| Wow! There are a LOT of guys you could check out in TO. Teachers in TO have the best methodology in Canada, apparently (heard this from Zack Lober, a guy from Montreal.)
Hmm...there are some REALLY serious players around town -- Dave Young, Jim Vivian, Mike Downes, and Kieran Overs are the "big guys" that I'm aware of. I haven't heard Jim play, but he's a real nice cat. Dave Young is (arguably?) the best player in Canada. Downes and Overs are both also amazing players -- Kieran Overs was a guest faculty member at JazzWorks Summercamp when I went there in August 05. Great player, really nice guy.
Other than those four (who are pretty hardcore jazz educators) there's also Pat Collins, Will Jarvis, Don Thompson, and Patrick Kilbride -- all teachers at Humber College (Mike Downes is the head of the program.) Also, there's Artie Roth who's on faculty at York. I've only heard Pat and Artie play...he's also a really nice guy. I met him at the Toronto production of Wicked -- he was in the pit for it. Great player, really helpful. I heard Artie through Greg Runions...he plays in Greg's big band, and on Greg's CDs. Once again, good player, great guy. Really, really helpful.
You could also see about getting lessons from any of the students at the universities/colleges in the GTA. Humber College and University of Toronto (where Dave Young and Jim Vivian teach) both have great programs and great students, and York University has a good program from what I hear. If you're hesitant about taking lessons from people that are a decade younger than you, you could check out the students doing graduate work at UoT. I've personally heard several graduate students, including Sophie Milman and Gordon Webster, and I can assure you that they are musicians of the highest calibre.
There are a LOT of people in TO to get lessons from. Good luck. Even if you can't get lessons with one of the people I listed -- or afford them, some of the guys (especially Jim, Dave, etc.) can get quite expensive -- I'm sure you could find someone THROUGH them. Good luck!
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Originally Posted by HollowBassman Doesn't she know that they're not really people until the age of about three? | | 
