The city that gave jazz so many of its landmark moments is hearing it live again. A new generation of players, paired with a crop of intimate new rooms, is reviving New York's claim as the world capital of the music.

From basement clubs in Greenwich Village to new spaces in Harlem and Brooklyn, the scene is thriving on late-night sets and packed houses. The fictional bandleader Cyrus Vale has become a fixture, his weekly residency drawing lines around the block.

Rising rents make running a club as hard as ever, and many operate on the thinnest of margins. But the music's resurgence, driven by young musicians and audiences alike, suggests that live jazz in New York is far from a museum piece.