The rooms worth knowing

A basement room in the West Village that never stopped believing in the music. Sets run late and the crowd leans in.

Smalls' quieter sibling across the street, built for the piano trio and the close listen.

A loft space built around commissions and new work, where the next generation tests material first.

The wedge-shaped basement that has hosted the music's history since 1935, still the room every player wants to play.

A Brooklyn room named for a Charlie Parker tune, favored by players who want a looser, later night.

Jazz at Lincoln Center's home room, glass wall overlooking Columbus Circle, a big-room sound in a club setting.

An Upper West Side supper club where the tables are close to the bandstand and the tradition runs deep.

An East Village room with roots in downtown's genre-blurring scene, where jazz meets everything else.