Live Jazz in the Boston area happens in all sorts of places. Nubian Square and Assembly Square in Somerville are places to go. Group sizes are very very limited until Phase 4 Re-openings occur. Until then, Bars that serve no food, large nightclub and concert performance halls are all closed. These include The John Hancock Hall facility, The New England Conservatory auditoriums, Northeastern University Blackman’s Hall, and the Berklee Performance Center, TD North, etc.
SEPTEMBER = Virtual Jazz Show from the Makenda Project.
The popular live jazz spots many urban professionals are going to are Boston’s Wally’s Cafe on Massachusetts Avenue near the Harriet Tubman (former ) House, and Darryl’s Corner Bar and Kitchen near Ruggles Station in the South End, where the infamous Bean Town Jazz Festival got it start. Put Slades Bar and Grill on the list too. These three locals are Black-owned establishments.
In Cambridge’s Central Square and the Inman Square area and you’ll find a number of restaurants with a jazz set on the street. The touring big money jazz artists are booking performances at Cambridge’s Charles Luxury Hotel Regatta Bar joint. Just across the river from it on the Boston side of the Charles River is the Doubletree Inn’s SCULLERS Jazz Club. Speaking of the Charles, there a stage platform there where performances of all genres will be happening and some of it is Jazz. This writer caught the TEMPTATIONS playing for free on that stage in Arthur Fiedler Park. It was a fantastic show outdoors.
Crowd capacities are going to be limited per Covid-19 safety policy where ever you go in Massachusetts. Reserve admission tickets or dining tables in advance when they are offered.
Some venues will have time-ed ticket entry. The Garner Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art are in town locations for an occasional jazz gig in a classic museum settings. In the community, jazz concerts are happening at the Roxbury Library, the Grove Hall Library, the Bruce C Bolling Building in Nubian Square and at Hibernian Hall and the Black Market gathering space. .
Stay tuned for new jazz date announcements to be added to this page as we get them…
contact@blackboston.com to add a listing
The 2020 Newport Jazz Festival has been cancelled.
We recommend round trip luxury motorcoach bus transportation from Boston to theNewport Jazz Festival. For a flat price it includes a day-long jazz festival admission ticket and a roundtrip luxury motorcoach bus ride from Boston to the concert at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.
The bus is sponsored by WBGO Travel, and FM radio station, the official Newport Jazz Festival broadcaster. We bought the ticket package for the first time in 2019. Now, we can highly recommend the product. You will arrive at the festival entrance gates. It leaves the Berklee College of Music building near the Pavement coffee shop on Boylston St.
- Departs Boston at 8am, the festival starts at 12:00 noon.
- Put you at the festival entrance gate to Fort Adams State Park
- You’ll ride a luxury motorcoach bus with amenities and luggage space
- It comes with Wifi, AC outlets, bathroom and air conditioning
