Best of Boston

Jazz is a music born of small spaces, of packed New Orleans clubs and speakeasies. Around here, no destination captures that better than Wally’s. The 61-year-old sliver of a South End bar feels much like a place Louis Armstrong might have played when he was merely another impressive young guy with a trumpet. The tiny stage in the back jumps nightly with local musicians; because there’s never a cover charge, the crowds are equally enthusiastic.