West Palm Beach’s jazz scene is small but real, and Lake Worth Beach just south of it rounds things out with a couple of the area’s most respected blues and roots rooms. Treat the two towns as one jazz night rather than two separate trips; they’re a ten minute drive apart. Every venue below links to its full profile in our venue directory.
Sunset Lounge
On Flagler Drive overlooking the water, Sunset Lounge is West Palm Beach’s dedicated jazz room, with the kind of waterfront view that makes a slow evening set feel like a bigger occasion than it is. 21 and up (get directions).
Northwood Art & Music Warehouse
In the Northwood neighborhood, Northwood Art & Music Warehouse is a converted warehouse turned art gallery and bar, with guitarist Neil Bacher playing a Monday jazz night among several nights of original local acts across two stages. 21 and up (get directions).
Bamboo Room
A few minutes south in downtown Lake Worth Beach, Bamboo Room has long been one of the area’s most respected rooms for blues, jazz and Americana, with rotating live music on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. 21 and up (get directions).
Rudy’s Pub
Next door in the same historic 1922 Paradise Building, Rudy's Pub runs a Thursday blues band and a Saturday afternoon pickers circle, a good chaser to whatever’s happening next door at the Bamboo Room. 21 and up (get directions).
This is not a scene built for tourists passing through for one night. Sunset Lounge and Northwood both lean toward a regulars crowd, and the Lake Worth Beach pair have been anchoring that stretch of J Street for years. Show up more than once and it starts to feel like a neighborhood rather than a stop on a list.
Planning the Evening
Downtown West Palm Beach is compact enough to walk between Clematis Street and the waterfront, which covers most of the city’s rooms in one trip. Anything in Lake Worth Beach, Lake Park or Palm Beach Gardens needs the car, and those drives run between fifteen and thirty minutes.
Sets in the jazz rooms usually start between 7PM and 9PM with a break between, so arriving by 7PM is the safe way to catch a full evening rather than the tail of one.
More Palm Beach County Guides
Heading out somewhere else in Palm Beach County? Our other guides cover live music in West Palm Beach, Clematis Street nightlife and DJ nights, live music in Delray Beach, the best spots for live music in Boca Raton, karaoke in Boca Raton and karaoke bars in West Palm Beach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a jazz club in West Palm Beach?
Sunset Lounge on Flagler Drive is West Palm Beach’s dedicated jazz room.
Should I go to Lake Worth Beach for jazz too?
Yes. The Bamboo Room and Rudy’s Pub in downtown Lake Worth Beach are a short drive south and among the most respected blues and jazz rooms in the area.
What night is best for jazz in West Palm Beach?
Sunset Lounge and Northwood Art & Music Warehouse both book jazz-leaning acts on a rotating weekly basis, so it is worth checking the calendar for the specific night.
For a broader look at the city’s music scene beyond jazz, see our guide to the best live music in West Palm Beach.
Sunset Lounge
A restored West Palm Beach room programming live jazz, on a site that has held a music hall for around a century. The booking is jazz led rather than jazz occasional, which makes it the most reliable room in the city for the music.
Just Outside the City
Palm Beach County’s jazz is spread thinly enough that the surrounding towns matter. The Bamboo Room in Lake Worth Beach books across rock, blues, reggae and R&B, with jazz and blues acts in the mix. The Brewhouse Gallery in Lake Park combines a taproom and an art gallery with live music most of the week, running classic rock, jazz and acoustic sets. Barrel of Monks Brewing in Boca Raton runs jazz and blues in a Belgian style brewery in the Rogers Circle industrial park, which is a stranger setting than it sounds and works better than it should.
Waterway Cafe in Palm Beach Gardens runs live jazz and acoustic music on the Intracoastal, an upscale room on the water rather than a bar.
When Jazz Happens Here
Palm Beach County jazz follows the season more closely than Miami does. Programming thickens from late autumn through spring and thins over the summer, when several rooms drop to weekends only. Weeknight sets are the quieter and more focused option almost everywhere, and most rooms on this list run without a cover charge.
Header photo: Farragutful, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
