| Hey Jeff.. welcome to CNY! Been here about 3 years myself and am happy with the music I've found. Lots of good Jazz in the Syracuse area... two spectacular jazz festivals in the summer(one downtown, one at the community college). Last year's CC one brought Will Lee, Victor Bailey, Stanley Clarke, Meshell N'dgeocello, and a handful of other great bassists to town all on the same weekend.. all for free. This year Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are headlining Friday, Jaco Pastorius Big Band(w/Will Lee) headin Sunday night. Dunno who'll be at the downtown one. Speaking of downtown, there's no shortage of entertainment in the summer... multiple themed festivals, seems one every few weeks. Latinfest, Bluesfest, Jazz-in-the-Square, Taste-of-Syracuse(local food+local talent showcased june 1 and 2), and several "party-in-the-plaza" style events. Club-crawls after the bigger events where there are a dozen or two bands spread through every club that's in walking distance.
For local acts look out for Mark Nanni, Rick Balestra, Ronnie Leigh, Mark Copani, Karl Sterling, Jimmy Johns, Stan Corella, Vinnie Ludovico, Darryl Pugh.. 'cept for Darryl none are bassists, but all play top notch jazz with other top notch musicians all around the area. Lotsa good funk and funky RnB around too... lookout for AfterFX, The "J" Project, Bobby Green & A Cut Above, John Puma Band, Licketysplit.. also, I won't imply that we're on the same level as the guys I mentioned, but my group(linked in sig) makes a noble effort at some original jazz and funk.
A few nice jazzy venues in Syracuse too, worth looking out for on Jambase. Al's Wine and Whiskey Bar usually features jazzy acts on Wednesdays and Sundays... Syracuse SUDS across the street has a 4 or 5 band rotation of stellar local jazz on a similar schedule, usually earlier in the evening than the bar-shows. Ohm Lounge has a sporadic offering of high quality non-mainstream acts both local and touring(Soulive, Charlie Hunter, Joe Driscoll, Melvin Sparks, Jonah Smith... regional jazz, funk, electronic, and reggae acts) and a great environment. (As a side note, that place and Al's seem to attract a lot of beautiful people :P ) "The Redhouse" hosts some classier shows, not always jazz, in a sort of intimate-theatre environment. "Jazz Central" is a jook joint with a name that speaks for itself. Dinosaur BBQ and Shifty's don't serve up a whole lotta jazz but I've never seen *bad* music at either and they've got it several nights a week. Both have great kitchens, too. Funk n' Waffles is a place recently opened up on the SU hill.. so far Melvin Sparks, Poogie Bell, and Fred Wesley have strolled though. Good funk playing when there's no live music, and.. waffles. I'm sure there are acts and venues I've missed, hopefully someone else can chime in.
Hope I wasn't too long winded there! Find anything good down by Binghamton? I play about 25 minutes east of there once a month or so, would love to be able to check out some local music sometime. later | 
Binghamton, NY 
