Arabic Jazz in Jabal Al Weibdeh

Weibdeh is the neighbourhood Amman's musicians actually live in, and on most Wednesdays and Saturdays somebody is playing. We start at eight around Paris Circle with a plate of mezze and a slow walk past the old apartment blocks and the Darat al Funun terrace, then take you to whichever of three small rooms has the better line-up that week - usually an oud and an upright bass pushing Fairouz and Abdel Halim standards through a jazz filter, occasionally a quartet doing something stranger. The friction, and there is some. Music rarely starts before half past nine and rarely finishes before midnight, so this is not an early night. Two of the three venues allow indoor smoking and it is heavy; if that is a problem, tell us when you book and we will hold you a terrace table or move you to another date. Line-ups fall over at short notice, because most of these musicians have day jobs - when it happens we change venue rather than cancel on you. And there is no dance floor. People sit and listen.