The Best Live Music Bars in New York

The cover charge is twenty dollars and the jazz starts at 10pm and runs until 4am. Smalls has been operating in the basement of a West Village townhouse since 1994 and the room — low ceilings, close quarters, sight lines to the stage from every seat — is exactly what a jazz club should be. The late sets on weekends draw musicians who have just come off other gigs. Some of the best unannounced playing in the city happens here after midnight.

Order: Whisky or beer — the drinks are straightforward and the music is the reason you are here

The basement of a Christopher Street building that operates as a jazz club, billiards hall, and ping-pong venue simultaneously. The cover is minimal, the drinks are cheap, and the music — mostly young musicians working through standards and originals — runs continuously from early evening to 4am. It is the most democratic live music experience in the Village: students, office workers, tourists, and serious jazz heads all sharing the same room without anyone taking it too seriously.

Order: Draft beer — the selection is basic and that is entirely appropriate

One of the last remaining blues bars in Manhattan, operating since 1990 on Bleecker Street. The room is small, the booking is consistent, and the regulars know every musician who steps on the stage. Acoustic sets in the afternoon give way to full electric blues from 9pm. The editors have been back more times than we have counted. If you are in the Village and want live music without the jazz club cover charge structure, Terra Blues is the answer.

Order: Bourbon or Tennessee whisky — the only appropriate choices in a blues bar

Named after the North African neighbourhood in Paris, Barbès books music from across the world: Algerian rai, Balkan brass, Brazilian choro, Afrobeat, New Orleans second line. The suggested donation at the door is five dollars. The back room, where the stage is, holds perhaps sixty people. The bar itself — French wines, Belgian beers, good cocktails — functions independently of the music programme, which means you can come just to drink without catching a set and nobody minds.

Order: A French wine from the list — the selection is short and chosen with care

In an old storefront in Red Hook, Jalopy operates as a music school during the day and a folk and Americana venue at night. The programming runs to old-time string bands, bluegrass, country blues, and experimental folk, with occasional detours into spoken word and film. The cover charge rarely exceeds ten dollars. The neighbourhood is a twenty-minute taxi ride from most of Manhattan, which keeps the crowd local and genuine.

Order: Whatever cold beer they have on the tap — this is not a cocktail bar

Williamsburg's answer to a proper rock and roll bar: loud, unpretentious, and consistent. The back room books bands most nights of the week, the front bar has excellent fried chicken and strong drinks, and the whole operation runs on the understanding that good music and good food belong in the same building. Cover charges stay reasonable. The editors have eaten here before every show and regretted nothing.

Order: Frozen daiquiri and the fried chicken — this combination is correct

The room where bebop was invented in the 1940s, now operating again with live jazz seven nights a week. The renovation preserved the original tin ceiling and restored the stage to something close to its historical configuration. The cocktail programme is more serious than most jazz clubs — the list runs to a full page of originals and classics — and the food is worth ordering. Reservations recommended for weekend sets; walk-ins welcome at the bar.

Order: The Minton's Old Fashioned — house rye, house bitters, appropriately made

A Harlem neighbourhood bar that books African and world music most nights of the week, almost always without a cover charge. The crowd is mixed and local, the sound system is better than the room's exterior suggests, and the food from the kitchen runs to West African and Caribbean dishes that arrive quickly. It is our top recommendation for live music in Harlem on a budget — no cover, good music, honest food, and a room that reflects the neighbourhood it sits in.

Order: A bottle of Guinness Foreign Extra — the standard choice in this room

The oldest continuously operating jazz bar in Harlem, which is a significant claim in this neighbourhood. Paris Blues opened in the 1950s and the interior — murals, photographs, a bar that has absorbed sixty years of music — communicates its own history without trying to. Weekend jazz sessions run from early evening and the cover, when there is one, rarely exceeds ten dollars. It is the kind of room that should be on every serious jazz drinker's itinerary.

Order: Whisky sour or a cold Heineken — the classics in a classic room

The basement jazz club at the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca operates as the most aesthetically coherent live music bar in the city: the room is lined with books and vintage furniture, the cocktails are properly made, and the programming runs to contemporary jazz and acoustic sets from artists who also play Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. The cover charge is higher than most bars on this list, but the room earns it. Reserve in advance on weekends.

Order: The Django cocktail — a house creation built around cognac that changes seasonally