The Best Live Music Bars in New Orleans

The most serious jazz room in New Orleans, booking at the level of Ronnie Scott's or the Village Vanguard. The format is concert-style — tables face the stage, the room goes quiet when the music starts, and the musicians are treated as artists rather than background entertainment. Ellis Marsalis plays here regularly. The covers run twenty to thirty dollars depending on the act, the food is genuinely good, and the cocktails are properly made. Reserve a table, arrive on time, and turn your phone over.

Order: A Bourbon Street cocktail or the house Sazerac — both are correctly made

No cover, no reservations, and the best swing and traditional jazz on Frenchmen Street. The Spotted Cat books New Orleans rhythm and blues, vintage jazz, and swing bands from early evening to 2am, and the dance floor in front of the stage fills up by 10pm with people who actually know how to swing dance. The drinks are cheap and poured generously. It is one of the most genuinely joyful bars in any city, and we have been back more times than we can count.

Order: A Hurricane or a simple rum and Coke — this is a dancing bar, not a contemplative one

The New Orleans outpost of the New York original, booking across jazz, blues, funk, and brass band formats most nights of the week. The beer list is longer than most New Orleans bars — draft imports, craft options, and a rotating selection that the staff know well. The cover varies by act but rarely exceeds ten dollars. When there is no cover, it is one of the best-value live music bars in the city. The patio in the back is for when you want a break from the volume inside.

Order: Ask the bartender what is good on draft — the selection is the reason to drink here

A Tremé neighbourhood bar that books live brass band every Wednesday night, free of charge, to a crowd that is almost entirely local. The music starts around 10pm and runs until the band decides to stop, which is usually 2am. The room is small and the crowd fills it from the door to the bar. It is the most authentic expression of New Orleans brass band culture available to a visitor, and it costs nothing except what you spend at the bar. Spending generously at the bar is the appropriate response.

Order: Whatever beer is cold — the music is why you are here

A two-floor bar on Frenchmen with a balcony that is one of the best vantage points on the street and a ground floor that books consistently good traditional jazz. The upstairs bar overlooks the street and the downstairs stage simultaneously, which gives you the option of watching the band or watching the Frenchmen Street spectacle below, both of which are worth your attention. The cocktail list is short and competent. The crowd is mixed — locals and visitors — in proportions that feel correct.

Order: A frozen daiquiri or a bourbon on the rocks — the classics in a classic New Orleans bar

The Saturn Bar has been in the Bywater since the 1960s and the interior — accumulated over six decades of decoration — is one of the most extraordinary bar environments in any city. The walls are covered in paintings, photographs, signs, and objects that reflect the neighbourhood's history. The booking now runs to indie rock, experimental acts, and local bands that would not fit anywhere on Frenchmen Street. The drinks are cheap and the bartenders have been there long enough to have opinions about everything.

Order: A cheap domestic beer or a well whisky — the bar here is functional, not aspirational

Preservation Hall is not a bar — it serves no alcohol — but it belongs on this list because it is the most concentrated and authentic traditional jazz performance in New Orleans and possibly in the world. The room holds about sixty people standing, there are no chairs, and the sets run forty-five minutes. The booking is entirely traditional New Orleans jazz, often featuring musicians in their seventies and eighties who have been playing this music their entire lives. It is the reason jazz tourists come to New Orleans.

Order: Nothing — they serve no drinks. Get something from Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop before you go in

The oldest jazz bar in the French Quarter, operating since 1969 in a Bourbon Street building that predates the Civil War. Despite the Bourbon Street address, Fritzel's operates like a European jazz club — serious booking, attentive crowds, reasonable prices. The bands play traditional and modern jazz from 8pm to 6am, which means it is one of the only rooms in the Quarter where you can hear live jazz at dawn if the evening has extended itself. The bar serves properly made cocktails.

Order: A Sazerac or a Ramos Gin Fizz — the New Orleans standards, made correctly here

A three-floor venue at the corner of Frenchmen and Chartres that books two stages simultaneously most nights. The ground floor is more casual; the upstairs room is tighter and better for serious listening. The booking runs to jazz, funk, brass band, and R&B. It stays open until 5am on weekends, which makes it the fallback when everything else on Frenchmen Street has closed. The bar is functional and adequately priced for the neighbourhood.

Order: A strong rum cocktail or a bourbon — something that will sustain you through a long evening

A Mid-City bar on Canal Street that books blues, rock, and Americana most nights of the week with cover charges that rarely exceed fifteen dollars. The room is a converted grocery store and the layout — long bar, stage at the back, tables in between — is exactly right for the music. The crowd is local and the booking is curated by someone who cares: the acts here are working musicians, not cover bands. It is one of the best live music venues in the city that most visitors never find.

Order: A local craft beer or a well whisky — the bar here is honest and the prices are fair