On the corner at the top of Rua da Restauração, bathed in the last rays of sunlight, the zigzagging arpeggios of a jazz quintet begin to sound. Among tourists climbing back from the riverside and curious onlookers captivated by a guitar and keyboard in defiance, the tiny shop at door 481 slowly fills with people. The club's name is a reference to the previous occupation of the space—a restaurant serving bean burgers—but it could easily be attributed to the way each free space is filled: between benches, steps, corners, and furniture tops—there is always room for one more, like in a more or less cushioned pod.

When the club started in 2021, under the leadership of André Indiana and Isadora Fevereiro, jams were already the main attraction—improvised music sessions with no set lineup or fixed instrumentalists. A year later, Miguel Pinto took over management of the space, and jams began to take place twice a week. In addition, it was at this stage that the new layout was designed – the musicians in the center, facing each other, while the audience surrounds them. “I think it’s something that greatly affects the way things happen,” he tells us, “and what we want is to create the ideal conditions for something to happen.”

That something is very clear to Miguel: “It’s a harmony between the audience and the musicians. The audience is just as important as the musicians—when we don’t have people, we can’t reach the same places.” The bassist thus emphasizes the importance of the club’s small space, which fosters this contagion between those who play and those who listen, explaining that those who listen are, in a way, playing too.

Edu Mundo, a multi-instrumentalist who feels most comfortable playing the drums, adds that the space itself is conducive to this exchange. “Those who are inside end up having an almost festival-like experience, where sweat, breath, and excitement are shared. And this proximity allows musicians to read that, to know whether they should take the music to a more intense or calmer place.”

This view is expanded upon by Pancho, a Uruguayan percussionist, who advocates the maxim of “playing together, not at the same time,” because “the ego has to stay out of it.” “If the musicians are in dialogue, people also realize this, they also learn from it. We like to start each new rotation of instrumentalists in silence. And even when the night is long, and the energy is high, we ask people to be quiet. Because now is the time to listen."