Hottest jazz laboratories

Smalls
Sagacious veterans and aspiring newcomers fresh off planes, trains and buses mix it up for crowds of cognoscenti at this West Village hang.
183 W 10th St between Seventh Ave South and W 4th St (212-675-7369)

The Jazz Gallery
Progressive jazzers of various stripes flex their compositional muscles with a steady stream of ambitious premieres at this downtown walk-up.
290 Hudson St between Dominick and Spring Sts (212-242-1063)

Cornelia Street Café
Jazz makes up only part of the schedule in this funky West Village basement, but some of the scene’s most enduring partnerships have been forged here.
29 Cornelia St between Bleecker and W 4th Sts (212-989-9319)

Barbès
Another part-time jazz space, this homey French bar provides a friendly home for Brooklyn’s teeming pool of improvising talent.
376 9th St at Sixth Ave, Park Slope, Brooklyn (718-965-9177)

55 Bar
Anything goes at this low-key prewar Greenwich Village nightclub, from silken jazz vocals and rowdy postbop rave-ups to hard-hitting jazz-fusion blows and soulful blues.
55 Christopher St at Seventh Ave South (212-929-9883)

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