Comments (0) Best Jazz Club - 2005

New Amsterdam Coffeehaus

Some jazz clubs in Dallas offer live music on the weekends; most of the better ones serve it up every night. But New Amsterdam, a coffee house in Exposition Park, beats the competition even though it hosts live jazz only on Mondays. Still, there's more than a quality-to-quantity ratio involved in this one. To us, jazz isn't about pristine tablecloths, expensive martinis and a bunch of old farts sitting around and ignoring the music. The best jazz is the stuff made in dark, casual clubs like New Amsterdam, where local players as hot as Shelley Carroll and (on occasion) Earl Harvin set up on the floor in front of the bathrooms and improvise some of the best bop-era jazz in town. On occasion, the tunes get rough--after all, the floor is open to all brass-wielders--but cheap martinis, lounge seating and a chill atmosphere make up for the occasional weak sax solo. Readers' Pick
Sambuca Uptown 2120 McKinney Ave. 214-744-0820