WHO ARE WE?

Cambridge University Jazz Society (JazzSoc) is the central hub for jazz music within the University of Cambridge. 

JazzSoc exists to create a thriving, diverse, and loving jazz community in Cambridge which aims to provide a space for all lovers of jazz music: highly talented performers, listeners, beginners to jazz, those who want a good night out with great music, musicians wishing to expand their tastes and learn new music, and those looking for a place to express themselves through jazz performance.

JazzSoc exists to provide high-profile performance opportunities for students, enable a space for students to ‘jam’ together and form connections (both on and off-stage), provide an alternative live music night out to clubbing, and to enrich the jazz community in Cambridge. 

Central to the mission of JazzSoc is working to make our events an inclusive and welcoming space for all students in Cambridge, regardless of background, gender and sexuality, ethnicity, socio-economic background, religion, age, or any other protected characteristic. 

For example, we are highly aware of the historic and contemporary underrepresentation of people of marginalised genders in jazz performance. We are committed to doing what we can to make jazz in Cambridge as inclusive as possible, and open to people of all genders and backgrounds. Please see our Equality, Diversity & Inclusions section below for our EDI policy.

Alongside our commitment to inclusion is our commitment to excellence. JazzSoc aims to host some of the best jazz in Cambridge. Each term we bring in at least one professional band from the UK jazz scene, with recent highlights including Emma Rawicz and her quintet, and Wandering Wires. As JazzSoc grows we hope to bring in a greater variety of professional artists at increasing frequency. Alongside professional bands our events showcase some of the best jazz in Cambridge and from the student jazz scene in the south of England.

As part of our commitment to excellence and inclusion, alongside our ‘gig night’ events, we host masterclasses and workshops for jazz musicians of all calibres, as well as social events for our members. We hope to see you at our events this year. 

Most of our events take place at Hidden Rooms on Jesus Lane. We are extremely grateful for the partnership and support from Marcus, Julie and the whole team at Hidden Rooms who enable JazzSoc to flourish in its current form. Hidden Rooms is open for a drink on other evenings of the week, and we highly recommend their fantastic cocktails. 

    • JazzSoc is a fiercely inclusive society which encourages nurturing relationships, and a supportive atmosphere for jazz performance

    • JazzSoc is committed to being equitable, anti-racist, anti-sexist, feminist, LGBT+ inclusive, and compassionate

    • JazzSoc strives for excellence in all that we do

    • JazzSoc values all ranges of involvement with jazz within the university

  • Please see our EDI policy here.

  • JazzSoc was founded in November 2021 in order to centralise and revitalise the Cambridge jazz scene after 18 months of COVID-19’s disruption to live music. Our opening night sold out and was a huge success. Since then, JazzSoc has grown from strength to strength, hosting a further 7 sold-out events until June 2022, showcasing some outstanding live jazz. The open-jam, the JazzSoc favourite, has been central to our events since the beginning. Many students across the university have come up to perform at our jams. We are particularly proud that our jams have been a space for both seasoned performers and those who have never performed jazz in front of an audience before, and we will continue to strive to maintain this diversity in our open-jams.

    For the academic year 2022-2023, JazzSoc hopes to continue to expand and bloom, learning from our past events, and we hope to host a greater variety of events to support and enhance the Cambridge jazz community.