Why Toronto Is A Great Music City

I love Toronto. I was born and raised in Toronto where I was fortunate to have a world-class musical education from a young age. I started violin lessons at four with Clara Schranz, took saxophone lessons in middle and high school with Andy Ballantyne and Alex Dean and studied violin with the legendary Lorand Fenyves.

Leaving Toronto to go study classical violin at the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music turned out to be a mixed blessing. While there, I improved my violin playing, learned a lot about music theory, learned how to play well in a chamber group, and a whole lot more. Most importantly I learned that I really didn’t want to play in an orchestra, and that I really didn’t want to live in Cleveland. Coming from a world-class city such as Toronto made Cleveland look pretty bad.

I spent a lot of my time working out techniques for jazz improvisation on the violin, jamming with friends in various genres, and generally avoiding the Cleveland Institute as much as possible.

The very best thing that came out of my time there was meeting my talented and wonderful wife, violinist Rebekah Wolkstein.

I could have ended up anywhere, as I had no specific plans to return to Toronto. Luckily, I met the late great guitarist and trumpet player Jeff Healey on a trip home during my final year and he told me that I had a job waiting for me in his Jazz Wizards when I finished school. I learned far too much from my time with Jeff to enumerate here, but by far the most important thing he did for me was to bring me home.

Living in Toronto, in the centre of the Canadian music scene, I have had opportunities to play numerous genres of music. I love jazz, but I love variety even more. This city is culturally and musically rich, which has allowed my career to develop in new ways every year. I’ve had opportunities to write arrangements, to compose for soundtracks, to write songs, and to produce records. Since moving back here ten years ago, I’ve played in concert halls, bars, weddings, funerals, sessions, orchestras, musicals, house concerts - you name it - in countless genres with countless fantastic musicians.

There are so many amazing musicians in Toronto that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Every time I think I must have met every great musician in town, I suddenly discover more. There are two great jazz schools pumping out new players all the time, so the talent pool shows no sign of drying up. I’ve been teaching at one of them (Humber College) for several years, which has allowed me to meet and work with many great young players who I expect to see on the scene in coming years.

And to support those musicians, we’ve got music lovers as well! My weekly gig at the Rex Hotel has been well attended for 5 years. JAZZ.FM91 is an amazing supportive radio station, which goes out of its way to promote jazz and local talent.

The quality of life for musicians in Toronto is great. National healthcare alone gives it a leg up over American cities. My friends who live in New York and other music cities can’t believe how well musicians are able to live here. This city has kept both my wife and I busy as players for years, often in completely different musical spheres - if you are curious, you should look up her amazing new Tango project, Payadora. It’s also been a wonderful place for us to raise our amazing 15-month-old daughter Sylvie.

If you’re reading this you’re probably already on the same page as me. If you love this city as much as I do, take every opportunity to support the arts. Give money, give time, go to shows, donate to JAZZ.FM91, tell people about the musicians you love, go see new artists, go see old artists, buy music from artists you like, host a house concert, foster a love for good music in a young relative, whatever! The music fans in this city make it a great place for musicians, who in turn make it an amazing place for music fans. We all win! -Jazz FM 91