Balcony? Not at These Intimate Listening Spots

In New York, that's sometimes a euphemism for “tiny" or “sardine-like" or, from a musician's point of view, “unprofitable." But sometimes it lives up to what you hope for: cozy, friendly, comfortable, with a sense of interaction with the performers. In other words, a place where your row (say, XX) will not be named after sex-determining chromosomes, or one where a flying drop of guitarist sweat could theoretically land in your drink.

Such places in New York range across genres, from rock to classical, and in one great case, a classical site that rocks. At least depending on the tide: up to 160 or so people attend weekend chamber music concerts at Bargemusic, aboard a 19th-century barge on the Brooklyn waterfront practically under the Brooklyn Bridge. The warm, wood-paneled interior literally rocks at some point during most concerts, making life a bit difficult for the tuxedoed violinists, cellists and pianists, but eliciting chuckles from the crowd. For $35 or $40, a view of the twinkling Manhattan skyline visible behind the stage is tossed in free.

The crowd is mostly silver-haired, which makes it a near can't-miss for young New Yorkers looking for a place to take visiting parents (and a double-money-back-guaranteed-sure-thing for visiting grandparents). But the crowd is dotted with younger couples with sophisticated taste, or possibly just pretending to have sophisticated taste for their date's benefit. (If you can't even pretend, Thursdays are jazz nights.)

Jazz fans have many choices around the West Village, but on weekend nights, the masses have voted for a place masses don't fit: Smalls. Unlike some of the other jazz spots where you can be stuck in seats facing the wrong way and forced into expensive drink minimums, this place encourages consumption of music rather than alcohol.

With a hodgepodge of chairs littering the floor in something vaguely resembling rows, it seems a bit more like someone's basement with chairs pulled from all corners of the house to seat an unexpected number of guests. Entrance is usually $20, and includes a free beer or wine on nights other than Friday or Saturday.