THE NAKED CITY – ANATOMY OF A JAZZ CLUB – FOUNDRY616
Image: Peter Rechniewski
Throughout the world jazz is performed in many different venues – from concert halls to large outdoor festivals, however the ‘jazz club’ with all its character and intimacy remains the favourite home of the genre. Whether it’s the Village Vanguard in New York, Ronnie Scott’s in London or the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, great international cities often spawn great jazz clubs – many of which have survived for decades.
In Sydney we’ve also had our share of notable jazz clubs, dating back to the seminal El Rocco jazz cellar of the 60s. However unlike many ‘international’ cities our attrition rate has been high, symptomatic perhaps of Sydney’s ever changing cultural landscape, property prices and the demands of Council compliance.
Four years ago and the Basement was widely touted as the city’s only jazz venue, although these days it delivers a very much mixed bag of styles. However with the advent of Venue 505 in Surry Hills and Foundry616 in Ultimo, Sydney can now boast two dedicated jazz clubs, featuring both local and international artists.
This September, Foundry616 celebrates its third anniversary, no mean feat in a city noted for both the fickleness of its audiences and the often heavy hand of its regulatory bureaucracies. It was Peter Rechniewski, the club’s owner, booker and regular compere who took a giant leap of faith some three years ago. As he explains:
“I’d been thinking about opening a venue for jazz and associated music for some time. I wanted to create a place that was intimate, comfortable, with great atmosphere and good acoustics. In the early period of the project I had a partner and we looked around for about two years, missing out on several very good spaces. In late 2011 we stumbled across what is now Foundry616 in Harris Street Ultimo, just up from the ABC.”
Long associated with a string of jazz clubs and venues including Jennys, the Strawberry Hill and the Side On Café as well as the formation of SIMA in the mid 1980s, Peter has been a driving force in the Sydney jazz scene for decades. Opening his own jazz club had been on his agenda for years and with Foundry616 that romance became a reality – albeit not without the pain associated with opening any kind of music venue in Sydney and meeting a long list of Council requirements.
Not all jazz clubs are started and run by jazz buffs, but Peter certainly fits the description of a long time fan. As he remembers:
“My father told me about the great jazz musicians of the swing era and there were a few records at home that I listened to. One day a friend and I decided to check out the El Rocco in Kings Cross. We caught the bus from Maroubra one Saturday night and heard the John Sangster Quintet. I’d never heard anything like it and thought it was the greatest music in the world. (I hadn’t listened to Coltrane or Albert Ayler or Miles Davis yet). From then I was completely hooked.”
As both owner and booker Peter faces the somewhat daunting task of attracting punters six or seven days a week, running a commercially viable bar and restaurant, maintaing a strong program of both local and overseas artists and constantly tweaking the format. He has recently introduced a series of bargain priced Monday nights featuring some of the country’s best known musicians and the response has been most positive, with enthusiastic audiences proving that Sydney does not have to be a musical wasteland on an early week night.
As for the future of jazz in Australia, Peter is optimistic if not slightly guarded:
“Like in other countries, jazz in Australia faces great challenges, but that’s nothing new. In Sydney we need a jazz festival on the scale of the one in Melbourne and that would help generate new audiences. So would more media coverage, but that is a topic on its own. If we look at the quality of the musicians leaving the jazz studies courses the potential is phenomenal and the depth of highly skilled musicians on all instruments far exceeds what was here even 25 years ago.”
Check out coming events at www.foundry616.com.au
