Cafe Culture: Why You Should Go To a Jazz Club Right

Thelonious Jazz Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2015

I am by no means a jazz aficionado. I just know that when I wake up on Sunday mornings I like to fill my house with the sounds of a Parisian street café and the smell of freshly brewed coffee. I sit in my comfy chair, and sipping my coffee I feel transported. Jazz does this both through the sounds of the improvising instruments and the sweet lyrics that seem to be from another time. The lighthearted lyrics are infused with deep meaning and the easygoing beats bring you to exist only in the very moment at hand.

In DC, I used to visit HR-57 on H Street to listen to some weekend jazz or their weekday jam sessions. This was back before the street car and the Whole Foods and there was still an untouched authenticity to poorly lit corridor. The jazz club was BYOB and there was only one thing to order on the menu: fried chicken and collards. It was one of my absolute favorite places in the city. Unpretentious and welcoming, a perfect getaway on a Saturday night. I also loved that the name: HR-57. It's taken from House Resolution 57, which classified jazz as a national treasure. Unfortunately, HR-57 closed its doors in 2014. The jazz clubbed had closed down and moved a few other times, but it always found a new location to relocate. I hope it does again. In the meantime, the do have some pop-ups it seems.

Visiting a jazz club in your own city is a perfect way to feel abroad at home, but it's also a perfect way to experience a city abroad. When my husband and I were planning our honeymoon to Buenos Aires, he suggested we go to a jazz club there. At first, I was a bit confused by the proposition, since when you think of Argentina, jazz is certainly not the first thing that pops in your head. We ended up going to this hole-in-the-wall jazz club just outside Buenos Aires’ trendiest neighborhood, and it was such a fantastic way to spend the night. We sat at a small, candlelit table close to the preference area and tapped our toes with the sounds that filled the room. I don’t speak Spanish, so while I couldn’t understand any of the lyrics or interlude remarks provided by the reformers, the music spoke for itself.

Jazz is such a fantastic way to transport yourself in time by making you live in no place but the moment. Have you ever been to a jazz club? What are your thoughts?

How To: Feel Abroad at Home