A place where music is the prime attraction, not an afterhought.

When vocalist Leonard Patton decided to launch a jazz venue in the midst of the pandemic — and in La Mesa, of all places — many wondered if he had lost his mind. But when The Jazz Lounge opened its doors in July 2021, Patton had a plan. Now it’s a year and a half later, he’s produced some 160 shows, and that plan seems to have justified the risk.

“It’s steadily grown since we opened it,” says Patton. “You know, at times, it’s not easy, but it is rewarding. The musicians love the venue, naturally, but we’ve also developed a regular patronage that have come to multiple shows, which is cool. The Jazz Lounge is small: it seats about 40 people. We could always try to pack them tighter like a New York club, but we want people to be comfortable.”

Patton says own his busy gig schedule didn’t hinder his ability to build up the Lounge: “I’ve always wanted to have a space of my own. Sometimes I’d just rent spaces here and there and put on events, so having my own venue meant I could do my thing and bring in people who could do theirs as well. Obviously I’ve been to a lot of different clubs. Most of all, I wanted it to be a listening room. So, I looked at Dizzy’s as a model, and any room that Holly Hofmann has curated for. I know that there is an audience for a place where music is the prime attraction, rather than an afterthought.”

The Jazz Lounge has mostly featured local San Diego musicians over the last year and a half, with the occasional player coming down from LA. But on January 17, Patton is featuring a nationally known trio from New York City: the Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Organ Trio, featuring guitarist Peter Bernstein, organist Larry Goldings, and drummer Bill Stewart. Players of this stature usually play much larger venues, such as the Jazz at the Athenaeum series. How did he land them? “Well, I’m always going online and checking to see who’s doing tours, not necessarily for booking purposes, but just tracking out of curiosity. I saw that Larry Goldings was doing some dates in LA, and I just wondered what it might take to get him to come down here. So, I got in touch with his booking agent and we started to have a dialogue, and it just worked out. They’re going to come down. I’ve got someone to provide a Hammond B-3 organ, and I’m providing the backline [amps and P.A.], so getting them turned out to be easier than you might think.”

It’s easily the highest profile band the Lounge has hosted. “It’s funny, because I get emails all the time, from people all over the world, but I have to be cautious, because I can’t just start booking everybody, knowing that I could lose money. I’m still in the process of building this thing, so I must be careful. That’s not going to be an issue with these guys, though. We’re doing two shows and we’re already almost sold-out, and I barely advertised it.”

Typically, landing an act of this stature would depend on squeezing them in before or after a Los Angeles show, but Patton is optimistic — and tight-lipped — about booking future national-touring artists. “There’s a couple of things I’m working on. A lot of this is just in the timing of things. But if we can get a handful of those acts, it would be good for the Jazz Lounge. That’s a good amount. We don’t need to fill the calendar with them, because we’ve got a lot of great local artists, and there are regional people up in LA I’d like to feature as well.”

Aside from the January 17 Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Organ Trio, upcoming Jazz Lounge concerts include the Matt Dibiasi Quartet on January 14 and occasional Rugburn Gregory Page on January 21. “Most of the concerts so far, I’ve been there,” he says. “My wife helps out and we have a little team.” But he still keeps at least one eye on his on-stage work: “I’m trying to build it up to the point where I could take off, if a certain opportunity for a high profile tour came my way.”