Quinn’s in Beacon hosts monthly open mic
Aside from local celebrity Mary Poppiins playing the spoons and Beacon High School junior Teo Fairbanks sitting in on drums, the house band and most of the visiting musicians at Quinn’s monthly jazz jam in April came from afar.
Pianist Elliot Steele, who drove 75 minutes from Catskill, has attended every first Monday session for the past three years. (It happens again at Quinn’s on May 5.) Trumpet player Josh Economy trekked across the river from Walden, and drummer Jeremy Holman bopped down from New Paltz to check out the vibe and socialize. “I’m way out of practice,” he says.
Steve Scholz, a piano player who lives an hour away in Germantown, says it’s worth the trip — not so much to jam along on two songs, but because “there’s a big sense of community.”
Horns, guitars and spoons are BYO. Chris Talio (bass) and Matthieu Carvin (electric keyboard) offer their instruments to regulars and strangers alike as host Bryan Kopchak reads the room to assemble compatible combos. Most participants play piano or drums and the house set, a compact vintage Ludwig model, is well-suited for jazz.
Because no other bass players showed up at Quinn’s on April 7, Talio put in yeoman’s work. During his dinner break, Poppiins pulled out the spoons and improvised with Kopchak, who lives in Central Valley.
“This is the bestest place to be on a Monday night in Beacon,” said Poppiins, who established the rhythm. Kopchak started on brushes, then picked up the sticks and hit the drums’ metal rims. Sounding like tap dancers, they created enough variation to keep things interesting.
According to Kopchak, the jazz cats began hanging at Quinn’s about 10 years ago, took a hiatus during the pandemic and returned in February 2022. The forum gives younger students a chance to mix it up with experienced musicians in a real-world setting.
Fairbanks plays trumpet with the high school big band and a smaller group, but he is also adept behind the drums. Anticipating his turn at Quinn’s, he took a seat near the stage, bobbing his head, tapping his feet and staring at the kit.
After Kopchak counted off “one, two, you know what to do,” Fairbanks locked in with Steele on piano as they exchanged improvised call-and-response riffs. When Talio took an experimental flight, Fairbanks kept pace, incorporating the tom-toms into beats that complemented the tune.
Fairbanks’ parents, professional trombone player Jeff and cellist Choi, instilled a love for the form. His younger brother, Kyle, plays alto sax and would have shown up to the jam but got bogged down with homework.Â
Teo would like to study jazz in college. “There’s nothing else like it; you can be creative with the dynamics of the solos and slip in your own material on the fly,” he said. “It’s where the unexpected happens.”
Jazz also fosters communication onstage and off. “I can have anxiety speaking with people sometimes, but when I play, it’s like me talking and it’s not as awkward,” Teo says. “I’ve made a lot of friends through this music.”
Quinn’s is located at 330 Main St. in Beacon. The music begins at 8 p.m. There is also a jazz jam on the third Wednesday of each month at The Falcon in Marlboro.
