The Jazz Cafe was on the ocean on the third floor of a mall whose first floor looked like it had not survived an apocalypse. It was worrisome until we got to the place that was surprisingly nice. There we found a great group who was working on integrating Japanese classics into a western jazz format. Very interesting. Great conga guy. Great listening. No dancing.
The 'must see' jazz venue in Havana is a place called, strangely enough, the "Jazz Club." At 10pm, and not a minute earlier, you enter through a red London-style phone booth into a basement venue that felt a little sticky. $10 cover gets you two mojitos. The music was lively and original but featured a drummer who tended towards loud rock riffs that overwhelmed the small space. Brushes were unthinkable to him. This was clearly a venue where the music mattered more than the tourists.
Besides the specific music venues, many cafes had small groups playing and walking just a few blocks in the evening was a treat of 5 or 6 of them. There are many 'squares' in Havana and in old Havana many of them usually have some sort of cafe with a big porch with a quartet for dinner. The vocalist would usually tour the tables with a basket at some point and we were happy to kick in.