April 2013 to build a stage for local jazz musicians and a home for jazz enthusiasts. This was the vision of the founders, Derk Blaisse, and Dean of St George's Cathedral, Michael Weeder.
Raised in Amsterdam, Derk moved to Franschoek in 1995, started the National Cheese Festival five years later, opened Franschhoek's La Fromagerie Restaurant at La Grange and is a self-taught pianist and jazz lover - all of which sparked his idea of a live jazz venue in Cape Town.
As a fellow jazz enthusiast, Michael shared Derk's dream, had a vision for the Cathedral as 'the people's church' and saw the Crypt as an opportunity to bring diverse communities together through the universal language of jazz.
In the heart of the city centre, the Crypt includes a restaurant, cocktail bar and soon to be wine tasting section, offering a classic 'jazz and dinner' experience.
Jazz lovers can expect live jazz six nights a week from Monday through Saturday with the doors opening at 19:00, shows starting at 20:00 and ending at 23:00.
The 'Live Performances' section on the website includes the monthly line up where tables can be reserved at R150 per person from Tuesday through Saturday and R70 per person for the Crypt jam session on Mondays.
'The Crypt Jazz Jam' features some of the most talented jazz musicians in town at a reduced cover charge. The rest of the cocktail bar and restaurant offers an excellent selection of regional cuisine with a focus on local produce together with a range of South African wines and a list of classic cocktails.
The venue's offering extends to tailor-made bespoke packages for private and business conferences, presentations, photoshoots, launch events and year-end functions, and the restaurant currently accommodates 100 people for a comfortably seated meal and up to 250 people for a different layout. The 'Jazz and Dine' experience can move from the club to the only floating boutique hotel in South Africa, a 115-foot motor yacht that is owned by the Crypt.
The rest of the performances for this week include Soisoi Gqeza Trio (Wednesday), Ensemble Tropicale (Thursday), Out of Town (Friday) and Afro Fiesta (Saturday).
From jazz, pop and nu-jazz to bebop, light jazz standards to afro-jazz and old jazz favourites, Brazilian and Caribbean to South African sounds, R&B and jazz hits and seventies to eighties, Reggae and Makkosa to Afro Jazz and Congolese Rumba, you'll hear it all in the coming days.
