BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, the storied downtown St. Louis music room, is gearing up to reopen at its longtime home at 700 S. Broadway under new management tied to a nearby music institution. Owners say the reboot will blend nightly live music with educational programming and a refreshed lineup of Southern-and-Memphis-style dishes. A public pre-opening celebration set for Wednesday at noon is slated to mark BB's official return to live shows on South Broadway.
Pre-opening Celebration and Ownership
According to Sauce Magazine, the club is under contract to Steve Sullivan and Mark Goldenberg, the operators of the Broadway Oyster Bar. "BB's has always been more than a club. It's a living piece of St. Louis history," Sullivan and Goldenberg said in a joint statement to the outlet. The news lands as a rare bright spot in a local live-music scene that has seen its share of recent closures.
Food, Programming and Who’s Playing
Sauce Magazine reports that the pre-opening festivities will feature The Funky Butt Brass Band and acclaimed St. Louis blues artist Marquise Knox, with Sullivan and Knox both offering remarks. Guests will get an early look at a revamped menu leaning into Memphis and Southern soul. Sauce highlights dishes such as smoked crab and pimento dip, dry-rub smoked crayfish with spiced butter, a Memphis burger topped with pulled pork, brisket pasta with collard greens and black-eyed peas, and smoked duck fried rice. Ownership also plans to fold in educational programming and create more opportunities for younger audiences to connect with blues and jazz traditions.
A Long History on South Broadway
BB's first opened in 1976 under Mark O'Shaughnessy and grew into a proving ground for St. Louis blues and jazz acts, according to St. Louis Jazz Notes. The club's longtime home at 700 S. Broadway appears in venue directories such as Jazz Near You. Local reporting notes that BB's shuttered in 2023 amid pandemic-era and post-pandemic pressures, leaving a noticeable gap in South Broadway's live-music circuit before this latest revival.
Who’s Behind the Comeback
Business profiles and local filings list Steve Sullivan and Mark Goldenberg among the leadership tied to the Broadway Oyster Bar, effectively placing the neighboring restaurant group in charge of shepherding BB's next act. The Better Business Bureau lists Sullivan and Goldenberg as co-owners of Broadway Oyster Bar. The Oyster Bar has long functioned as an anchor for live music on the block, and its website describes the restaurant as a longstanding city music destination just a few doors down from BB's, giving the reopening an experienced venue operator in its corner.
What It Could Mean for South Broadway
Local outlets and message boards framed the news as a cultural win: previously ranked BB's among the city's top jazz and blues rooms, and neighborhood threads on r/StLouis reacted to the reopening with enthusiasm and relief. If the relaunch sticks, it could help restore late-night foot traffic and preserve a hands-on stage where St. Louis musicians have long worked out new material, traded licks, and built careers.
