Nishla Smith at Vortex Jazz Club

Doors 7:45 PM, Music 8:30 PM - 2 sets of music
Line-up
Nishla Smith – VoiceAaron Wood – TrumpetTom Harris – PianoJosh Vadiveloo – Double bassKai Chareunsy – Drum kit
About
Storytelling lies at the very heart of Nishla Smith’s music making, and since the release of her critically lauded debut album, the evolving circumstances of her own life have provided the inspiration for the stories that lie at the heart of this new collection. it’s getting late you’d better go home was written during a period of emotional turmoil. From deeply personal concerns, the stories expand outwards to address universal themes of belonging and of absence, of closeness and separation, of yearning and ambition....

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Doors 7:45 PM, Music 8:30 PM - 2 sets of music
Line-up
Nishla Smith – VoiceAaron Wood – TrumpetTom Harris – PianoJosh Vadiveloo – Double bassKai Chareunsy – Drum kit
About
Storytelling lies at the very heart of Nishla Smith’s music making, and since the release of her critically lauded debut album, the evolving circumstances of her own life have provided the inspiration for the stories that lie at the heart of this new collection. it’s getting late you’d better go home was written during a period of emotional turmoil. From deeply personal concerns, the stories expand outwards to address universal themes of belonging and of absence, of closeness and separation, of yearning and ambition.
The music of it’s getting late is adventurous and eclectic, moving from gospel-inflected poignant warmth, to vaudevillian bluesy swagger to feather-light bossa beats and Bacharach-style harmony. While the recorded album features an expansive cast of the some of the UK’s most empathetic and adventurous musicians, for the live tour, Nishla has distilled the group to a quintet of her closest collaborators– longtime duo partner pianist Tom Harris, the superlative rhythm team of Josh Vadiveloo and Kai Chareunsy, and sensitive trumpeter Aaron Wood. At the centre of everything is Nishla’s remarkable voice, always poised and in control, but equally capable of revealing intimacy and powerful emotional charge.
Nishla is a Peter Whittingham Jazz Award Winner, International Songwriting Competition Award Winner and an alumni of London Jazz Festival’s flagship Take Five programme. She played the titular bird in Atri Banerjee’s production of ‘Kes’, for which she won a UK Theatre Award, and performed ‘The Jazz Singer’ in ‘A Taste of Honey’ at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. She is currently writing a stage musical with Australian producers Antipodes Theatre and support from the Stephen Oliver Award, and spent 2025 touring internationally, performing debut shows in Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Thailand and Norway.
it’s getting late you’d better go home was made with support from Arts Council England’s Lottery Projects Fund, and will be released on Whirlwind Recordings in Spring 2026.
Copy Eddie Myer/ Nishla Smith.
Photographs Craig Fleming.

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