welcome to a famous address
Store Regnegade 19a
on the jazz world map since 1959
Since 1959, Jazzhus Montmartre has put Copenhagen on the jazz world map. The house is known and revered by jazz enthusiasts all over the world as one of the great destinations on a par with the Village Vanguard in New York and Ronnie Scott's in London.
The adventure began on a small, intimate stage in Store Regnegade in a room with room for only 85 people. Nevertheless, the world's greatest jazz stars continued to come and play to enthusiastic audiences.
The initiative for the club was originally taken by the architect Anders Dyrup , who gave up after a short time and handed the club over to the host Herluf Kamp-Larsen. Through the 60s and 70s he became the man who turned Montmartre into an internationally famous club.
Especially the cozy atmosphere in Montmartre was the reason that 10-12 of the biggest international jazz stars settled in Copenhagen at the time. Among them top names such as Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew and many others who moved their lives across the Atlantic and made Montmartre their musical home.
After a detour in 1976 to Nørregade under the renowned Jazz-Kay Sørensen until 1995, Montmartre reopened in 2010 at the original address in Store Regnegade on the initiative of the media man and entrepreneur behind, among other ventures, NetDoktor, Rune Bech.
He received significant support from the former director of the Royal Theater and the former DR chairman Michael Christiansen . For the first time in the house's history, they now established Montmartre as a non-profit cultural institution under the auspices of an independent business foundation.
Since the reopening in 2010, there have been over 2,500 concerts at the famous address. The room has been renovated a few times along the way, but the walls remember everything.
Montmartre has been squeezed several times financially, as the house's survival depends on donations and support despite full houses due to high artistic ambitions combined with only having a capacity of 85 seats. But against many odds, Montmartre remains the place where jazz's biggest stars meet the most promising talents and magic happens.
Opened in 1959 by ANDERS DYRUP
It all began in 1959 with the 27-year-old architect Anders Dyrup, who, after organizing ad-hoc jazz concerts in various places in the city in the previous years, took the initiative for an actual club at the address Store Regnegade 19a. Here for many years there had been a restaurant (without jazz) called Café Montmartre.
Unfortunately, the initiative only lasted 11 months, until Dyrup gave up after large losses and moved abroad to try his luck with record releases instead.
Anders Dyrup sold the premises to a waiter from the then Café Nytorv, 42-year-old Herluf Kamp-Larsen, who had the courage to run a jazz club in his own way. It was to turn out to be the start of Montmartre's heyday and Herluf lasted until 1976.
Montmartre's hallmark became especially its long tables. The house became one of Copenhagen's hippest but informal in-places through the 60s and 70s.
Herluf Kamp-Larsen in front of Montmartre's famous mask wall in Store Regnegade, created by the artist Mogens Gylling.
Dexter Gordon on the right with a very young NHØP on bass on the left.
The years under Herluf Kamp-Larsen’s leadership
With Herluf's takeover and reopening in 1961 after a lengthy rebuild, Montmartre had fallen into ambitious hands. Former waiter and art lover Herluf Kamp-Larsen really turned Jazzhus Montmartre into a world-renowned brand. The house was filled with unique art, warmth and top artists.
Under his leadership, Jazzhus Montmartre became the capital's and all of Europe's jazz mecca at a time when jazz was reborn and hip after the release of, for example, Miles Davis' seminal album "Kind of Blue".
In the years up to 1976, the jazz club became one of the leaders in Europe with the world's best jazz, because he brought especially American jazz stars to Copenhagen. They loved the city and the club because of the close and friendly atmosphere. Many of them were black and found Copenhagen more welcoming than the USA of the 60s. Therefore, many of them ended up staying here and settling down. Dexter Gordon got a terraced house in Valby, Ben Webster lived in Nansensgade and Kenny Drew on Åboulevarden.
"Why are all the jazz stars moving to Copenhagen," asked jazz fans all over the world? "Montmartre," was the reply.
At the same time, the stars from the stage in Montmartre inspired a whole generation of young Danish jazz musicians, who later became some of our biggest jazz names. For example, the bassists Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Mads Vinding, Jesper Lundgaard and Bo Stief, as well as the drummer Alex Riel, the trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and many more. In short, they were trained on the stage of Montmartre.
Other jazz legends who played at Herluf's Montmartre include Roland Kirk, Joe Harris, Buddy Tate, Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Cecil Taylor, Brew Moore, Harold Goldberg, Lucky Thompson, Archie Shepp, Johnny Griffin, Art Taylor, Booker Ervin, Albert Ayler, Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim), Don Cherry, Rune Gustafsson, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Eli Thompson, Sonny Rollins, Yusef Lateef, George Russell, Teddy Wilson, Paul Bley, Bill Evans, Eddie Gómez, Richard Boone, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Henderson, Billy Hart, Keith Jarrett, Miroslav Vitous, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Lee Konitz, Louis Jordan, Charles Mingus, Ken McIntyre, Nat Adderley, Donald Byrd, Tony Williams, Lou Bennett, Phil Woods, Charles McPherson and Dizzy Gillespie.
Need we say more?! Store Regnegade 19a became an iconic address in global jazz history.
The years in Nørregade UNDER JAZZ-KAY
In 1976, Montmartre moved to Nørregade 41 under new management - host Jazz-Kay Sørensen, who took over ownership. Artistically he was assisted by Niels Christensen as music director with assistance from Lars Thorborg .
The three went on to develop Montmartre into one of the most significant jazz scenes in Europe, where stars such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson, Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter, Elvin Jones, the Brecker Brothers and many others came and played an address with room for more.
At the same time, Montmartre presented new exciting names in world music such as Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Tania Maria, Youssou N'Dour, and King Sunny Adé, and also funk/soul artists such as James Brown, Tower of Power, and Gil Scott-Heron.
At the weekends, the jazz room transformed into the extremely popular 'Natdisk', which attracted an audience of dancing-loving Copenhageners. It also served as the financial foundation for the club's strong jazz profile, which cost a lot of money and rarely made a profit. Montmartre thus also became a strong brand among many in the nightlife, regardless of musical taste.
In 1988, Kay Sørensen died of a cerebral haemorrhage, and Montmartre was briefly sold to hotel owner Eli Pries, who, however, found it difficult to maintain the club's traditional mix of art and commercial considerations. In 1992, the musician Anne Linnet took over the place and changed the profile to mainly pop and rock. However, without success. The club closed in 1995 and the story of Montmartre was over, it was thought. But it was only for a while.
Photo: Jazz-Kay (Sørensen) on the left (archive)
The two key figures for long stretches of Montmartre's life in Store Regnegade: Herluf Kamp-Larsen (TV) and Rune Bech, who reopened the house at the original address on 30 April 2010.
Rune Bech was director for ten years until January 2020, and returned to the hot seat in August 2024. (Photo: Maria Sattrup)
The reopening in Store Regnegade BY RUNE BECH in 2010
After a 15-year hibernationn after the closure in Nørregade, the media executive and entrepreneur Rune Bech took the initiative in 2010 to reopen Montmartre at the original address at Store Regnegade 19a, when the premises became vacant and the opportunity was there.
Rune Bech dreamed of giving Montmartre a new heyday at the old historic premises writing jazz history.
After creating the internet company NetDoktor in 1998 and establishing TV 2 Play in 2006 as TV 2's long-serving digital head, he donated the funds to start the house up again - and personally stepped into the role of the place's primary driving force for over ten years.
Together with board chairman Michael Christiansen, former director of the Royal Theatre and chairman of DR, the new Montmartre was established on a non-profit basis - primarily run by volunteers. Read the whole story about the reopening in the magazine Jazz Special here .
The reopening in 2010 resonated all over the world, and the house quickly placed itself back on the world map as one of Copenhagen's top attractions: the New York Times put Montmartre on its list of places worth visiting in the city in an article under the heading 'Rebirth of Cool'.
For 10 years until 2020, Rune Bech was an unpaid part-time director of the venue, and then continued on the board.
In August 2024, Rune Bech re-entered as head of the house, when Montmartre was in financial crisis after a disappointing and unexpected rejection of financial support from The Danish Arts Council as a regional music venue.
Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt came to the house's rescue with a temporary rescue, and the minister promised at the same time to work on a more permanent solution.
THE ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
The reopened Montmartre in Store Regnegade has had four artistic directors since 2010.
In the first eight months after the reopening in 2010, the pianist Niels Lan Doky acted as music director until he (briefly) opened a competitor in Havnegade, and was replaced in the post by Benjamin Koppel . Then Christian Brorsen followed for some years.
Since 2016, the house's artistic director has been the internationally known Swedish jazz pianist Jan Lundgren .
In addition to managing the artistic profile of Montmartre, Jan Lundgren continues to play on some of the world's biggest stages and is also the manager of the Ystad Jazz Festival.
Behind Jan Lundgren is an Artistic Council consisting of:
Cæcilie Nordby , jazz vocalist,
Morten Lund , drummer,
Kathrine Windfeld , composer, pianist and orchestra leader,
Mathias Heise , harmonica, as well
Steen Rasmussen , composer and pianist.
Read more about the council here .
Montmartre's artistic director since 2016, Jan Lundgren (Photo: ACT)
Artist Mogens Gylling's famous and iconic mask wall created for the site in 1959.
Mogens Gylling 51 years later at the inauguration of the new incarnation of the mask wall during the jazz festival in 2010.
Jens Nordsø's large plaster relief was created for the club in 1959. It has survived everything and still hangs in Montmartre.
Asmund Havsteen Mikkelsen during his ceiling decoration from 2012. It had to die in the soundproofing of the room in 2022, but in 2024 the artist recreated the work as a painting that hangs in Montmartre's bar.
The art at Montmartre
Montmartre became known for its unique artistic decoration in the 1960s. Especially the plaster masks on one long side became iconic for the jazz club.
They were created in 1959 by the artist Mogens Gylling (then 23 years old) and attracted attention from all over the world as a special work. A wild improvisation on the classic theater masks.
When Montmartre closed in 1976, all but one mask was lost, but the initiator behind Montmartre's reopening in 2010, Rune Bech, persuaded the now slightly older Gylling to recreate his famous work with a twist in a new incarnation of the iconic work.
The new masks were hung back on the wall by the artist himself during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in July 2010, an event that attracted great media interest and was featured on TV 2 Nyhederne.
In March 2012, Montmartre presented a 102 m2 art decoration on the club's ceiling, supported by Realdania, and created by the Danish artist, Asmund Havsteen Mikkelsen , who was then living in Berlin. Unfortunately, the work had to be taken down in connection with the noise protection of Montmartre in 2022.
The artist Jens Nordsø also created a now famous plaster relief in 1959, which has survived openings, closings and renovations, and today still hangs in Montmartre as the only original of the original works.
Montmartre today
Montmartre's existence and survival as jazz's internationally known national scene in Denmark has never been easy. And is by no means a given.
The years from 2020 to 2024 in particular were extraordinarily tough. At first Corona hit not just Montmartre but all cultural institutions. And then in 2022, Montmartre had to temporarily close due to an order from the Municipality of Copenhagen regarding noise nuisance for the neighbors in the old residential property in which Montmartre is home.
However, they managed to draw up a plan for new soundproofing, and a number of foundations contributed to make the renovation possible, including Realdania, the Augustinus Foundation, a generous landlord and several other generous donors.
With only 85 seats and an international level of ambition, the small cultural institution in Store Regnegade really does not hold together on a private financial basis.
The house has only a few paid employees and is predominantly run by voluntary labour. But almost 200 annual concerts at a high level in an intimate setting come at a cost. Every year, the house has to travel approx. DKK 3 million in support to continue. The total budget is DKK 8 million. DKK, of which DKK 5 million can be obtained from ticket sales and bar income.
Copenhagen Municipality's Culture and Leisure Committee has decided for four years until 2028 to cover half of Montmartre's hole. Meanwhile, Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt is working on a way in which the State can close the rest of the gap after 2025 and secure Montmartre's role as the national jazz scene in Denmark in the long run.
Without Denmark's many small and large private charitable foundations, Montmartre would have closed long ago. They have supported many times along the way and ensured that the music continues to play.