RJAM Big Band

The Big Band at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) brings together not only students from the Roots, Jazz and American Music (RJAM) department, but student composers and musicians from the classical and Technology and Applied Composition departments—and even members of SFCM’s administration—to work with renowned artists such as six-time GRAMMY winner Billy Childs and and multi-award-winning bassist Rufus Reid.

For their return to the Monterey Jazz Festival, SFCM’s Big Band will perform iconic charts by Thad Jones, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and Jimmy Van Heusen.

Directing the Big Band is Jason Hainsworth, Executive Director of the RJAM Program as well as SFCM’s Associate Dean of Community and Belonging. Hainsworth is in high demand both as a saxophonist and composer/arranger: Most recently, he was commissioned by Wynton Marsalis for the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra as well as Ulysses Owens Jr.’s The People’s Big Band.