Which is the best city for jazz?
 

I was thinking of doing a music degree in a college, but I figured that if there is a place ( other than NYC) that has an abundance of musicians, and good teachers, that might be better. I'm saying other than nyc because that place is way to expensive to live ( apparantly)...and just a very hard city to breat into. I have heard good things about both montreal and toronto...

Any reviews of any good cities. I'm also up for any latin, world, or hip hop sort of stuff. Just a city that is well known for good musicians and places to play. I know its a general, pretty hard question to answer, but any response is wanted!

If your interested in school, Humber College in Toronto offers one of the best jazz programs in North America. Take a look: Jazz Performance – Introduction to Commercial Jazz - Humber College - Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I believe that program offers some kind of diploma which will then allow you to apply all the stuff you learned about jazz to music education and performance programs in a university. Make sure you've taken all the right courses! If you're not a Canadian citizen you will need to pay the international tuition fee. I think you'll be able to live in residence, but if not, there are some fairly inexpensive places to live. Parking comes at a premium here though! It can cost you up to $200 (usually on top of your rent) to rent a parking space in an apartment complex. It's cheaper to take transit.

Toronto and Montreal (which has some great music schools with jazz programs as well) are both great cities to perform in. There are always small clubs looking for people to play gigs on a weekly basis. And not just for jazz - there is all kinds of music going on here. Toronto hosts the North by Northeast festival every year, and then of course the Film Festival where a lot of musicians go to entertain the film goers. Montreal of course has the International Jazz Festival, which happens every summer and is comparable in size to jazz festivals in New Orleans.

That's all I can think of for now but I can try and answer questions if you have any.

Chicago!

new orleans

Yeah, I have heard good things about Chicago, and the place has history! Same with new orleans, but many big musicians from there are moving away because they don't think its good anymore, and i would prefer not to live in lousiana to be honest. Thanks for the advise on humber "burning down". I have also looked at York there, and they are pretty expensive!

I will try and research this but are Toronta and Montreal expensive places to live? I have a bit of money now ( in euros) so transfering it would give me a few thousand extra, which is always good! I have been looking at Bannf workshop aswell, but $2,500 for 3 weeks? Pretty steep!

As far as yearly tuition for a music program goes, Humber College is pretty cheap because it's not a university - even with the international rates. You still have to buy all your books and supplies extra though. York University is probably more expensive, mainly because it's a university. But their rates are still a little lower than what some other schools in Ontario charge. When you're an international student you will get a dorm room for at least one year and that will give you time to find a place to live for the next school year. What's expensive and what's not depends on how much money you want to spend.

Do you mean Banff, Alberta? From what I've heard, Alberta is a VERY expensive province to live and work in.

ust researched humber and york, and it seems that paterson university would be cheaper overall, and seems like a geat school aswell. But I think that if i was going to go to canada, it wouldn't be for college. I would try and just straight up try and make a living there. I'd say I will start researching good teachers in the area. That could be a good way to go, and see if there are any musicians unions there! Thanks for all the help man

whats traffic like?? :)

Anyone who tells me of LA says that it drags the soul out of a musician, and it really does seem like a superficial place. Don't mind the scenery, nice girls and shops, seems like an empty place you know? But then, I have never been!

:rofl:

I agree