Habana Vieja

Jazz trios perform upstairs nightly in Café del Oriente (Oficios #112, esq. Amargura, tel. 07/860-6686) and five nights a week in the lobby of the Hotel NH Parque Central (Neptuno, e/ Prado y Zulueta, tel. 07/866-6627).

However, the key jazz venue is the Bar Chico O’Farrill (Cuba #102, esq. Chacón, tel. 07/860-5080), in the Hotel Palacio O’Farrill. It hosts Cuba’s top performers Friday–Sunday evenings.

Vedado and Plaza de la Revolución

The Jazz Café (1ra at the base of Paseo, tel. 07/838-3556, daily noon–2 a.m., CUC10 consumo mínimo), on the third floor of the Galería del Paseo, is a classy supper-club with some of the best live jazz in town, including resident maestro Chucho Valdés. The music doesn’t get going until about 11:30 p.m., though the seats usually fill up well before.

La Zorra y el Cuervo (Calle 23, e/ N y O, tel. 07/833-2402, zorra [at] cbcan [dot] cyt [dot] cu, 10 p.m.–2 a.m., CUC10) is a jazz club in a dreary basement setting. Occasional foreign bands perform here, as do the Cuban greats such as Chucho Valdés. It has “blues” on Thursdays. The first set normally kicks off at 10:30 p.m.

UNEAC’s El Hurón Azul (Calle 17 #351, e/ G y H, Vedado, tel. 07/832-4551, www.uneac.com) has tardes del jazz (jazz afternoons) every second Thursday of the month at 5 p.m.

The Peña de Rembert Duharte is hosted in the garden adjoining the Teatro Mella (Línea e/ A y B, tel. 07/830-4987) the last Friday of each month at 5 p.m.

Playa (Miramar and Beyond)

A jazz group performs at the Tocororo (Calle 18 y 3ra Av., tel. 07/202-2209) restaurant.

The piano bar at the Hotel Panorama Havana (Calle 70, esq. 3ra, tel. 07/204-0100, 9 p.m.–2 a.m.) hosts jazz nightly.