One of the reasons I’ve always dreamed to live in New York is because of Jazz music. I’m living an amazing professional experience and an incredible personal one, but it wouldn’t be such as if there was no music on it. And New York is the perfect city to enrich and release your spirit enjoying the best live Jazz music.
In my opinion, Jazz is not an old music style. But it’s a concept. It’s flexible music. Somehow it’s related with architecture and the way a space is built and then lived. Music is rhythm and harmony, among many other things, but then there is improvisation and the way you feel that music. So architecture is similar in the way that it’s structure and construction but then the space is lived differently for each person. People improvise in the space and the city following (or not) certain rules. The same in music.
Anyway, the whole point of this post is not to write a thesis of what music means to me. I just want to recommend, to whoever is reading, a bunch of good venues where to listen the best Jazz music in New York City. Most of them are in Greenwich Village and Harlem, but you can find them all over the city:
Starting with the biggest ones
Grand orchestras concerts or a massive but solo musician concert can easily be listened in renowned places like Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, City Town Hall, Apollo Theater, etc. Prices vary depending on who is playing. But you can go for an affordable cost of $30 most of the times.
Small clubs but big quality
In New York Jazz clubs you can listen the best Jazz in the planet. My top three (between $30 to $50 cover) is: Village Vanguard, Birdland and Blue Note. The best musicians in history have played here and now musicians from all over the world just move to New York one single day to play in these legendary places. Other clubs I recommend (between $10 to $20 cover) are: Smalls, Mezzrow, Zinc, Bonafide, Terra Blues, The Groove, etc. Some of them are really cheap or even free, like Fat Cat or Arthur’s Tavern.
Private venues
This is maybe the most special and authentic way you can listen live Jazz music in the city. And also some of them are free (except for donations or tips). The ones I know are in Harlem, like Marjorie Eliot’s, Bill’s Place, American Legion Post 398, etc. These are private houses where musicians usually gather one day of the week and offer incredible concerts to people who assist.
Of course there are more places than the ones I’ve written and I still have to discover. But besides all of these, don’t forget that in New York sometimes the best venue (and also free) to listen good music is the street!
