<p>Check on the music department’s webpage - for example Vassar does a webcast of the major music concerts and leaves them up for all to view - even goes back a few years.
Many people post recordings on You Tube - we did a ‘prescreen’ of some of the groups before we set up the college visits. </p>
<p>You can also get an idea of how much jazz there is by how many combos are in the performances. Check the concert announcements and they may list the various jazz groups involved and if you are lucky - what they are playing. I think an email to the Jazz conductor followed up by a personal phone call would be a great idea. Everyone we met was so nice and very happy to discuss their program to see if it was a good fit. </p>
<p>The jazz scene at an LAC is tricky because you want to make sure there is enough jazz there for you to grow. However, at an LAC, there also may be more opportunities for ‘spontaneous’ groups because of the flexibility of the music department.</p>