02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
Smalls is a 60-seat basement on West 10th Street with a no-frills door, BYO snacks, and three sets a night. Mitch Borden opened it in 1994. Spike Wilner runs it now. The room is so small that the bassist's plectrum hits the cymbal six feet from your face. SmallsLIVE streams every set to subscribers worldwide and has built the most-recorded jazz session archive of the post-Marsalis era. The 7:30pm set is the headline, the 10pm is the session, the late-night jam runs until 4am on a Saturday. The cover is modest. The playing is rigorous.
Three sets a night. The 7:30 is for the headline act, the 10pm is the session, the late-night jam (after 1am Fri/Sat) is for the regulars. Cover is per set, no in-and-out.
The basement jazz canon of the past 25 years. Where the New York scene records itself.
Tuesday through Thursday for serious listening. Friday and Saturday late-night jam (post-1am) for the unpolished session feel.
Open nightly. Sets at 7:30pm, 10pm, midnight; late jam Fri/Sat to 4am.
1, 2, 3 train to 14th St-7th Ave, walk south. 183 W 10th Street between Seventh Avenue South and West 4th Street. Black door, basement entrance.