Jean Fineberg

Saxophonist, Flutist, Composer and Bandleader

Biography

Saxophonist/flutist, composer and bandleader based in the San Francisco Bay Area

I am a freelance saxophonist/flutist, composer and bandleader based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in R&B, jazz, soul, funk, reggae, Latin, New Orleans and related styles.

My JAZZphoria octet has just released an album, along with a new video. JAZZphoria plays all my original groove-based music from swing, to bebop, reggae, funk, bossa nova, soca and salsa. The band is composed of two trumpets/flugelhorns, two saxes/flutes/clarinets, guitar, piano, bass & drums.  All the arrangements feature big band style harmonies, great jazz solos backed up by a rock solid rhythm section.

 

My career has taken me worldwide, recording and touring with David Bowie, Luther Vandross, Laura Nyro, Melba Liston, Chic, Bo Diddley and many others. I have been fortunate to perform at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Grammys in Los Angeles, the Monterey, San Francisco, San Jose Jazz Festivals and many others, including Montreux, Pori (Finland), the Netherlands, Rio de Janeiro and Acapulco.

I love composing, and I’m honored that the Montclair Women’s Big Band has recorded four of my original compositions for their upcoming second album. My tunes will also appear in the New Standards  Fake Book from Berklee Press, and the Bay Area Jazz Composers’ Fakebook. I teach at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, CA, and serve on the board of the non-profit Jazzwomen and Girls Advocates.

Thanks for looking, and I hope to see you around the Bay soon!  Cheers, Jean

    

Awards

  • ASCAP Composers Awards (3 years)
  • Nat’l Endowment for the Arts Jazz Composition Fellowship Grant
  • San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, Music Composition Grant
  • Ucross Foundation, Wyoming, Artist Residency in Music Composition
  • Anderson Center for the Arts, Minnesota, Artist Residency in Music Composition
  • The Studios of Key West, Florida, Artist Residency in Music Composition Meet the Composer Grants (3)
  • Panelist, San Francisco Arts Council
  • National Merit Music Scholarship
  • Kansas City Women’s Jazz Festival, All-Star saxophonist and Combo Winner

I am ever grateful to the Ucross Foundation in WY, the Anderson Center for the Arts in MN, The Studios of Key West in FL, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in WY, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in NE, Escape to Create in FL, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation for the Arts in NM, Chamber Music America and IntermusicSF for the gifts of financial support, space and time to write among so many amazing visual and literary artists.