The Jazz Café was opened in Stoke Newington in 1990 but the original format, that of a jazz-only venue modelled on Ronnie Scott's, proved to be unsustainable. It was bought by Mama & Company and reinvented as a musical shrine to pretty much all forms of music with a thread of African-American DNA, from jazz to soul, dance, funk, hip-hop, blues and reggae – but it also welcomes crossover acts, world music, metal and anything else which promises to rock the house. The Restaurant specialises, appropriately enough, in smoking things.
The local Tube station is Camden Town (Northern), just around the corner in Camden High Street. Camden Road Overground is slightly further off. Local bus routes include 24, 27, 31, 168, N5, N28, N31, 274 and C2.
