Music lovers will still jazz by the bay

Regulars of Not Just Jazz by the Bay, the iconic restaurant-cum-live music venue on Marine Drive, are relieved.

Regulars of Not Just Jazz by the Bay, the iconic restaurant-cum-live music venue on Marine Drive, are relieved.

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Although the restaurant is set to undergo a major revamp, it will continue to host live acts, according to Sanjay Narang, chairman of Mars Enterprises, the company that owns the restaurant.

"The restaurant will definitely have live entertainment but we won't charge an entrance fee," said Narang. "We haven't finalised the detailed design or the concept."

The new look of the restaurant is likely to be crystallised in the next three months.

The new restaurant is unlikely to have the same name.

"We sold Mars Restaurants and the Jazz by the Bay brand two years ago," said Narag. "So we can't use that name any more."

The new avatar will mark the restaurant's third change of identity, since it started as Talk of the Town, a restaurant with live music and dancing, way back in 1968.

"Talk of the Town was one of the first restaurants in Mumbai that wasn't in a hotel," recollected Narang. "It ran successfully right up to the '80s." In 1996, it became the city's first dedicated jazz club but within a couple of years, it had acquired the 'not just' in its title and opened its doors to many other genres of music.