Jazz@Southbridge

If you haven’t come down for a spell, Jazz is now downstairs from its original home and is twice its former size. Don’t worry; it’s still cosy and intimate, and remains one of the most authentic dives in the city. Owner Eddie Chan wants to educate his audience, to ‘open their eyes to jazz’. The croons of resident vocalist Alemay Fernandez can be enjoyed over a tapas-centric dinner, or over martinis on the ‘tango seats’ upfront. Visiting musicians are frequent – look out for international names like Dale Barlow, Marcus Printup and Aaron Goldberg – even Pat Metheny played a spontaneous set here. If Eddie is propping up the bar (which reveals a hundred or so malt whiskies) the night you visit, beg him to tell his story. A former architect, Eddie only discovered jazz in his fifties; his love of the genre soon became his life’s preoccupation – a journey that led him to open the club in 2002, picking up the vibraphone along the way, on which he performs with the band on Tuesdays and Sundays.