Jazz Walking Tour

Begin your jazz tour of Paris in the St-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, where you'll meet your guide. This, along with the nearby districts of Les Halles and the Latin Quarter, was a center for jazz in Paris during the 1920s. Famous jazz musicians from within France and outside the country made frequent stops in this part of the city in underground clubs and bars.

Walk to two famous neighborhood cafes – Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore – as you hear stories of the history of jazz music in the French capital. These cafes are popular stops for tourists today, and during the Jazz Age were popular haunts for jazz musicians as well as writers, artists, and other intellectuals. Stop to see where the underground Club St-Germain-des-Prés – a common stop for American and French jazz artists – once was. Learn how basement clubs like this one are what gave jazz fans the nickname of troglodytes, meaning 'cave-dwellers.'

Pause to see the hotel where jazz performers like Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke led jam sessions late into the night – and where Clarke's signature bebop drumming was perfected – in the 1920s and 1930s. Visit the club called La Chat Qui Pêche, where Powell's bebop piano was often heard.

See the site of the famous Le Tabou nightclub. In the early 1950s, this was the club where French musician Boris Vian helped bring American jazz musicians to the attention of the club's hip clientele. Take a break at a cafe in the Latin Quarter to hear more about the evolution of jazz in the city, from the folk music known as Chanson Française that was popular before World War I to jazz being introduced in 1919, when the shift in musical styles wasn't accepted by everyone.

Pay a visit to the oldest jazz club in the city, Le Caveau de la Huchette, before heading over the Seine on the Pont Neuf to the last stop on your tour – a jazz show and dinner at Le Duc des Lombards in Les Halles. It's one of the city's best-known jazz clubs where you'll revel in the jazz music.

The menu for dinner varies; see a sample menu in the Itinerary section below.