Wally's Cafe Since 1947

427 Massachusetts Avenue. Founded by Joseph Walcott, a Barbadian immigrant, because downtown jazz rooms wouldn't book Black musicians. Eighty-person room, stage so close the saxophone bell aims at your chest. Music seven nights, no cover (tip jar is part of the social contract).

Mostly Berklee students and faculty playing with the intensity of people with something to prove. Monday jam sessions are legendary — anyone sits in, quality ranges from astonishing to terrifying, both worth watching. Drinks cheap, served in plastic cups. Wally's doesn't pretend to be anything but a room where jazz happens.

Arrive by nine on weekends or you're not getting in. Stand near the back wall for the room's full acoustic — warm and round in a way rooms ten times this size spend millions to approximate.