Walking up Pacific Avenue in downtown Bremerton, a group of guys who look like they just got off work passes by the front street window of The Jazz House. One of them immediately doubles back, looking curiously into the building and then intently at the placard displaying the establishment’s name and address.

Inside, Charlie Gaines is playing the skins with a set of brushes while Tedd McKeever jangles on an electric keyboard.

The music of The Jazz House has just caught the ear of these passers by, and it has totally enthralled the partners of the burgeoning club who are laughing, jazzing and carrying on inside.

That was scene was from a Wednesday evening rehearsal. Multiply the former response by 100-150 people coming and going, and you’ve got an idea of how the club’s opening weekend went June 1-2.

The Jazz House — a marketing and advertising firm run by Steve Pyle and Ed Munoz — has transformed the bottom level of their quaint 322 Pacific Avenue building into a dim-lit, red-walled, all-ages jazz club — currently swinging from 7-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

“We want to be able to offer some place where people can step back in time, or step out of their worries,” Pyle said. “And they’re gonna step into The Jazz House.”

“There’s no color in music, music has no age and no age limit … it’s your soul,” McKeever added. “Everybody is welcome in the music.”

And in fact it has been the music, in large part, which has led the serendipitous yet strategic venture toward the inclusion of a jazz club at The Jazz House.

Clifford Provost, another partner of the endeavor — the host/vocalist/DJ/comedic relief — met Pyle one afternoon while he was singing on a street corner near The Jazz House’s former building. Pyle was impressed and intrigued and there, the beginning of the venture was forged on a handshake.

In March, Provost and Gaines began discussing their vision for a downtown Bremerton jazz club with Pyle and Munoz — who’s vision for The Jazz House was very much inline.

“People would walk in and say ‘Jazz House? Where’s the music?’” Gaines said. “These guys wanted some music and we wanted a place to play some music.”

“We want it to be classy,” Provost said. “A place where people can come and be comfortable.”

Fast forward to the weekend of June 1 and McKeever and Gaines are seated in front of portraits of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, jamming for a packed house with two cats they had just met. Provost, the host, is making rounds with punch, cheese and crackers, a smile and a skip in his step.

“The best part is everybody was having a ball doing it … that’s what makes it work,” McKeever said. “The enjoyment that we have playing … that comes out onto the audience.”

“That’s the heart, the soul and the spirit of jazz,” Gaines said.

With that essence as their foundation, moving forward with enthusiastic faith, the purveyors of The Jazz House have plans to expand their offerings — to include even more music, menu items and alcohol — as time and permits allow. For now, they are focused on bringing the jazz sound to this side of the Sound.

“People say, ‘What are you doing in Bremerton, you should be in Seattle,’” McKeever said. “And I say, ‘No, we’re bringing it here!’”