Before everyone flocked to the 40 Watt and the Georgia Theatre for musical entertainment, some jazz enthusiasts found a haven in a hole-in-the-wall Five Points restaurant.

Twenty-five years ago, The Lighthouse, which stood where Five and Ten is located today, was the unofficial jazz capital of Athens.

“It was a great place,” said Jim McKillip, a local jazz musician and former music store owner who played at the venue during its musical heyday. Back then, a whimpering saxophone, jaunty piano and rattling drums were musical mainstays that lit up Athenian nights.

Today, it may appear that Athens’ rock-centric music scene has little room left for jazz.

But look a little closer, and a city scattered with jazzy gems will reveal itself.

Live jazz music is the star of Wednesday nights at Porterhouse Grill. The restaurant has offered a jazz night since its opening eight years ago, and local band Prime Time Jazz has been filling the slot for the past six.

The group, which features McKillip on piano, Chris Enghauser on bass and Tony McCutchen on drums, is known for its improvised interpretations of “traditional jazz” songs.

“We usually have some people who come in on Wednesday just because we’re here,” said McCutchen, a University percussion professor.

All three have toyed with other genres of music, but their experiences have proven that jazz is where the heart is.

“Jazz is kind of a musician’s language,” McKillip said. “It’s a technical art form, basically an improvisational art.”

“We’ve never played the same song exactly the same,” McCutchen said, alluding to the improvisational freedom that drew him to jazz.

And for Enghauser, an appreciation for jazz grew out of years of playing “a little bit of everything.”

“I finally started listening to [jazz],” he said. “I started to like it so I started to play it.”

Some Athenians will be happy to know that Porterhouse Grill isn’t the only local venue that offers a weekly jazz night. Farm 255 lists Tuesdays as their regular jazz night.

“We’ve been doing it since we were open. We were pretty invested in being a live music place,” said Olivia Sargeant, owner and manager of Farm 255.

Tuesday night performances alternate between the Carl Lindberg Trio and Kenosha Kid, the brainchild of local guitarist Dan Nettles.

Every other Tuesday, Nettles is joined by bassist Neal Fountain, of local band birds&wire, and Atlanta-based drummer Marlon Patton. Their brand of contemporary, heavily improvisational jazz is both mellow and complexly layered and draws a regular weekday audience.

“It’s really the same people every week for each of those musicians. It’s a distinct regulars crowd,” Sargeant said.

For Nettles, who has been playing guitar since he was five years old, “the freedom of improvisation” is what ultimately drew him to the genre. Despite his love for jazz, though, Nettles has experimented with other sounds and still enjoys playing the musical field.

“I play a whole spectrum of gigs,” he said, “from rock gigs to pure ‘noise’ jazz improvisation.”

Next month, Nettles and eight other artists and musicians will perform an experimental arts show at Ciné.

“Fahrenheit” is a “darkly illuminating multi-media exploration” that combines live jazz music, film and narration to explore the themes presented in Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel.

Another venue to add a regular jazz night to its repertoire is Melting Point. According to Carter Dodd, the venue’s manager, its monthly Thursday jazz series is “usually very well-attended.”

And though the jazz night is advertised as monthly, “that doesn’t mean we only do jazz once a month,” Dodd said. If a jazz band comes to town on any night other than Thursday, The Melting Point will gladly book the show.

Tuesdays at Farm 255, Wednesdays at Porterhouse and at least one Thursday a month at Melting Point – though the scene may be quiet- – Athens certainly offers regular opportunities to experience a jazz performance.