Live Jazz in New York City
NYC's top jazz clubs include the Blue Note ($20-45), Village Vanguard ($40), Smalls Jazz Club ($20), and Jazz at Lincoln Center ($30-150). Smalls is the best value with no drink minimum.
5 places · Updated Oct 2026
Greenwich Village jazz since 1981. Two sets per evening with a $20 food/drink minimum. The late-night Fri/Sat jam sessions are $5 cover -- one of the best cheap nights out in the city. Students get half-price cover on the 10:30pm set Sunday through Thursday.
Operating since 1935 in a tiny, wedge-shaped basement with perfect acoustics. There are no bad seats because there are barely any seats. Every major jazz artist of the past 90 years has played here. $15 drink minimum per set. Shows sell out -- book early.
Tiny basement in the Village, no-frills, but the musicians are the real thing. Walk-in cover $25 when there's space; reserved seats $35-$40. Sets run until 3:30am on weekends -- one of the only spots left for late-night jazz. BYOB-friendly (beer and wine only).
Three performance spaces at the top of the Time Warner Center. The Appel Room has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park -- you'll understand when you see it. Wynton Marsalis leads the resident orchestra. Dizzy's Club is the move for a cheaper, more intimate night -- $10-$20 cover after 11pm.
A 30-seat BYOB jazz club in a Harlem brownstone parlor that was a speakeasy during Prohibition. Intimate, unpolished, and completely authentic. The musicians are right in front of you -- there is no stage, just a corner of the room. Shows Friday and Saturday. Reserve ahead.