Rumi Abe

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Rumi Abe, a pianist from Japan, began playing Electone at age 4 and studied music theory and composition at Yamaha Music School. She refined her jazz skills under the mentorship of legends Fumio Karashima and Josh Nelson, performing over 200 shows annually across Tokyo. In 2022, she released her debut album with her trio. She had also teached piano/jazz piano to the various range of ages, from beginner to advanced level in Japan.

Now based in San Francisco as of 2024, Rumi has been performing and sharing her music at the main jazz clubs of the Bay Area as a leader and a sideman as well as teaching jazz piano lessons.

Jack Roben

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Based in Oakland, California, guitarist Jack Roben has performed across the country with artists and ensembles including Eric Reed, Gregory Tardy, Ed Soph, Taber Gable, Drew Zaremba, Sam Reider, Tom Amend, the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band, and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra.

Raised in the rich jazz scene of Seattle, Washington, Jack was taught the foundations of the music by his father, Andy, a jazz pianist and organist. He attended Edmonds-Woodway High School, where he was mentored by Jake Bergevin, a renowned educator in the area. Jack’s early accolades include membership in the 2013 NAFME All-Northwest Jazz Band and participating the 2013 Essentially Ellington competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Jack then moved to Denton, Texas to study at the University of North Texas, where he received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (2017). During his time at UNT Jack was a member of many ensembles including the Grammy nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, and is featured on the recording Lab 2017. Jack continued his studies at the University of Northern Colorado, where he received a Master of Music (2020) and was a Graduate Teaching Assistant. As a member of UNC Lab I, Jack participated in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he received the “Outstanding Guitar” award.

In 2020 Jack relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee to become the Lecturer of Jazz Guitar at the University of Tennessee, where for three years he taught private lessons, jazz theory, jazz improvisation, graduate jazz seminar, and directed small ensembles.

Since returning to the West Coast in 2023, Jack has performed with musicians including Sam Reider, Giulio Xavier Cetto, Adam Shulman, Steven Lugerner, John Wiitala, Smith Dobson, and Michael Mitchell at venues including the Fillmore Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Festival, Mr. Tipple’s, Keys Jazz Bistro, Black Cat, and Golden Gate Park. He has continued to be an active educator working with the Stanford Jazz Workshop and in the Oakland Unified School District.

Rob Clearfield

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Pianist, and composer Rob Clearfield grew up steeped in music. After a childhood filled with garage bands, gospel choirs, South American guitar ensembles, and everything in between, Rob enrolled at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. During and after college, he embedded himself in the local music scene, residing in Chicago for fifteen years before relocating to France in 2019.
 
Over the course of his career, Rob has performed with artists including John Wetton, Patricia Barber, Howard Levy, Makaya McCraven, Simon Moullier, Marquis Hill, Eighth Blackbird, Yuhan Su, and Grazyna Auguscik, among others. To date, he has released over ten recordings of his original music, including co-led projects with saxophonist Caroline Davis and drummer Quin Kirchner. His newest album Voice in the Wilderness features Joe Sanders, Fred Pasqua, and Itamar Borochov.
 
In addition to performing and recording, Rob has also received commissions to compose for theater (Purdue University), film (The Lost Remake of Beau-Guest), and from the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra in College Station, Texas. He currently resides in Marseille, France.

Colin Hogan

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Colin Hogan was born in San Francisco, CA. He was a member of the world-renowned Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble while also studying with the Jazzschool’s founder, Susan Muscarella. He then attended Cal State East Bay (Hayward) where he earned a BA in piano performance.

Colin has performed on five continents and has performed with many legendary musicians including Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, David Garibaldi, Lenny Pickett, Roy Ayers, James Moody, Ledisi, Too $hort, Peter Erskine, DJ Qbert, Kurt Elling, and Maria Schneider. Colin is currently involved in many projects including The Jazz Mafia, Mads Tolling and the Mads Men, The Alaya Project, Oakadelic, and The Hogan Brothers with brothers Steve and Julian. He currently lives in Oakland, CA.

Mike Galea

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Mike Galea is a trumpet player and music educator from San Mateo, California. He currently serves as the Director of Bands at Hillsdale High School, where he works with more than 170 student musicians in concert band, jazz ensemble, and other music courses each year.

Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts in Jazz Studies from the University of the Pacific in 2016 and completed a Master of Music Education degree at San José State University in 2026. His graduate research, titled Bridging the Gap: Conducting Strategies for Jazz Ensembles Informed by Choral and Orchestral Pedagogy, explored ways that conducting practices from other ensemble traditions can support jazz ensemble instruction.

As a performer, Mike remains active throughout the Bay Area, appearing with jazz ensembles, concert bands, orchestras, and musical theater productions. Over the years, he has had the opportunity to perform alongside artists including Steve Allee, Paul Young, Wayne Bergeron, Ed Simon, Jamie Baum, Peter Erskine, Stefon Harris, Duane Lawrence, and Greg Yasinitsky. He has also performed with more than 35 pit orchestras throughout the Peninsula and regularly collaborates on musical theater productions as both a musician and a music director.

At Hillsdale High School, Mike directs the school’s band program and jazz ensemble, whose performances have been recognized at festivals throughout California. Above all, he values creating meaningful musical experiences for students and helping young musicians develop confidence, creativity, and a lifelong appreciation for music.

Tomoko Funaki

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Tomoko Funaki is a musician, bassist, educator and bandleader based in San Francisco. She has been involved with SJW since 2010.
Tomoko Funaki was born in Japan into a musical family.  Like her mother, a violinist for a symphony orchestra in Japan, Tomoko began as a classical musician studying violin with the Suzuki Method at the age of 4.  By age 16, her musical interests broadened and she picked up the flute, her father’s instrument. Tomoko moved to the United States to attend college and lived in New York and San Francisco, where she continued to perform and expose herself to a broad range of musical genres.  It was during this time that she first discovered her passion for jazz.
After relocating to San Francisco in 2002, she began studying upright bass and quickly immersed herself into the San Francisco jazz scene, studying and performing with luminaries including Ray Drummond, Rodney Whitaker, Rufus Reid, the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, Andrew Speight, Vince Lateano, Mark Levine, Donald “Duck” Bailey, Roy McCurdy, Allan Harris and Denise Perrier.
Tomoko has become an in-demand jazz bassist and can be seen performing regularly with Hard Bop Collective (HBC) founded in 2011, and other duos/trios/quartets in various venues.  She has also been involved in jazz education programs such as Stanford Jazz Workshop, SFJAZZ Education, SFSU ICA – The Generations Jazz Project and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Tomoko passionately cares about contributing to live music experiences for a wide range of audiences, bringing people together and expanding jazz communities globally.

Tyler Kaneshiro

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Tyler Kaneshiro is a trumpeter, composer, and educator who has performed in major venues throughout North America and Europe. He is a San Francisco Bay Area native who moved to New York in 2008 to attend New York University and pursue his dream of playing jazz in the heart of Greenwich Village.

Kaneshiro has had the honor of sharing the stage and opening for such musicians as Bob Mintzer, Dave Pietro, Ralph Alessi, Brian Lynch, Marvin Stamm, Bill Mays, Ingrid Jensen, Roscoe Mitchell, CDZA, Macklemore, Snoop Dogg, Sinkane and has performed at several venues such as Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club, The Highline Ballroom, The Jazz Gallery, The Blue Note in Milan, The Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Mass MoCA, YouTube Brandcast in New York, Google Conference in Las Vegas, Catalina’s Jazz Club in Los Angeles, SFJAZZ, San Jose Jazz Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Rochester International Jazz Festival among others.

Along with performing, he has composed music for film, theater, and podcasts. He is also a professional music copyist.

As an educator, Kaneshiro is a lecturer of Music Theory in the Department of Arts, Culture, & Media at Rutgers University – Newark and a faculty member of Express Newark. He is currently collaborating with Stefon Harris (Associate Professor of Music) to codify Harris’s unique approach to melody and harmony.

He was selected as a member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Mentor Fellowship Program and continues to teach there every summer. He has also been a guest lecturer for the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.

Kaneshiro is featured in Dr. Thomas R. Erdmann’s book, How Jazz Trumpeters Play Music Today: Twelve Interviews on Technique, Style and Aesthetic. The book is a collection of interviews of trumpeters who reflect on the state of jazz and music in today’s world.

Obed Calvaire

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Obed Calvaire, a native of Miami and of Haitian descent is a graduate with both a master and bachelor degree of music from one of America’s premiere private music conservatories in the nation, Manhattan School of Music. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2003, completing the undergraduate degree requirements in three years and receiving his master’s in 2005.

Mr. Calvaire has performed and recorded with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Seal, Eddie Palmeri, Vanessa Williams, Dave Holland, David Foster, Mary J. Blige, Stefon Harris, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Cincotti, Music Soulchild, Nellie McKay, Yellow Jackets, Joshua Redman, Steve Turre, and Lizz Wright to name a few. He has also performed with large ensembles such as the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, The Clayton Brothers, The Mingus Big Band, RoyHargrove big band, and the Bob Mintzer Big Band.

Currently, Obed Calvaire can be found playing with the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Dave Holland, Monty Alexander, Sean Jones, Yosvany Terry, Mike Stern among others.

Max Jaffe

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Max Jaffe is a drummer, producer, composer, and technologist based in Los Angeles, CA. His work expands the possibilities of composition and collaboration through the drum set. In 2025, Jaffe released “You Want That Too!” on Colorfield Records. Eclectic and tuneful, the album received praise from Pitchfork and is being followed with a series of special live performances in varying formations.

Max is a founding member of experimental rock collective JOBS, Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones, and several others. He has toured, performed, and recorded with many diverse artists including Steph Richards, Nels Cline, Ava Mendoza, Brandon Lopez, DARKSIDE, David Binney, Jeff Parker, Vinny Golia, Nick Reinhart, Zach Tenorio, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Jessica Pavone, Chris Williams, Nicole McCabe, Logan Kane, Spencer Zahn, Meg Duffy, Daniel Rotem, Greg Uhlmann, Peter Evans, Simon Hanes, and many others.

Kai Lyons

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Kai Lyons is from the Excelsior District of San Francisco and was surrounded by music and community from an early age. He completed his studies at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in 2012 as the first to graduate from the acclaimed Classical Guitar Program, directed by Scott Cmiel. From 2012-2014, on full scholarship, Kai attended the prestigious jazz program at William Paterson University of New Jersey, directed by Mulgrew Miller. He studied with Vincent Herring, Gene Bertoncini, Harold Mabern, Rich Perry, and Hal Galper. Kai received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from San Francisco State University where he studied with Andrew Speight, Michael Zisman and Hafez Modirzadeh.

Ever since returning to the Bay Area in 2015, he has freelanced extensively and also traveled frequently to New York City, New Orleans, Brazil and the Caribbean on music trips. In 2018 he participated in Master Class: Orff-Afrique 2018 in Ghana, Africa.

Besides working with his own trio, Kai has performed with Mike Clark and Donald Harrison of Herbie Hancock’s Original Headhunters, Louis Romero, award-winning organist Wil Blades, Larry Vuckovich, Sueños and Illy Bogart.