Jamboree is a two-set-a-night venue in Barcelona's Plaça Reial that has run live jazz every evening since 1960, making it the oldest jazz club in Spain, before its cellar switches after midnight into a hip-hop, R&B and dancehall room under the same roof. The club opened when local entrepreneur Joan Rosselló converted a bar called Brindis into a 220-person basement stage, and it is now owned by the Mas i Mas Group, which also runs the flamenco room Los Tarantos next door and the electronic club Moog nearby. On Jamboree's listings on Mood, the venue books more live dates than any other room tracked in Barcelona, a density that comes from running two distinct identities in one cellar rather than one crowded calendar.
A jazz club since 1960, still running two sets a night
Rosselló named the room Jamboree, and from 1960 to 1968 the Plaça Reial cellar pulled Barcelona onto the international jazz circuit, hosting Chet Baker, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon, Bill Coleman and Stéphane Grappelli in a single decade. The club closed in 1968, reopened briefly under lawyer Javier Camara in 1992, and passed to the Mas i Mas Group in May 1993, the promoter that still runs it today alongside the Mas i Mas festival circuit. What survived every ownership change is the schedule: Jamboree still programs a minimum of two live sets every night of the year, a frequency no other Spanish venue claims, running everything from contemporary jazz quintets to New Orleans dixieland and blues trios in the early slot.
After midnight, a different room entirely
Once the last set clears, the same cellar becomes a nightly club night branded by day of the week: Jamboree Domingo, Jamboree Lunes, Jamboree Martes, each running hip-hop, R&B, dancehall, reggaeton and trap behind local selectors. A Monday in late September carries DJ Muuz's hip-hop and dancehall set in that late slot, the same format that runs most nights of the week once the jazz crowd has cleared out. In Mood's data, Jamboree's jazz-tagged sets average 0.85 on the platform's organicness score, against just 0.21 for its hip-hop and R&B nights - one of the widest internal swings Mood tracks at a single venue, and a fair way to put a number on a room that changes character after midnight rather than simply changing the soundtrack.
What the booking calendar says about the room's identity
Across the roughly four-month window Mood currently tracks, Jamboree lists 307 confirmed dates, more than double the next-busiest Barcelona room in the same data set. Some of that count is the long-running Cicle Miles Davis series, a recurring tribute program that this month brings the Urban Jazz Quintet featuring Rick Margitza through a night of Davis-era repertoire. Despite the split in sound between that program and the club nights, Mood's undergroundness reading barely moves between the two sides of the calendar - 0.28 for the jazz sets, 0.28 again for the hip-hop and R&B nights - which suggests neither half of Jamboree's booking leans more mainstream than the other, an unusual consistency for a venue that swaps genres entirely at midnight.
The honest limits of a 220-person cellar
None of this makes Jamboree a big room. Mood rates its average booking at 0.39 on the platform's capacity scale, well below the 0.50 average across the more than 3,900 enriched Barcelona events Mood tracks in the same window - a number that matches the real space: a 257-square-metre vaulted cellar built for roughly 220 people, not a venue designed for a large crowd on either side of midnight. Early jazz sets run mostly seated, which limits how many people fit for a table service audience, and the room's single stairwell entrance on Plaça Reial gets a queue fast once a Friday or Saturday club night is underway. Anyone expecting a warehouse-scale dancefloor after the jazz crowd leaves should look toward Razzmatazz or Sala Apolo instead.
Who should go, and when
The address is Plaça Reial 17, a two-minute walk from the Liceu stop on Metro L3, in a square that runs its own crowd of tourists and pickpockets after dark, so the usual caution applies once you leave the venue. For the jazz side, arriving for the first set around 8 or 9pm gets a table and the full quintet or quartet program before the room turns over; for the club side, most of the hip-hop and R&B programming does not get going until close to 1am. Tickets run through jamboreejazz.com or the Mood listing, and door prices vary by night rather than following one flat cover.
Jamboree works best treated as two separate decisions rather than one night out that tries to catch both: an early jazz set for the history and the room's acoustics, or a late arrival for the club program, with the crossover hour around midnight the least interesting part of either identity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of music does Jamboree play in Barcelona?
Jamboree runs live jazz, blues and soul sets in the early evening, then switches after midnight into a hip-hop, R&B, dancehall and reggaeton club night. The two programs run on the same stage but rarely overlap in a single visit.
Is Jamboree a jazz club or a nightclub?
Both, on the same night. Jamboree opened in 1960 as a jazz club and still books live jazz every evening, but since the Mas i Mas Group's 1993 relaunch it has also run as a nightclub once the live sets end, typically past midnight.
How much does it cost to get into Jamboree?
Prices vary by the night and the act, since jazz sets and club nights are priced separately rather than under one flat cover. Tickets are sold through jamboreejazz.com or listed on Mood, where current pricing for each date is posted.
Is Jamboree good for a big group or a large party?
Not really. The room seats and stands roughly 220 people in a single vaulted cellar, so large groups should book ahead for jazz sets and expect a tighter floor than a full-size club once the late-night program starts.
How do I get to Jamboree in Plaça Reial?
Jamboree sits at Plaça Reial 17 in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella district, a two-minute walk from the Liceu stop on Metro L3, with several night bus routes also stopping nearby on La Rambla.
For everything else running in the city this week, browse hip-hop and R&B events in Barcelona on Mood, from Jamboree's own weeknight club program to the wider citywide circuit.
