The Stone

The Stone is a venue at the New School where sceney jazz people meet academic jazz people (and you better not try to talk over the music). The non-profit was previously housed in a scrappier room in an old Chinese restaurant and was known for its hard no on serving refreshments or allowing bathroom use during shows. At the sleek new space in the school’s Glass Box Theater, you won’t be trapped inside hoping that Sean Lennon’s band keeps your bladder from bursting—but you’re still clearly supposed to focus on the music. More of a performance space than a club, the room functions like a classroom, with rows of lecture-room chairs in front of the stage and a focus on the freakier, avant-garde stuff. You’ll see music students and professor-types in most of the seats, but residences with people like Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and hypnotizing vibraphonist Sae Hashimoto draw some of the more fashionable downtown music nerds too.