I have to say, Cory, that you have provided me with an experience that I doubt can ever be surpassed. Words can’t say how much I enjoyed this week. Experiencing New York… through your eyes has been SENSATIONAL

Held in March every year, New York With Weeds leaves no jazz stone unturned in NYC. We visit the hot spots, the lesser known spots, and the stellar spots in between. The tour includes private/exclusive recording sessions with New York’s top musicians, private/exclusive performances at some of the city’s most renowned clubs, and roundtable discussions with some of the international jazz scene’s biggest movers and shakers. There is also a lot of free time to explore the Big Apple.

Past tours have taken us to the Village Vanguard, Smoke Jazz Club, Smalls, Mezzow, Birdland, Rudy Van Gelder Studio, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Louis Armstrong House Museum, and many other iconic jazz venues and historical sites. We have held private concerts at Michiko Studios, Klavierhaus, and the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and at many other unique places. 

The tour has special access to these places because of Cory Weeds, the saxophonist, producer, record label head, and impresario who has collaborated with leading musicians, club and recording studio owners, and others in New York for 25 years. Because of that experience, Cory gives tour participants an insider view of the NYC jazz scene.

You don’t have to be a hardcore jazz lover to enjoy New York With Weeds. You’ll enjoy the tour if you’re just a casual jazz fan and also if you’re a jazz aficionado. 

While Cory and some tour participants travel from Vancouver to New York to be on the tour, you don’t need to live in Vancouver to join in the jazz fun. You can fly into NYC from anywhere on the planet to be part of New York With Weeds.

From private sessions with the stars of today and tomorrow’s young guns, to unique album recording experiences, to ‘must see’ performances at iconic venues, ‘New York With Weeds’ offers unparalleled access and insight into today’s scene in the capital of jazz.

I have joined the last three editions of ‘New York With Weeds’. Each itinerary of events has been carefully put together by Cory to provide a varied and exhilarating eight day jazz experience, including full jazz orchestras, bop combos, greasy organ trios and intimate solo performances, well suited to both the jazz aficionado and the newcomer.

Cory shares his in-depth knowledge of the New York jazz scene and the music business in his own friendly and engaging style which is highly informative and great fun. The itinerary also leaves time to enjoy everything else New York has to offer ….. or just to enjoy more jazz. I’m already looking forward to joining ‘New York With Weeds 2025’!

Cory’s New York tour goes beyond the known venues to connect you with a range of jazz styles in intimate venues. These spaces provide the opportunity for conversations with jazz artists about their musical journey, and technical aspects of jazz structures. It is the ultimate groove experience of rhythm and harmony, so close that you can see the individual finger movement on the piano, sax, bass, and guitar and feel the emotional energy and creative intensity. This is a unique experience not to be missed!

Thank you Cory for a truly amazing Jazz experience. It was like a “10 day education on “jazz appreciation”; listening and understanding this music. I have a different perspective now on how the musicians work together to create this amazing sound.  

I never thought I would meet these professional musicians in such an intimate setting. I will never forget what it was like to to meet with Winton Marsalis. His devotion to Jazz musicians is awe inspiring.  The time he took to tell us about his journey to create Lincoln centre was touching.  

I would also like to mention how different and important it was for me to be in the company of so many people who love Jazz. I am not a tour person so this was a very meaningful experience for me.  I loved the Record Shop. 

Thank you Cory you were so kind to all of us and you are a  five star tour guide plus a gifted musician. 

Your enthusiasm and energy is positively radiating off the page! Like you, I’m still aglow, basking in a 10-out-of-10 jazz immersion that delivered on every level: a perfect synthesis of venues (from the historic to the unique to the under the radar); wonderfully warm and welcoming people who appreciate the musicality of the players and of each other; and the apparent ease with which it all unfolded. Cory’s careful planning, and his talent for on-the-spot improvising, served us very well.

We really appreciate your willingness to organize such a varied and interesting program of jazz events and schlep a large motley group all around. I know it takes endless planning, energy, flexibility, and patience on your part. We really enjoyed the variety of venues, from standard jazz clubs, to lesser known spaces, to recording studios.

Thank you for giving us such a wonderfully organized insider’s view of New York jazz musicians and their music. Who else could arrange such diverse sessions as the BBQ plus music sets at Vincent Herring’s, the funk at the American Legion in Harlem, Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and a recording session with Steve Kaldestad and a group including Renee Rosnes? Everything was a treat.

I have to say, Cory, that you have provided me with an experience that I doubt can ever be surpassed. Words can’t say how much I enjoyed this week. Experiencing New York (a great city that I have fallen in love with) through your eyes has been SENSATIONAL. Jazz has now become part of me and I will be searching out places to go to in Sydney as often as possible. A bonus of the trip was to make a bunch of new friends.