The World’s Best Jazz Clubs

CLIFF BELL’S
When Cliff Bell’s first opened in 1935, Detroit was one of the country’s epicenters of jazz and blues, a cultural heritage imported by the waves of African Americans migrating from the South. The club was hailed for its modernity, boasting of such novelties as air-conditioning and mechanical refrigeration. These days, after a long closure and renovation that wrapped up in 2006, the vibe is more supper-club nostalgic: The original mahogany walls, domed ceilings, and bronze light fixtures still gleam; the stage and its piano (once owned by Stevie Wonder) are concealed by a silk curtain; and the menu leans toward retro fare like oysters Rockfeller and a wedge salad. But the music runs the gamut — you might hear a classic trio one night (house percussionist Louis Jones III is tight), a sultry vocalist singing Erroll Garner tunes on another. In a city where jazz greats like Tommy Flanagan and Ron Carter paved the way for Motown, eclecticism is the point.

BIMHUIS
The striking black box perched above the water that Bimhuis calls home is fittingly avant-garde for a jazz club that has exhibited an adventurous bent since its founding. First opened in 1974 in a former furniture store by saxophonist Hans Dulfer, wind player Willem Breuker, and pianist Misha Mengelberg, it has maintained a steadfast devotion to exploring new forms of jazz, both homegrown and international. Guests have included envelope pushers Charles Mingus and Sun Ra; nowadays you might hear Brad Mehldau, an American jazz pianist who incorporates classical and rock into his work, or Gretchen Parlato, whose delicate, breathy vocals have been described as “anti–Celine Dion.” The contemporary building it has occupied since 2005 — adjacent to the Muziekgebouw concert hall — also houses a stylish café.

AFRICAN JAZZ VILLAGE
Imagine a mix of Latin rhythms, African tribal music, and lots of vibraphone, congas, and other percussion. That’s Ethio-jazz, a joyous genre pioneered in the 1950s by the great Mulatu Astatke, who was the first African to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Suppressed for decades during the Mengistu regime, Ethio-jazz has been making a comeback since the 1990s, and the best place to hear it today is at Astatke’s own club: African Jazz Village, located in the historic Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa. The virtuosic house band, Asli, plays a faithful version of Ethio-jazz that will feel like you’re sitting at the confluence of Africa, Arabia, Latin America, and Europe.

THE PIANO MAN
Jazz made its first foray into India in the 1920s, when African American players escaping discrimination back home came to perform in Mumbai and Kolkata. Adopted by Goan musicians and adapted into its own regional variant, jazz eventually came to influence Bollywood soundtracks. The scene has grown exponentially since, with clubs sprouting up across the country. Today, India’s preeminent venue is The Piano Man, with multiple locations in the Delhi area. The 300-seat Eldeco, the latest and largest outpost, is all Gothic grandeur, capped by three-tiered chandeliers embellished with 579 trumpets. Impresario Arjun Sagar Gupta, the owner, curates talent from across India and around the world. You’ll hear everything from retro jazz (Crooner’s Collective) to pop-fusion jazz (Parvati La Cantante) to fusion disco (Velvet Baraat).

LA ZORRA Y EL CUERVO
Jazz wouldn’t be jazz without the influence of Afro-Cuban music: The habanera rhythm is considered one of the genre’s fundamental motifs, adopted by everyone from W. C. Handy and Jelly Roll Morton to Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz still thrives in Cuba today, and one of its institutions is Havana’s La Zorra y el Cuervo, in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. The speakeasy-style entrance, via a retro red phone booth on the sidewalk, leads to an intimate, somewhat shabby basement club lined with celebrity photos. While you might hear such greats as pianist Roberto Fonseca or percussionist Yissy Garcia on the postage-stamp-size stage, the real thrill is being blown away by younger talent — like Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz, twins who, performing as Ibeyi, are redefining Cuban jazz by mixing electronic and Yoruba music.