• Le Jazz Au Bar

  41 East 58th Street, 212-308-9455

  When former rock and disco promoter Howard Stein opened this midtown jazz spot earlier in the year, we admired his guts but wondered how he’d stake his claim in the already-crowded New York jazz scene. Stein quickly came up with an ingenious answer: Le Jazz Au Bar is the place for vocalists, from versatile singers like Kevin Mahogany (who’s equally comfortable with Marvin Gaye and Duke Ellington) to better-known standards-bearers like Wesla Whitfield. There’s no lusher setting for taking in the music’s top voices: deep, plush banquettes, dark wood paneling worthy of an Oxford don’s study, thick Oriental rugs. But the plush décor is just the icing on the cake: We like Le Jazz Au Bar because it lets the singers swing.

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine