Jazz clubs in NYC: The five best bargain-priced options

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.