The Blue Note is a jazz and blues institution in New York. If you love music, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

It's everything a jazz club is supposed to be - cramped and dark, with cosy little tables and a small stage busting with musicians. I saw Phyllis Hyman here many years ago - the tables are so close to the stage that she was taking French fries off some guy's plate in between songs. Such luminaries as the late Tito Puente, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Al DiMeola, Dave Brubeck, Maynard Ferguson, Herbie Mann, and Celia Cruz play at the Blue Note, among just about any other jazz and/or blues musician you can think of.

Tickets cost anywhere from $30-$55 per person and up depending on who is playing. They typically have two seatings per night - around 9:00 p.m. and then at 11:30 p.m. - I prefer the later seating. The musicians are warmed up and so is the atmosphere.

The Blue Note has a full dinner menu (of course, food is not included in the ticket price). I personally have never eaten anything at the Blue Note, but Phyllis Hyman seemed to enjoy the fries. The menu is priced decently enough for New York - $10 hamburger platters and $25 steaks, with lots of appetizers and some basic desserts - many of the offerings have "jazzy" names (ie: Mingus Fingus - mozzarella sticks -- you just don't forget something like that.) I prefer to eat elsewhere and just have drinks at the club.

The Blue Note is famous for it's Sunday Brunch, which I am sorry to say I have never been to myself. If you are interested, the jazz brunch goes from 12-4 with two seatings. Tickets include brunch and cost about $20.

It's best to call ahead to reserve tickets, but I have gone in spur-of-the-moment and have gotten a decent table. The Blue Note is located on 3rd St. between 6th Avenue and Macdougall. Call them at 212-475-8592, or check out their schedule online at http://bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/index.shtml

Secret for the ladies--this is a place in New York you can go on a weeknight and sit unmolested at the bar while taking in some Bossa Nova. Very chilled out. Or you could talk to the psychology professor from Cornell beside you. Either way. Yes, it's a bit touristy, and the lines of dumb-looking people on jazz pub crawls gets annoying, but it's still an institution, and you have to do it once.