With the dust finally settling on Hennepin Avenue’s reconstruction, musicians soon will settle into a new home for jazz in an old building along Uptown’s main thoroughfare.
Brownstone Jazz Club has been announced as an incoming tenant of a historic one-story brownstone building at 2756 Hennepin Av. in Minneapolis, next door to Isles Bun & Coffee. That stretch of Hennepin just recently opened after a year-plus of reconstruction.
The intimate music club is on track to open in December or in early 2026. It will be run by a veteran R&B singer who lives nearby and said he “wanted to give musicians somewhere in this area to play.”
“I believe in the revitalization of Uptown and think this place can play a big role,” said Johnnie Brown, a singer originally from Mississippi who’s been active in the Twin Cities music scene for about 15 years.
Known for staging tributes to R&B greats like Barry White and Luther Vandross at venues including Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Crooners and the Dakota, Brown was getting coffee at Isles Bun & Coffee earlier this year when he mentioned to a friend that the vacant space next door “would make a really nice club.” The friend knew the landlord, and the seed was planted.
“The idea just took off from there,” marveled Brown, who admitted, “Owning a club was never really a dream of mine, but now it’s become my vision.”
Johnnie Brown, who grew up in a musical family in Mississippi, will combine his 15-plus years of experience singing around the Twin Cities as the proprietor of Brownstone Jazz Club in Minneapolis. (Provided)
Brown’s longtime business manager, Hernitta Moore, also will serve as Brownstone Jazz’s operational manager. She said high-end cocktails and “finger food” will be on the menu alongside jazz and R&B music five nights a week, plus a Sunday gospel brunch.
“We’ll be open to whatever else the community wants there,” Moore added.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.startribune.com ’
