NYC piano bar / jazz bar / caberet recommendation?
 

I'm going to NYC for 5 days and I'd like to visit a good jazz bar, piano bar and caberet while I'm there. Got any recommendations?

Yes there are tons on them in the city, my fav is "Don't Tell Mama" on Restaurant Row, award winning performers there on a regular basis.

A friend of mine Karen Mack, is there several times a month and is an up and coming artist, go see her if she is there.

I think they even have a website.

The bar at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square is also fun, the entire room turns so you have some great views of the city and there is usually a pianist playing broadway tunes.

You might get a New York Magazine and see what is happening while you are here. It's one of the best sources of doings in the city.

Have a great time while you are here.

I have never been able to make it to the Blue Note but I have always read great things about it. Woody Allen plays there from time to time. If you have watched Sex and the City, I believe that is where Samantha met the first man she claimed to LOVE, James, the attorney with his "short-comings". Just kind of fun when you go to NYC & run across the same places that you see on the tellie just because so many movies & shows are set in NY. (Central Park is my favorite.) Anyway, don't know if that is helpful but it's what I got. "What're ya gonna do?" :-D

Wherever you end up going will you please report back? Would love some suggestions for future trips. Thanks.

Brandy's on East 84th Street is a true NYC piano bar. Small and intimate, on a relatively quiet block (between 2nd & 3rd Aves).

For good jazz, I enjoy the Jazz Standard below Danny Meyer's Blue Smoke restaurant. (Please try the incredible macaroni & cheese at Blue Smoke -- it's surreal.)

For carbaret, how about the Broadway show Cabaret at Studio 54? I thoroughly enjoyed it and ticket deals are available.

For jazz served up in a historic room, I recommend the Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, 212 255-4037 (www.villagevanguard.net). My very first time in NYC, I made a pilgrimage there, and heard the Kenny Barron Quartet. What incredible luck!!

Don't Tell Mama is a great suggestion (www.donttellmama.com)-- 343 West 46th Street, 212 757-0788. I saw Beth Hart there just after she hit it big ("LA Song") and just before she blew it on drug addiction. Mixed crowd gay & straight.

Bobby Short is still packin' them in at the Café Carlyle (35 East 76th Street, 212 570-7189)-- the quintessential New York cabaret veteran, 30 years at the Carlyle. He's worth a listen just for the history....

You can check www.gothamjazz.com for a real-time calendar of goings-on-- including Woody Allen and Eddy Davis' New Orleans Jazz Band (Mondays at the Carlyle).
Anyone else?

The Oak Room at the Algonquin usually has good cabaret. Bobby Feinstein I beleive?

Forgot to add, The Oak Room and Cafe Carlyle have hefty cover charges. Around $75 per person with a 2 drink minimum.

Check out this website for pleny of inforamtion on jazz/piano bars in the City.

http://www.bigapplejazz.com/

You've gotten excellent info on both venues & websites. A few additions/corrections.

Here's another website with good info on jazz places.

http://www.ny.com/clubs/jazz/

The Knickerbocker Saloon on University Place & 9th St (in the village) is one of the few places with decent food so you can eat & listen.

MICHAEL Feinstein "runs" the cabaret room at the Regency hotel on Park Ave.-it's called Feinstein's. He plays there occassionally & they have other performers. Betty Buckley is scheduled sometime in Sept. All the entertainment venues at the hotels are very expensive (like the Cafe Carlyle & the Algonquin) but sort of elegant old NY. Bobby Short is usually at the Carlyle around Christmas time.

The Blue Note & the Village Vanguard are quintessential NY jazz clubs.

Brandy's is FUN! The waiters/waitresses are all performers waiitng to be discovered. They all sing & in between, the pianist will perform & anybody from the audience who wants to can get up & sing.

New York magazine's website is newyorkmetro.com

Have a great time!

Thanks for the correction mclaurie. Where in the heck did I get Bobby Feinstein from I wonder?

Who is featured at the Oak Room? I think I've killed too many brain cells over the years.

Perhaps a combination of Bobby Short & Michael Feinstein ;;)

There is no one featured performer at the Oak room. Here's a URL for their upcoming schedule. It's closed now & opens on Sept 1
http://www.thealgonquin.net/OakRoom/schedule_rates.htm

When I was in NY recently, I visited with my friend, jazz singer Lea DeLaria. She took my daughter & I to a club called Smoke (not Blue Smoke, just "Smoke") ...in the Upper West Side, on Broadway around 103rd. Monday nights are jam session nights, which is when we were there. Lots of musicians hang out there. Very cool experience. Other nights, Smoke has scheduled performers, including Lea DeLaria, of course. I'm no expert on the jazz scene in NYC, but this certainly appeared to be the Real McCoy...not a tourist-y kind of place. But not intimidating. Very laid back, friendly & cool....just as a jazz club oughta be.

Although the food is your typical neighborhood Italian, Cafe Taci on the "Upper" West Side (way up!)on the west side of Broadway at 111th/110th can be a lot of fun. Different kinds of live music on different nights of the week. Call them. They used to have a website, too.