Jazz has always been a genre of music that was much appreciated, but also addressing to a particular niche of listeners, who were capable of understanding this music and appreciated its sounds. It is true that jazz is enjoying a major comeback, the New York scene for such type of music increasing, together with the public’s interest for it, but this doesn’t mean that jazz musicians will start having a better life. A jazz musician will, by far, be extremely appreciated in the niche, but will be far from being a famous artist and enjoy the fortune that comes along.

The fact that a jazz artist is far from being rich even after working hard to emerge from the shadows into the light comes in contradiction with the fact that a jazz school is quite expensive. If other artists in the music industry can make it without following the courses of a music school in particular, if you want to play jazz you won’t be able to do it any other way. You need the school, but you also need the funds for it, which do not consist in insignificant amounts of money. In fact, today’s jazz musicians are afraid that only the children with money will have the privilege of attending such schools, if the situation doesn’t improve. So, let’s say you invested a lot in education, so you can have what it takes to become an appreciated musician, but what’s next?

If you think the hard work is done, you are wrong. A young jazz musician must work even harder to prove that he or she has the skills needed to appear at live events. It doesn’t matter where you play, as long as you manage to do so. It can be a small café, where people raise funds in any way they can to pay your performance, it can be a church performance, and, in time, you can even have the chance to play in large venues and tours. In the best case scenario, your name will start to resonate only in the ears of the connoisseurs. Meanwhile, you will struggle to find a band to play together and even strive to record your own creations in a studio. If your reputation improves well enough, you may even start teaching music classes. So, the life of a jazz musician is far from being careless and paved with success. In this domain, success has a price, which needs to be paid constantly.

By now, it is more than obvious that you need to be passionate about playing jazz to start on this road. It will not get easier, at least not in the near future, so you have to be ready not to complain. If you are looking for fame and fortune, this is not the right path for you. Jazz musicians do the contrary of Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, so if you want to have their success, you are heading in the wrong direction. Jazz is a stunning music genre, but it is not the type of music radios will play, as it is not understood and digested by the masses.