Take a look at the Toronto Jazz Festival lineup and you will notice a heavy Humber College presence.
From alumni performing with acts including the Ross Wooldridge Septet and Big Smoke Brass to former Humber faculty hitting the stage, the College’s 50 years of music instruction is well represented at the festival.
Andrew Scott, coordinator of the Bachelor of Music program, will perform at the Toronto Jazz Festival on July 2 with the SCOTT/GRANT 5 which includes current Humber faculty Kelsley Grant and Amanda Tosoff and former longtime faculty Neil Swainson. Other Humber faculty, including Larnell Lewis who belongs to the Grammy Award-winning band Snarky Puppy and Jocelyn Gould, will also play the festival.
It’s a noteworthy event and one of the largest jazz festivals in Canada that will have big names performing. Scott is excited about Grammy winner George Benson, whom he referred to as a guitar hero of his and plans on checking out his set.
“The festival is a destination and you only have to look as far as the headliners to see that,” said Scott. “To be cheek by jowl with these international artists performing, in some cases on the same stage, and sharing bills with these established musicians, those are some bragging rights for students and alumni and even faculty.”
Humber bands perform at NXNE
Scott said the quality of instruction at Humber and how it’s largely performance-based makes it a truly remarkable program. He said many of the College’s instructors are excelling in their music careers outside of the classroom and he pointed to Gould as a good example.
“Her career is going gangbusters,” said Scott. “She just got back from Saudi Arabia and is touring all over, she's having articles written about her, she's winning awards and she's playing in front of thousands of people. That has an impact on students wanting to come to the program and study with her or her colleagues.”
Humber also had several bands performing at The Rivoli in June as part of the popular NXNE Music Festival. They included the Emmett Hodgins Coast Group, High Flyer, Zee, Jessie Gosling, and Luis Anselmi and the Gratitud Band.
With Humber continuing to shape arts and culture in the city and the music world more broadly, excitement continues to build for the anticipated Humber Cultural Hub (HCH), which will be located at Lakeshore Campus. It’s a 365,000-square-foot facility that includes a new 500-seat Performance Hall as well as a 140-seat Music Recital Hall and an informal interior amphitheatre designed for festivals, public events, and community gatherings.
The HCH will benefit culturally underserved local communities and improve access to arts and culture outside Toronto’s downtown core as cultural and community organizations will have much needed new performance arts space. Beyond Humber’s own programming, the HCH will enable 200 performances or events a year initiated by artists and external organizations existing facilities are unable to accommodate.
There will also be classrooms for use by various faculties, a new gymnasium and cafeteria, labs and more than 300 student residence rooms.
The first phase of construction for the Cultural Hub is expected to be completed by spring 2024. The second phase is expected to be completed by 2026.
“I’ve seen it go from ideation to being a physical space and we’re having conversations about how the Spring Showcase concert for 2024 will be in the Cultural Hub,” said Scott. “It’s exciting to imagine the possibilities going forward.”
Humber celebrates 50 years of music
This year, Humber is also celebrating five decades of music instruction at the College.
Humber is the only Ontario college to offer a four-year degree in music performance. The College provides a comprehensive system of music education that encompasses five distinct offerings: Introduction to Commercial Jazz Music, Bachelor of Music, Music Business and Music Composition for post-secondary students as well as the Community Music School, where children aged three to 18 discover their love of music making and develop performance skills.
Humber's music graduates have received international recognition and Bachelor of Music alumni have been accepted into Master of Music programs at Juilliard, McGill University and other institutions. Graduates have been nominated for or have won Grammys, JUNOs, and other awards.
Artists and producers in residence visit Humber annually to work with students. Some past guests include jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, Susan Rogers, who worked as the audio engineer on Prince's Purple Rain, and Grammy award-winning producer Greg Wells, a former Humber Music student who has worked with renowned artists such as Katy Perry and Adele.
For more on Humber’s music programs, visit the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts website.