The coziest live music gig in Green Bay? It just might be Tuesday jazz nights in Copper State Brewing's upstairs lounge
GREEN BAY - When you can get people to come out to hear live music on a 2-degree Tuesday night in the middle of January, you know you’ve got a good thing going.
There’s something about getting lost in the jazz standard “You Must Believe in Spring” while sipping a barrel-aged imperial stout with vanilla bean called Midwest Goodbye that has a way of taking the chill off.
The weekly Jazz, Blues & Brews night at Copper State Brewing Co. has become one of the coziest — and coolest — gigs winter has to offer. From 6 to 9 p.m. each Tuesday, the rustic upstairs lounge in the 1919 building on Dousman Street, with its concrete floor, brick walls, paned windows and exposed duct work, transforms into an intimate downtown jazz club.
The Harmon Brothers anchor a small corner-raised slab that doubles as a stage, and with Noah Harmon on keyboard, Zach Harmon on drums and Fred Velpel on stand-up bass, they warm up the room with selections like Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba” and Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance.” Guests at tables and the bar give the music their full attention, soaking up each note. Couples hold hands.
Then there’s the “jammers,” local jazz musicians who bring their instruments and take turns sitting in with the trio during the second half of the night. The band never knows who they might welcome to the stage during the jam portion, although there are regulars who seldom miss a week. The audience never knows who they might hear: a saxophonist, a trombonist, or the Copper State bartender and barista who turns heads with her church choir vocals.
The spontaneity of it all is the magic.
“It’s spread and grown into this really, really cool off-night of live music, Tuesday just being maybe kind of a strange day to go see music,” Noah Harmon said. “A lot of people have gravitated to it, and I think a big part of that is the jam session.”
It all started with trumpeter John Toussaint
Jazz, Blues & Brews was born about two and a half years ago when Fox Valley trumpeter John Toussaint was looking to get a regular jazz gig going in Green Bay. In his search for a venue, he contacted Copper State owners Jon and Missy Martens to see if they might be game.
Before they opened Copper State in the Broadway District in 2017, the couple lived in the Twin Cities and enjoyed going to jazz clubs like the Dakota in Minneapolis. When they came to Green Bay, they realized there really wasn’t any such place for jazz lovers like themselves.
“So we thought, ‘Yeah, we should be that place for people,’” Missy Martens said.
Toussaint connected them with Fox Valley-based brothers Noah and Zach Harmon, accomplished players who have been performing together since they were kids. In the 1970s, their father, John Harmon, helped start the jazz program at Lawrence University in Appleton and founded Matrix, the Appleton jazz fusion group that recorded with Warner Bros., RCA and Summit records and toured extensively. He’s been a fixture of the Fox Valley jazz scene for 60 years.
The Harmon Brothers’ first gigs at Copper State started out with Noah and Zach backing Toussaint. Noah would play bass with his left hand and keyboard parts with his right. There was no jam session.
The core group eventually took shape with the addition of Velpel, and the two-hour performances stretched to three as word of mouth took off and the popularity of the weekly jam along with it. In the last year especially there has been an influx of new faces wanting to play.
“It has built up a following, because there’s nothing like it in this area,” Martens said. “Our lounge space is just a really neat, cozy space. It’s just increased as far as locals and people who just come every single week. It’s a place for a bunch of musicians to gather basically. There was nothing like that.”
It draws an audience that differs from Copper State’s typical brewery clientele on the main level. People come specifically for the music and unique atmosphere in the intimate lounge, which has room for 63. Listeners can order food off the menu, including the signature Thai Brussels sprouts appetizer, and warm up with winter drinks like The Nutty Old Fashioned or a Caramel Apple Russian.
“It definitely gives off a jazz club vibe, which I love,” Noah Harmon said.
There's always a song or two dedicated to Jordan Love
The jam portion brings out musicians of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. There are professors, beginners and enthusiasts. Even Missy and Jon Martens, who grew up in musical families and were in choir together, have popped in to do some singing. Their 15-year-old son, Diego, has been known to croon some Michael Bublé.
Server Jana Leach has become a house favorite. She occasionally treats the room to the singing voice she normally reserves for church. Harmon recalls a packed Tuesday night when the joint was already jumpin’ "and then Jana sang and the house just went crazy."
The Harmon Brothers like to keep their sets casual. Part of the fun, for both performers and listeners, is never knowing where the night will go. Sometimes people in the crowd request songs. Sometimes musicians who come to play request music.
“We don’t rehearse this stuff, so it’s very, very spontaneous, and I think people kind of appreciate that a little bit,” Harmon said. “What we try to do is just have a lot of fun with it, show people it doesn’t have to be stuffy and academic. It’s really, really loose when we’re performing.”
To pay tribute to Jordan Love as the Green Bay Packers’ new franchise quarterback, they always make sure to work in a couple of tunes with “love” in the title and dedicate them to No. 10. “There Is No Greater Love,” “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” “A Sunday Kind of Love,” “Easy to Love" ... There are hundreds to choose from.
“We are hoping that if we keep doing this, maybe somehow one of the Packers will hear about it and make an appearance on Tuesday night," Harmon said. "It’s so goofy but part of our Tuesdays vibe is we just try to have fun.”
More music: Barry Manilow is coming back to Resch Center for his 'last Green Bay concert'
They do ask that jammers have a couple of tunes ready when they arrive, but otherwise it’s an informal process. They’ve squeezed as many as five people on the concrete platform, but if it gets too tight, guest musicians just stand around the edge and play.
In the summer, Jazz, Blues & Brews moves out to the Copper State beer garden, where the music and the crowd often seduce passersby into checking it out.
The Harmon Brothers also play a weekly gig from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays at 313 Dodge in Kaukauna but without a jam session. The Copper State gig is unique in that way, and they’ve been thrilled to meet so many people willing to put themselves out in front of an audience.
“I guess that’s the best part about jazz. It’s all about sharing. When we see somebody who gets up there and does something just incredible, it’s like, ‘Where have you been? Thank you for coming. Please come back.’”
Wycliffe Gordon to headline Green Bay Jazz Fest 2024
Jazz fans looking for more music will find a whole week of it April 8-13 for the 54th annual Green Bay Jazz Fest.
World-renowned trombonist Wycliffe Gordon is the headliner for a performance with the Green Bay Jazz Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. April 13 at The Weidner. Tickets are on sale for $38 adults and $15 students at ticketstaronline.com, 800-895-0071 and the Resch Center box office.
Other highlights of the week:
Kickoff concert at 7:30 p.m. April 8 at The Tarlton Theatre in downtown Green Bay features faculty combos from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Silpakorn University. Free; donations appreciated.
Jazz, Blues & Brews 6-9 p.m. April 9 at Copper State Brewing Co., Green Bay. Free.
Free screening of "Bird," the 1988 biopic about saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, at 7 p.m. April 10 at The Tarlton Theatre, Green Bay.
Mingusfest, the annual celebratory concert of Charles Mingus Jr.'s greatest works, at 6 p.m. April 11 at The Tarlton Theatre. Free.
Gordon performs at 7:30 p.m. April 12 at The Weidner with UW-Green Bay's Jazz Ensemble One and area high school students in the All-City Jazz Ensemble. Free.
Late Night Jam featuring festival and community performers at 9:30 p.m. April 13 at The Tarlton Theatre. Free.
Find the full schedule of festival events at weidnercenter.com.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Copper State Brewing has become a Tuesday night hot spot for jazz
