The statement may come as a surprise to any jazz aficionado – what about all those iconic clubs in Europe and the USA?
Where does that leave all the classic New York clubs, like Blue Note or the Village Vanguard?
And what about Ronnie Scott’s in London?
But a jazz club is so much more than just a place where music is made, or a pub or night club where a certain genre of music is played; it’s the cultural heart of a city, and Bennetts Lane Jazz Club was no exception.
The difference between a New York club and Bennetts Lane might explain why the latter took out first place in Lonely Planet’s opinion.
While clubs in New York have gained their reputation based on the city itself (New York is considered the global capital of jazz and New Orleans the birthplace of the genre), Bennetts Lane made a name for itself in a city where jazz is represented by a marginal number of artists known on the international scene.
Open seven days a week for 23 years, Bennetts Lane contributed greatly to the development of Melbourne’s cultural nightlife.
Without Michael Tortoni, jazz would never have been in such good stead as it is today in Australia.
Founder of “the world’s best jazz club” and artistic director of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Tortoni was born in Australia to parents who came from San Marco in Lamis, in the southern Italian region of Puglia.
“My mother and my father arrived here after World War II, when there was no hope for a better future in Italy,” Tortoni recounts.
“I grew up in the suburb of Footscray in a large family, with 10 brothers and sisters (two who unfortunately died while very young).
“Financially, we weren’t very well-off.
“My father worked tirelessly, holding two or three jobs at the same time.
“Can you imagine his reaction when I told him in the ‘90s that I wanted to open a jazz club?”
The story began around 20 years earlier when Tortoni, who was always passionate about music, learned to play the bass.
When he was 15, he formed the rock band Taste.
In 1972, together with his friend Virgilio Donati and other band members, Tortoni recorded his first album for Warner Music.
Among some of their early successes was the song Tickle Your Fancy, as well as various appearances on Countdown (a musical television program which was broadcast from 1974 until 1987 on the ABC).
Taste gained quite the reputation, and they were even asked to open for Queen on their American tour.
“It was a golden opportunity,” Tortoni exclaims.
“But we were all under-age and came from very religious Italian and Greek families.
“One day, our parents wanted to speak with our agent and they turned up at his house in South Yarra, where a lot of ‘eccentric’ parties were held.
“Not liking what they saw, they told us that we were just kids and the tour fell through.
“Taste broke up and I decided to enrol at the Victorian College of the Arts.”
Tortoni began studying classical music, focusing first on piano and then on double bass.
He played for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a stint, while becoming more familiar with jazz in his spare time.
“During my studies, I met many musicians who inspired me, such as Joe Chindamo and David Jones,” Tortoni recalls.
In 1987, after finishing his studies, Tortoni moved to Italy to study under his double bass teacher, Franco Petracchi.
Upon his return to Australia, he worked in the financial market for a while before deciding that Melbourne needed a space where people could listen to and play jazz.
In 1992, Tortoni opened the doors of Bennetts Lane Jazz Club.
“My family didn’t support my decision,” Tortoni explains.
“My father said that if I really had to gamble on a project as risky as a jazz club, then I should at least buy the building so that I’d be left with something if it was a failure.”
With the collapse of the real estate market in the early ‘90s, Tortoni saw the perfect opportunity, and put a deposit down on 25 Bennetts Lane.
Over the following 23 years, Tortini managed to transform the venue into the vibrant heart of Melbourne’s jazz scene.
Were there any unforgettable moments in Bennetts Lane’s history?
“Long story short, one Sunday evening I was in the office and around midnight I got a call from the bar.
“They said: ‘Prince is asking if he can play in the club.’
“I jokingly replied that he should bring Elvis with him.
“But at midnight, Prince turned up at Bennetts Lane; he was in town for a concert at Rod Laver Arena and had been looking for somewhere to rehearse – it was incredible!”
The iconic Bennetts Lane closed its shutters in 2015 to make space for a new apartment complex, and after receiving an irrefutable offer, Tortoni decided to sell the club and open a new one – The Jazzlab – on April 7, 2017.
Tortoni has been artistic director of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival for 10 years (this is the festival’s 22nd year).
In 2005, Tortoni collaborated with Carlo Pagnotta, founder and artistic director of the Umbria Jazz Festival, who also took on the role of international artistic director of the one-off fusion of the Melbourne and Umbria Jazz festivals that year.
With important names like Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock on the lineup, this year’s Melbourne International Jazz Festival has an extremely vast program with a wide selection of various subgenres.
“Jazz music is in continual movement,” Tortoni says.
“It absorbs the vibrations from other musical genres and influences them at the same time, evolving continually.”
The festival is the biggest manifestation of this continual movement.
“It’s extremely expensive to organise an event of this nature – one of the biggest costs are the artists’ airline tickets,” Tortoni explains.
“Travel costs can be as much as the remuneration of the artists.
“This year, to counter this, we’re collaborating with neighbouring countries like Japan so as to extend the tours and divide the costs.”
Tortoni is already working on the 2020 edition of the festival.
Now that’s what we call a labour of love!
