RJAM’s New Visions At The Joe Henderson Lab
The Joe Henderson Lab thrives when it acts as a classroom without walls: a place where mentorship happens in real time, where a set list serves as a curriculum, and where the next generation of Bay Area improvisers learns how a professional band performs on stage. (Click play to listen.)
Jason Hainsworth, executive director and co-founder of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s (SFCM) Roots, Jazz & American Music (RJAM) program, articulates the school’s mission with clear focus. “I like to think we are at the forefront of… preparing professional musicians and equipping them for life in today's modern era,” he says. “Everything we teach our students is aimed at setting them up for success once they graduate from this prestigious school.” He emphasizes fluency in both the canon and the present tense: “Students must be comfortable and well-versed in the foundations—Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald—and they also need to play across genres more genuinely.”
That ethos influences how RJAM identifies talent. “I am always looking for people who want to learn and are teachable,” Hainsworth notes. “I’m not necessarily searching for the most talented person, but rather the one who is the hungriest.” The group consists entirely of undergraduates—roughly 18 to 22—drawn to intensive study and the city’s working scene just outside the classroom doors.
The Side-By-Side model supports apprenticeship training. Borrowed from traditional methods and adapted for RJAM, it places faculty and students side by side during rehearsals and performances. “The opportunity for students to perform alongside their teachers or mentors is unmatched for learning—not only about playing the right notes but also about how to improve overall, run rehearsals, prepare for rehearsals, and workshop ideas with the band they are currently in,” Hainsworth explains. Ensembles combine first-year students with seniors, with no hierarchy, during residencies lasting three to four weeks. And a half days: Students bring original compositions or arrangements, refine them with faculty, and develop a complete set.
Jason Hainsworth
That approach aligns closely with a strong partnership between SFCM and SFJAZZ—one that connects a world-class conservatory to an award-winning venue and its resident all-star ensemble. Side-By-Side concerts serve as a formal expression of that bond, pairing RJAM faculty (including SFJAZZ Collective members) with their young artist protégés. The November program, New Visions, features two ensembles led by tenor saxophonist David Sánchez and pianist Edward Simon—“world-class musicians and great teachers,” as Hainsworth says—working through a collection of original music created specifically for the occasion.
Onstage, the format favors variety and space. “We usually aim for septets,” Hainsworth says, “and giving all the musicians on stage plenty of room to stretch out is important because we are still improvisers—that’s our strength.” Two tight sets, each around 30–35 minutes, keep the energy high; the turnaround is quick, with no full intermission. Expect flexible instrumentation—“a couple of saxophones, maybe trumpet, maybe trombone, piano, bass, guitar, and drums”—and expect the repertoire to include contemporary pieces while acknowledging tradition. “We’ve been studying Miles Davis in various phases because of his centennial,” Hainsworth adds, so hints of Miles’s many eras may emerge within these new compositions.
The learning process is a two-way street: listening to the audience becomes a vital part of the educational process. RJAM students show up for SFJAZZ sets in significant numbers, a trend that scene regulars have observed in the upper levels of Miner Auditorium. “SFJAZZ has been very, very gracious in giving discounts, and our students definitely take advantage of that access,” Hainsworth says. “They also get a chance to meet some of the musicians performing there.” What they bring back to school influences the next rehearsal, the next arrangement, and the next Side-By-Side.
“Performing alongside mentors is unmatched for learning— from preparing rehearsals to shaping ideas with the band you’re in.”
Two recent student recordings highlight the range RJAM wants the public to hear. Xitlalli Estrella, a junior from Dallas and “literally our first and only jazz clarinet major,” dedicated her piece, “Rebecca,” to her mother. Hainsworth sees it as a statement of strong womanhood and a sign of her groundbreaking position in the program. “We’re very fortunate to have her here,” he says, noting her roots at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. This Dallas incubator has produced notable artists like Roy Hargrove and Erykah Badu.
The companion track, “Warlike,” by bassist and RJAM alumnus Alan Jones, moves in a different musical direction. “It’s a harder-swinging, old-school arrangement in the vein of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ vibe,” Hainsworth explains. The horn writing channels early-’60s Wayne Shorter, and the band sound leans on tradition with the confidence of players who can argue their case in present tense. Jones studied with SFJAZZ Collective bassist Matt Brewer and San Francisco Symphony principal Scott Pingel, a pairing that hints at the program’s cross-pollination between jazz and orchestral disciplines.
The network extends beyond the campus. Hainsworth highlights recent acceptances into an exclusive summer institute outside Chicago—an all-expenses-paid, two-week workshop led by John Clayton, Billy Childs, and Steve Wilson—as a glimpse of RJAM’s growth. Two RJAM musicians, Oakland-born saxophonist Jayla Hernandez and San Diego bassist Julian Esparza, received invitations. “These are life-changing opportunities,” he says, because students get feedback from jazz icons while forming peer relationships that develop into a working community over the years.
Crucially for Bay Area listeners, the doors open far more often than just a single night at the Lab. “We host hundreds of concerts throughout the year, especially during the academic calendar, and most of our concerts are free and open to the public,” Hainsworth notes. Some events require tickets, but they remain free, and they take place in two central San Francisco locations: “200 Van Ness, literally across the street from Davies Hall, and 50 Oak Street, just two blocks from Symphony Hall.” The programs range from opera scenes to wind ensembles, chamber music, and student recitals—evidence of the conservatory’s broader musical network that feeds RJAM’s improvisers.
For RJAM Side-by-Side: New Visions, the invitation is simple: experience apprenticeship in action. “You also get to hear students that, I guarantee you, five, ten, fifteen years from now, will be involved in much bigger things, recording with many people, and touring all around the world,” Hainsworth says. That prediction feels less like hype and more like a timeline, and the Lab is a perfect place to mark the beginning.
Show & Tickets
RJAM Side-By-Side: New Visions — Friday, November 14, 7:30 p.m., Joe Henderson Lab, SFJAZZ Center. Tickets and information: https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/25-26/rjam-side-by-side-new-visions/
Visit Jason Hainsworth’s website: https://www.jasonhainsworthmusic.com
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music: https://sfcm.edu
Photos courtesy of SFJAZZ and SFCM.
