Jamboree has been one of Barcelona’s most renowned venues for live jazz and blues for decades. While its heyday may have been back in the 60s, Jamboree is still a popular venue for local and international jazz and blues artists.

This place just oozes "jazz club." The upper level is a dance club, but a walk down a dark and narrow flight of stairs transforms you to a seemingly different time and place. Dim lighting and arched brick ceilings accentuate the cellar-like ambiance. The bench seating quite frankly looks like it was lifted from a local park on a five-finger discount. The main sitting area is long and narrow, with a center aisle anchored by rows of benches on either side that face the stage. A few additional benches and two bars are located to the side of the stage. On the wall adjacent to one of the bars you’ll find several large framed black and white photographs documenting the club’s illustrious past. While it’s intriguing to gaze at the musicians performing in the photographs, it’s also interesting to note that the crowds in the photos are all men, and all are wearing coats and ties.

We ambled in to Jamboree on a Sunday night to catch a great performance by the Steve De Swardt Blues Band. Jamboree is their regular Sunday night gig as near as we can tell, and it became obvious to us that this quintet of musicians is extremely talented and experienced. While some performers can put it on cruise control or "mail it in", this band was tight, energetic, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Steve and his band cranked out some hard-driving contemporary blues as well as some traditional material, including one of Robert Johnson’s legendary numbers.

Refreshingly, the crowd was into the performance and less into socializing; the opposite seems to be true more often than not at many live music venues here in the United States. Frankly, if you were in attendance and your foot wasn’t tapping along, I might question whether you had a pulse. I highly recommend stopping by on a Sunday night to check out this band.

After the main live performance finishes, Jamboree shifts gears to become a dance club. After the lights come up, a turning of the tide takes place, as a distinctly younger crowd begins to filter in.

Additional information:
District: Old Town
Metro stop: Liceu (L3)
Web site: http://www.masimas.com/jamboree/
Email: jamboree@masimas.com
Ph: +34 93 319 17 89