Reggie’s Jazz Bar
INDIA
Color-soaked Rajasthan isn’t short of singular pleasures, but even here Reggie’s jazz bar is in a league of its own. Located on the fringes of the Thar Desert, it is the lair of the exuberant Reggie Singh, a cousin to the Maharajah of Jodhpur and owner of the surrounding namesake, Reggie’s Camel Camp Osian.

The camels are frankly the warm-up act: after dinner, your affable, cigar-chomping host ushers guests into his cavernous den. The room is adorned with faded photos of royal relatives and plush armchairs. Eschew these for a stool at the bar while Reggie plies you with his home-doctored rum, and spins the tunes, choosing from a collection that runs the gamut from jazz and blues to rock and pop. He might start you off gently with, say, Johnny Lee Hooker, Etta James, Aretha and Buddy Guy and then ease you into the Stones, Journey or Van Morrison. Cheesy or not, you’ll soon be dancing with wild abandon on the heirloom rug, wondering if it’s all a mirage. Happily, it ain’t.