Jonathan Richards

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Jonathan Richards joins the SJW faculty for the first time this year, and we couldn’t be more excited. Based in Los Angeles, Jonathan has developed deep professional relationships with some of the top artists in jazz and pop, including David Foster, Khalid, Toni Braxton, Joe LaBarbera, Marquis Hill, Snuffy Walden, Van Hunt, Jeff Goldblum, Anthony Wilson, and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

You can see Jonathan in many videos featuring Postmodern Jukebox, Sara Neimietz, and the Sarah Reich Tap Music Project. He’s also all over scores recorded for TV and film, including Beyoncé’s The Gift, Katharine McPhee’s PBS Soundstage Special, The American Music Awards, and scoring sessions for shows such as The Night Of (HBO), Mrs. America (HULU), and Dear White People (Netfilx).

Even better for us at SJW, Jonathan is a very high-level jazz educator, currently on the faculty of Pasadena City College, long noted for its excellent jazz program.

Jhoely Garay

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Jhoely Garay is a New York-based guitarist, composer, arranger, and educator from Mexico, whose music expresses her passion for straight-ahead swing, contemporary jazz, and musics and rhythms from Latin America. She uses her voice as an artist to raise awareness about topics often overlooked by the public, such as climate-related issues and untold or hidden histories left out of official narratives.

Garay has become an integral part of the dynamic jazz scene in New York and Mexico, collaborating with iconic artists such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Steve Wilson, Darcy James Argue, Jim McNeely, Mike Holober, among others; and performing at renowned venues, such as Carnegie Hall, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, The MET Museum, Jazz Institute Berlin, The Public Theater, Stanford University, Aaron Davis Hall, The Clemente Soto Cultural Center, Shea Center for Performing Arts, Colima International Jazz Festival, National Arts Center in Mexico, and as a guest composer, arranger and conductor of the NYO Jazz Orchestra, the Berlin Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Her gifts as both a guitarist and composer have earned her numerous accolades, including five Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation awards, the Stanford Jazz Mentor Fellowship (2022-23), the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble Prize (2020), and the Repsol Emerging Artist Award (2017). She was selected to participate in the Woodshed Network Residency directed by the Tony Award-winning NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater and participated in the International Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in Canada.

Garay has received recognition as a composer and for her jazz orchestra and large ensemble works from ASCAP, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New Music USA, American Composers Forum, Pathways to Jazz, New York City Artist Corps, and the National Fund for Culture and the Arts in Mexico, and her commitment to fostering musical talent extends to her role as a Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Ambassador.

Garay is a passionate educator committed to sharing her love for music. In addition to the Stanford Jazz Workshop, she is a faculty member at Jazz House Kids New York, 92NY music program, El Paso Jazz Girls, and the Riverdale Music Studio. Garay has also taught masterclasses in jazz guitar and composition at higher education institutions in Mexico and the U.S., such as Portland State University, Jazz Education Network Conference, Universidad Veracruzana JazzUV, Universidad de Queretaro, Universidad Autónoma de Colima.

Garay holds a Master’s degree in Jazz Composition from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Guitar Performance from The City College of New York, graduating with honors from both institutions.

Howard Wiley

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Born in Berkeley, California, Howard Wiley displayed a unique musical talent from a very young age, while performing at his local Gospel church. Wiley says “the first time I picked up the saxophone, it became a part of me, like an additional limb, I knew I had found my purpose.”

Wiley studied the saxophone in high school, was selected to be a member of the Grammy All-American Jazz Band two years in a row at 14 and 15 years old. He travelled to both New York and Los Angeles performing with the best young musicians in the country at various activities related to Grammy Week. The following year, he was selected to participate in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz’s All-Star Band. This band of young lions studied andperformed with jazz greats including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Gerald Albright, and many others. Wiley then received a scholarship to Berklee School of Music; where he would graduate with honors. During his time with the Institute, Howard also met and collaborated with other rising stars of Jazz in Los Angeles, including Kamasi Washington, Tony Austin, Miles Mosley and more (the collective now known as the West Coast Get Down). To this day, Howard is still a member; recording and touring with them worldwide when not working on his solo projects.

At the age of 15, he released his first CD as a leader with the local press review stating “…this CD signals the arrival of the San Francisco Bay’s newest diamond in the rough.” In 2007 Wiley released his third album, The Angola Project, comprising ensemble pieces inspired by 1950s recordings from Angola State Prison. According to Jazz critic Daniel King of the San Francisco Chronicle, “What makes Wiley’s album a great listen is his textural range, his less-is-more compositional approach and his patience as a soloist. Instead of packing notes into every bar, he places them thoughtfully into well-paced improvisations.”

Wiley’s love of jazz and arranging led him to fuse his jazz sounds with funk. Ever the soulful live musician, Howard has built a strong reputation for presenting jazz shows ‘that you can dance to’. On experiencing Wiley in a live setting, journalist Drew Foxman writes, “…he befitted a dignified presence by displaying his deep reverence for the musicians with whom he was collaborating, unmasking the persona of an unassuming leader. This is a musician who understands his sound, not only in an ensemble, but in the history of music. This humility, though, translates into downright explosiveness on the bandstand.”

Howard Wiley has toured internationally, recorded and performed with artists including Miss Lauryn Hill, Sheila E, Cory Henry, Christian McBride, Chester Thompson and more. He is a Founding member of the new Bay Area collective BLACK LONDON, who are currently performing in and around Northern California. He has performed worldwide with other artists and with his solo project at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Fest, Blue Note Club, Madrone Art Bar, Cape Town Jazz Festival, the Grammy Museum, Yoshi’s Oakland, Malcolm X Jazz Festival, Sonoma Jazz Festival, Smalls NY and SXSW, to name a few. Recently, he was also a featured artist performing his original music for the official new APPLE iPhone commercial and global conference.

Hannah Marks

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Hannah Marks is a bassist, bandleader, composer, and educator living in New York City. As a bandleader, she has performed at several major festivals, including the Detroit Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival, and Indy Jazz Festival. Her current band, Hannah Marks: Outsider, Outlier, is a genre-defying, lyric-based project. Marks plays in many bands including Tide Pools, with alto saxophonist Alfredo Colon and drummer Connor Parks, as well as for singer-songwriters Elora and Jack Broza.

She is a frequent sideman with SJW faculty artists Geoffrey Keezer, Ingrid Jensen, and Matt Wilson, as well as many other noted jazz artists such as Kalia Vandever, Ted Nash, Morgan Guerin, and Marcus Printup. Her former project, Heartland Trio, released their debut album in November 2018. Marks is a 2021 alumnus of the Woodshed Network, a 2019 alumnus of Betty Carter Jazz Ahead, a 2018 alumnus of the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, and a 2014 alumnus of the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony. She is on faculty at The Spence School and runs her own private lesson studio. Marks is currently an artist-in-residence at Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church in New Jersey and a curator for Green Lung Studio in Brooklyn.

Hannah is an alumnus of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Walter Smith, Todd Coolman, Kurt Muroki, and Jeremy Allen. She was a member of IU’s top jazz group, the Plummer Jazz Quintet, led by Walter Smith. She is a former member of the IU Soul Revue and was the assistant principal bassist in the Spring 2018 production of West Side Story.

She hails from Des Moines, IA, where she got her start playing in monthly Des Moines Community Jazz Center jam sessions and attending Synergy Jazz Foundation Workshops. By the time she graduated high school, she played regularly with the Max Wellman Quartet, the Plymouth Church Saturday Night Band, and the Dave Bohl Quartet. She was selected for the Dave Brubeck Colony in 2014; she had other eye- opening experiences from attending the Centrum Jazz Workshop, the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshop, the University of Northern Iowa Jazz Camp, and the Simpson Jazz Camp in high school.

Hannah is passionate about sharing her love of music with a range of communities. She is involved in music education, non-profit work, and community outreach across the Midwest and East Coast, and currently works at Manhattan School of Music doing performance operations for the jazz department. As well as teaching on faculty at The Spence School, Hannah has also taught several masterclasses on music business and entrepreneurship for Indiana University’s Project Jumpstart program.

She created a music venue in Bloomington’s cozy mead bar, Oddball Fermentables, in 2017, and booked 27 shows and employed 160 musicians over the course of a year and a half. While in college, Marks interned for the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Girls Rock! Chicago, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and Civic Music Association. She taught bass lessons and music theory at the Girls Rock! Des Moines camp and mentored at-risk elementary and middle school girls involved in Chrysalis Foundation’s after school programs in 2014.

Recent studio work includes Heartland Trio’s debut album Year One; Alone Together, a jazz vocal/bass duo EP with vocalist Kathryn Sherman, and Mostly Home, a full-length album with singer songwriter Grace Minnick.

George Cables

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Piano legend George Cables has performed and recorded with some of the greatest jazz musicians of our time, including: Joe Henderson, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Williams, Bobby Hutcherson and Dizzy Gillespie.

Cables attended Mannes College of Music for two years and by 1964 he was playing in a band called The Jazz Samaritans which included such rising stars as Billy Cobham, Lenny White and Clint Houston. Gigs around New York at the Top of the Gate, Slugs, and other clubs attracted attention to Cables’ versatility and before long he earned a brief 1969 tenure at the piano bench with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

A 1969 tour with tenor titan Sonny Rollins took Cables to the West Coast. By 1971 he became a significant figure in the jazz scenes of Los Angeles, where he first resided, and San Francisco, where he also lived. Collaborations and recordings with tenor saxophonists Joe Henderson and Sonny Rollins, trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw and vibist Bobby Hutcherson made Cables’ wide-ranging keyboard skills, often on electric piano, amply evident. Demand for his sensitive accompaniment increased and by the end of the 1970s, Cables was garnering a reputation as everyone’s favorite sideman.

The longest standing relationship Cables developed in the late seventies was with alto saxophonist Art Pepper. Cables, who Pepper called “Mr. Beautiful,” became Art’s favorite pianist, appearing on many quartet dates for Contemporary and Galaxy, and joining Art for the extraordinary duet album, Goin’ Home, that would be Pepper’s final recording session.

George Cables has emerged as a major voice in modern jazz. He is currently performing and recording as a soloist, with trio and larger ensembles, and as a clinician in college jazz programs. In addition to composing and arranging for his own albums, George Cables has contributed to recordings by Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson and many others. He is noted for his fresh Interpretations of classic compositions and for his innovative style of writing.

Gary Kerkezou

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Originally from Greece, Gary Kerkezou has become one of the most in-demand young drummers in New York. Performing nightly at world-class jazz clubs like Birdland, Dizzy’s Club, Cafe Bohemia, the Django, Smalls, Bar Bayeux, Mezzrow, Cellar Dog, Minton’s Playhouse and Ornithology, she quickly built a reputation for herself as an extraordinary musician. She has collaborated with stellar names in the jazz world (Christian McBride, Regina Carter, Troy Roberts, Michael Dease, Bill Pierce, Javon Jackson, Eric Alexander, Geoff Keezer, Pasquale Grasso, Cyrus Chestnut, Lage Lund, Grant Stewart, David Wong, Jeb Patton, Adam Birnbaum and others) and has recorded multiple albums as a sideman.

In addition to a busy performing schedule, she is an instructor at Jazz House Kids, one of the most successful and respected jazz education programs in the country. She has also given masterclasses at some of the nation’s finest jazz programs (Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and KC Area Youth Jazz) as well as at multiple public schools around the city.

Moving to USA 8 years ago to study, she got her undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music where she was accepted with multiple scholarships and afterwards enrolled in Manhattan School of Music with an almost full ride to get her Masters in Music degree.

Raised in a family of professional musicians, she also has a Diploma on classical violin from her home country and has been performing as a violinist since she was a child, with orchestras, smaller ensembles and as a session musician, with artists like Lalah Hathaway, Jacob Collier, Christopher Brubeck, AJR, and Patrick Doyle.

Dena DeRose

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Dena DeRose is a “stunningly talented pianist/vocalist” (Cadence) who has taught and performed at Stanford Jazz Workshop since 1996. Fortunately for SJW students and audiences, she has returned every year since then, even as her ever-increasing popularity as a performing and recording artist has taken her to the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals and venues, including the Blue Note, the Kennedy Center, and the North Sea and Monterey Jazz Festivals.

Dena began playing piano as a child in suburban New York, and became fascinated by jazz after discovering the music of Count Basie as a teenager. In college, she devoted herself to jazz, practicing for hours on end and making frequent trips to New York City to hear her favorite pianists. All her practicing and playing took an unexpected toll when Dena developed severe carpal tunnel syndrome, which made it impossible to play the piano. This hardship turned into a new opportunity when, on a friend’s dare, Dena took the stage and sang at a local club. By the time her piano chops had recovered, singing was an essential part of Dena’s musical life.

As a recording artist, DeRose has 14 CDs to her credit to rave reviews. Her newest, and third consecutive HighNote release Ode To The Road features the incomparable rhythm section of Martin Wind and Matt Wilson with guests jazz vocal icon Sheila Jordan, the legendary saxophonist Houston Person, and the lyrical and swinging Jeremy Pelt on trumpet. DeRose’s past releases have garnered many outstanding reviews in top jazz magazines like Downbeat, JazzTimes, JazzHot, JazzHistoryOnline, All About Jazz, The New York Record, and many other international jazz publications. She’s has been featured on many radio stations in Europe, and has garnered many excellent reviews All of DeRose’s recordings from Sharp Nine, Maxjazz, Vega, GoFour, and now HighNote, have all received no less than 4 stars from Downbeat, and have continued to gain listeners in the U.S. and abroad.

David Hart

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Dr. David Hart, a native of California, leads an international music career focusing on  both education and performance. Hart has taught and performed in the United States, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Passionate about music teaching and learning, David completed a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. In this degree, David has had the unique opportunity to work closely with both the music education and jazz departments while teaching undergraduate courses in jazz improvisation, jazz history, jazz theory, jazz big band, and jazz combo. He has studied performance and improvisation privately with Clay Jenkins, Harold Danko, Bill Dobbins, Dr. Christopher Azzara, and Jeff Campbell. Inspired by Dr. Christopher Azzara and Dr. Richard Grunow, David focuses his education research on ways to improve creativity in the music learning process for all styles of music.

In June of 2010, Hart accepted a full time teaching position at the Harker School in San Jose, California.  As one of the largest independent private schools on the West Coast, Harker possesses a strong performing arts program.  Dr. Hart is head of the Upper School Instrumental music program and teaches jazz band and orchestra.  Hart is also active at both the lower and middle schools as a teacher working with other instructors to create a unified music curriculum. Dr. Hart helped start the Harker Concert Series and is currently a co-artistic director.

After receiving his Masters degree in both Music Education and Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music, Hart accepted a position on faculty at Mahidol University, College of Music in Thailand, which maintains an international faculty and offers degrees for pre-college through graduate level students. As a Professor of Music Education and Trumpet Performance, Dr. Hart participated in both the Jazz and Classical Departments working with the wind ensemble, symphonic band, orchestra, and brass choir.  David started the first jazz trumpet studio in Thailand and helped turn the Mahidol Jazz Ensemble into one of the premier groups in Southeast Asia. Dr. Hart also taught graduate level courses in Music Education working with a diverse population of students from Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, and Malaysia.  He was the advisor for masters level research projects and taught courses on Instrumental Teaching Techniques, Introduction to Music Education, and Measurement and Evaluation.

As a jazz artist, David has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, and Stanford Jazz Festival to name a few.  He has also had the pleasure of performing, teaching, and studying with Gerald Wilson, Anthony Wilson, George Bohannon, Horace Silver, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Billy Higgins, Dave Liebman, Kenny Burrell, Arturo Sandoval, Ralph Alessi, Bill Berry, Rufus Reid, Jim Rotundi, Gary Bartz, Garnett Brown, Ingrid Jensen, Marvin Stamm, Dayna Stephens, Taylor Eigsti, Ted Poor, and others. As a classical performer, Dr. Hart has appeared with the Thailand Philharmonic, Malaysian International Festival Orchestra, Panang Symphony, International Trumpet Guild Festival of Trumpets, Eastman OSSIA ensembles, and Emerald Brass Quintet.

David holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UCLA, Master of Music degree and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman school of music.  Dr. Hart’s principal trumpet teachers include; Clay Jenkins (Eastman School of Music), Doug Prosser (Eastman School of Music), Jens Lindemann (UCLA), and Robert Karon (UCLA).

Dave Gregoric

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Very much in demand as a jazz trombonist around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, Dave has recorded with Pete Escovedo, Andy Narrel, Buddy Montgomery, Cab Calloway, Della Reese, Smith Dobson, Ray Brown, Dave Eshelman, and the Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra. He has performed with the Temptations, Big Lou and the Polka Princess, Jimmy Heath, Confunktion, Bobby Watson, Cyndi Lauper, Gerri Allen, Sheila E., Guy Lombardo, Michael W. Smith, Louis Bellson, Steve Turre, Twyla Paris, Frankie Valle, the Drifters, Sapo, Vic Demone, Jamie Davis, Jamie Davis, Ron Konali, Martha and the Vandelas, Dick Bright’s SRO, and Little Anthony. He’s also logged time performing for Princess-Royal Norwegian-Western cruise lines, Disneyland, Marriots Great America, Circus Vargas, and the Bentley Brothers Circus.

An equally accomplished jazz educator, Dave is the director of Music at Mills High School and has also taught at the Marin School of the Arts and the Valley Christian Schools. The latter was recognized as one of the top programs in Northern California at both the middle school and high school levels, giving commanding performances at the Reno, Folsom, San Jose, Campana, and Monterey Next Generation Jazz festivals. He has also taught at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Monterey Jazz Festival Summer Camp, Jazz Camp West, Graded Jazz festival (Brazil), Lafayette Summer Music Jazz Workshop, Donner Mine Jazz Camp, Osaka Jazz festival (Japan), and San Jose Jazz Society. He has adjudicated at the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival, CMEA (Central Coast and Bay section) Jazz Festivals, Folsom Jazz Festival, ACSI Music Festival, Cuesta College Jazz Festival, and Cal State Hayward Jazz Festival. Dave is always a favorite among students at Jazz Camp.

Dan Wilson

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We are very happy to welcome guitarist Dan Wilson to the faculty. Dan is one of the most exciting young guitarists working today, having made a huge mark with the trio of the late, great organist Joey DeFrancesco, as well as with Christian McBride’s Tip City.

Dan grew up in Akron, Ohio, and spent the majority of his youth within the church community, where his musical path began.

Traces of his major guitar influences – including Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, and George Benson  – are evident in his playing, but his musical identity has been shaped by everything from gospel and blues to traditional jazz and hip-hop, as well as by horn players like Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.

After graduating from Hiram College, Dan made his recording debut with pianist Joe McBride and later, his debut as a leader on To Whom It May Concern.

Dan’s career took him on an exploratory journey into the guitar and organ trio tradition, eventually leading to an invitation to perform and record with Joey DeFrancesco’s quartet, with which Wilson went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Project Freedom (Mack Avenue Records, 2017).

Dan had been playing with DeFrancesco for a few years when he met bassist, composer, and arranger Christian McBride, and went on to tour with McBride’s trio Tip City. McBride produced Dan’s most 2021 release, Vessels of Wood and Earth, and released the album on his newly-formed imprint Brother Mister Productions through Mack Avenue Music Group.

Dan has had the honor of sharing the stage with jazz greats including Eric Marienthal, Russell Malone, Les McCann, René Marie, Jeff Hamilton, David Sanborn, and Dave Stryker. He also teaches jazz guitar and music theory through private lessons.