Nublu

Nublu, Alphabet City’s snug, low-ceilinged venue for international, experimental jazz musicians, expanded last year to a new space: a neon-accented, bilevel club built out of a former garage, boasting a proper sound system and disco ball. (For those trying to keep track: The original Nublu now goes by Nublu Classic; the new club is just Nublu, and it comes with an upstairs cocktail bar, Studio 151.) Owner Ilhan Ersahin says the new space means he can book bands with bigger followings than the old space (“Which has become like my living room,” he says) would allow. But like its progenitor, the new Nublu charges at least $10 at the door and keeps an eclectic roster of performers — Tunisian jazz singers, Afro-Latin-funk brass bands, fusion-rock drummers — who play on a stage in the middle of the club, surrounded by the audience.