Samara

Press the buzzer. Walk down the cellar-like stairs. Check your name in the combination sounddesk-cum-reception. Get led into the main room where you find candle-lit tables, minimal lighting and low ceilings. A chalkboard on the wall tells you that this club has been going since 1976, and looking around, you sense that not much has changed bar the tech.

This is 606 Club in Chelsea. The staff here are exceptional; always on hand, discreet and speedy. You can order food from a menu serving classic British-European dishes right up until the beginning of the show (although the vegan menu could do with some work - quorn sausages!). There’s a request to keep conversations low, and then we’re off.

I’m here to see house band Samara, who will take us on a journey through Brazil. Jazz, sure —  but bossa nova, samba and much more too. “Gov’nor” Steve Rubie fronts the band and serves as narrator between songs, and I learn so much. Before a simmering rendition of ‘Berimbau,’ he walks us through the origins of capoeira: the martial art form born as a resistance to slave masters, self-defence disguised as dance. Before ‘Asa Branca,’ a lesson in the politics of Brazil’s north: the “white wing” representing the non-migrating bird of the lands, a call against economically migrating to the major cities of the south. ‘A Felicidade’ translates to happiness, we learn. The title goes against the slight melancholy of the song’s lyrics, which reminds us that everything must come to an end.

Accompanying Samara tonight is the excellent singer Francesca Confortini. She sings the songs of pianist Neil Angilley for the first time, you learn. You wouldn’t know it — they sound like they’ve played together for years. 

There is live music on 7 days a week, covering everything from young rising Jazz stars such as Alex Clarke to multi-award-winning innovators like Ed Jones. If you want to be transported somewhere hazy and lowkey, there’s no better place to do it than 606 Club. A simple, but timeless venue… And maybe you’ll learn something too.