The Coffee Note is a very different jazz spot for Las Vegas, to say the least.
The six-week-old music venue on West Charleston takes inspiration not from the local jazz clubs that came before it, but the jazz bars and cafes in Tokyo, which favor a wide spectrum of jazz styles and free-form jam sessions.
It's also all-ages, a continuation from when The Coffee Note started as a pop-up event at Desert Wind Coffee Roasters that quickly became a weekly destination for young jazz fans and musicians in Las Vegas. Despite the name, its specialty offering at its bar is mocktails.
The result has been a cozy hang for its patrons, many of whom are younger than the traditional jazz-venue clientele. The musicians often playing its stage also skew younger. And both constituencies are challenging the notion that jazz's audience isn't evolving. If the genre's bridging of the generational divide isn't visible, that's because up until now, under-21 jazz enthusiasts didn't really have a place where to see or play it.
"[Host/booker] Max [Cruz] and I actually were jazz musicians at LVA (Las Vegas Academy), and as a minor, it was hard to find places in Las Vegas that you could enter and play," said Misa Leeflang, co-founder of The Coffee Note. "And a lot of jazz culture is jam-session culture. So, for the past 10 years, that's been something that we've been wanting here in Vegas, that was accessible to someone who's under 21."
The weekly pop-up version of The Coffee Note, which began in December 2023, became so popular and viral online, it outgrew Desert Winds. But even before that, Misa and her father, Adam Leeflang — also a co-founder of the event-turned-venue — considered their own place.
"We also felt that there was more being asked of us that we could provide at that particular location," said Adam Leeflang. "And so there were several factors that went into, 'Okay, we need to start seriously looking for a place.' And then the place that we found was very, very serendipitous. It was a great find and everything just kind of came together."
The permanent Coffee Note opened September 25. The one weekly event grew to five, including Friday and Saturday shows and a Thursday swing-dance night with covers or tickets, as well as a vinyl/open jam Monday night and a Sunday bakery pop-up/jam session that have no cover.
Programming those five days is Cruz, who has been fearless but considered in his booking.
"It's a tough position to be in the chair and decide what is going to be the curation for music," he said. "I'm not trying to make any statements about what is and isn't jazz. But when you call yourself a jazz club, people do have certain expectations of what that is. And interestingly, for Las Vegas, a lot of the audience that we're curating are new to jazz. They're new to what jazz could sound like. So I think maybe broadening people's horizons is a big thing for us."
Las Vegas has featured jazz in its lounges, clubs, and bars for nearly 75 years, dating back to the days of Sam Butera, Louis Prima, and Keely Smith. And while the variety of offerings has ebbed and flowed, there have always been places to hear all kinds of jazz, from its adult contemporary form and big band to Latin-infused jazz and free jazz (the latter two were showcased at The Coffee Note on November 7 and 2, respectively). For Cruz, The Coffee Note is an opportunity to create a new hub for a sound long identified with the city.
"We want to be the place that you have to go to see jazz in Vegas, to see the local jazz culture."
Guests: Misa Leeflang, co-founder and designer; Adam Leeflang, co-founder; Max Cruz, host and booker, The Coffee Note
