Where to hear live jazz this week
5 places
Low light, a drink, and a horn close enough to feel. Babydoll’s and Outpost are for a full show. The other three are weeknight sets you can catch over a beer or a glass of wine.
A jazz club and a concert hall
Babydoll's House of Jazz & Blues
Dim lights, room for about 35, and every seat faces the stage. The owner, Tracey Whitney, sings here on weekends, and the classics keep coming.
$20 cover, 21 and over, cashless. No kitchen, but you can bring food in. Reserve ahead and dress up.
The Outpost Performance Space
A nonprofit listening room since 1988 and the home of the New Mexico Jazz Festival. The sound is clean and the audience is quiet, because people come here to listen.
Shows are ticketed; the calendar is on their site.
Weeknight jazz at a studio, a brewery and a bar
Kelly Jo Designs by Wine
Paint pottery while a jazz band plays, or just sit with a glass of wine and listen, at a Los Ranchos studio every Monday night.
Music from 7 to 9. $5 reserves a seat.
Kaktus Brewing
Mickey Patten and friends jam on the brewery patio in Bernalillo, with pizza and Kaktus beer. Ask about the spicy elk pizza.
Wednesdays 6 to 9. It’s on the patio, so check their Instagram on cold nights.
Teddy Roe's
A speakeasy hidden in the alley behind M’tucci’s, small and low-lit, with live music Monday through Thursday. Some weeks that’s Hillary Smith, some weeks a jazz trio.
The lineup changes weekly and goes up on Instagram. Reservations are for two-hour seatings.