Iconic Bennetts Lane Venue To Close Mid-Next Year

Bad news for Melburnian jazz fans today, with the historic Bennetts Lane Jazz Club announcing that it will be closing its doors in mid-June 2015.

The closure comes in the wake of the venue’s site having been sold to new owners, with the revelation coming via a link to a statement, in a heavy-hearted Facebook post this morning.

Bennetts Lane Jazz Club has been an institution of the Melburnian jazz scene for the past 22 years, and in that time has played host to more than 10,000 performances, including from the likes of Prince, Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis, Kurt Elling, Brad Mehldau, Herbie Hancock and several other highly esteemed devotees of the genre.

It’s been an indelible part of regular events such as the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the Women’s International jazz Festival, Melbourne Music Week, Fringe and Fringe Jazz festivals, Italian Jazz Festival, the Melbourne Brass Festival, and others. The Jazz Club has maintained strong ties, too, with the Victorian College Of The Arts University of Melbourne and Secondary School, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at Monash, University of Tasmania, Deakin, WAAPA, and RMIT, so when we say the loss will be felt, we wholeheartedly mean it.

It’s not all sadness, though – remember, the club will remain open until June next year, so you’ve just over three-quarters of the year to get down and lap up as much loose, free, rejuvenating jazz as you can before it’s gone for good.