Jazz scene in Florida?

[_j_]

How's the jazz scene in Florida? Is there much straight-ahead or latin-jazz going on? There many people down there making enough to get buy on gigs alone?

[Sippy]

The Jazz scene sucks. there are some places in West Palm... but other than that you have to look pretty damn hard. Jaco's sons' band plays in Ft Lauderdale every Wednesday, they play some cool stuff, but mostly covers of their dad's tunes.

[TomSauter]

There's some great players in northern Florida. University of North Florida in Jacksonville and FSU in Tallahassee both have great faculties and students. I can't remember who all lives in Jacksonville, but I hear there's several good drummers, and I know a bunch of people who lived there playing gigs alone. Marcus Roberts is the piano teacher at FSU, and Leon Anderson and Rodney Jordan (both in Rene Marie's band) teach there too.

[pigpen02]

I only personally know two guys, in all of the Tampa bay area, that get by with just gigging/touring/recording, and only one of them is financially comfortable. The other is hustling to make things work. I wouldn't say it's a lucrative market.