The Nickel City provided Don Scott with countless opportunities as a young musician.

His high school band at Lasalle Secondary School was crowned with a variety of awards, he learned from some of the best musicians playing in the city at the time, had a jazz show on CKLU and frequented the many jazz nights that used to take up the downtown.

“It was a great start,” said Scott, who is now “a unique and sought-after voice on the Canadian jazz scene.”

Scott now calls Toronto home, where he leads, co-leads and has recorded with a number of projects, including Peripheral Vision, God’s Gift To Yoda, Don Scott Trio, Run Stop Run, and The Offbeat. It's been more than half a decade since he's been home, so a Jazz Sudbury Festival performance has the former hometown boy “really excited.”

“I think it's great Sudbury has this jazz festival,” he said.

While he's never played it, fellow big-city jazz artists have also returned from the festival with glowing reviews, making Scott even more eager to take the trek north.

He is playing the Porter Airlines stage Sept. 8 at 5:30 p.m. For more information on the festival, visit www.jazzsudbury.ca.