Jazz clubs in NYC: The five best bargain-priced options
Experience top-quality NYC jazz on the cheap, with our list of some of the best deals at local jazz clubs..
Visiting a jazz club in New York can be an expensive proposition. We've all had the experience of enduring a steep cover charge or minimum at a classy club in order to catch a marquee name. Here we present a list of some of the city’s best jazz deals, for those nights when you can’t afford to break the bank.
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Cornelia Street Café
Many a well-known bandleader has come to this West Village basement to work out new ideas in front of a small, intensely focused audience. Cover is typically $20, which thankfully includes your first drink.
55 Bar
This comfortable prewar Christopher Street basement features music seven nights a week, ranging from hard-driving postbop to slick fusion grooves. Early sets at 6 or 7pm are free; late sets typically run you $10 to $15.
Smalls
You might encounter legendary old-timers or freshly arrived aspirants at this cozy hang; on the best nights you might even find them working together. It’s always $20 to get in, and every night but Friday and Saturday your first drink is covered by that charge too.
The Stone
If you’ve got a taste for adventure and a hole in your pocket, head east—way east—to the Stone, John Zorn’s no-frills musical laboratory in Alphabet City. For just $10 a night (and sometimes even less), you can tap into the latest developments from the city’s storied downtown avant-garde scene. No drinks, no tchotchkes, just music.
Barbès
This cozy French bar in Park Slope typically features all manner of folk and international musics. But jazz reigns on Wednesdays, when local reed ace Oscar Noriega hosts vanguard artists at the Palimpsestic Series; it'll cost you a measly $10 to get in.