"Black History Month is American History Month" is a frequent quote from Jason Hainsworth, Executive Director of SFCM's Roots, Jazz, and American Music Department. It's baked into the name of his department: It's not possible to talk about American music without talking about the contributions Black Americans have made in the form of blues, jazz, soul, and even the early roots of rock and roll. 

Hainsworth drove this point home at his Faculty Artist Series recital in 2024, finishing the evening with an original tune titled "Juneteenth," a holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. As Hainsworth explains in his introduction to the tune, "This last tune is in honor of Black people."

"When I moved to San Francisco," he continued, "I thought that Juneteenth was always a thing here, because I grew up in Texas, and Juneteenth is a really big deal in Texas for obvious reasons. It wasn't really a thing here until fairly recently, so I'm really happy that Juneteenth has been kind of adopted by other states now, California in particular, because it's a really important part of our American history."

Hainsworth has another reason to celebrate BHM this year: He announced on Instagram that he was "honored to be asked by one of my biggest heroes Wynton Marsalis to arrange a piece of music for the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra." The piece, Joseph Brackett's "Shaker Song," also known as "Simple Gifts," is popularly known for its adaptation by Aaron Copland, and the Orchestra is currently playing Hainsworth's arrangement on tour. (Marcus Printup, trumpet player for Marsalis' ensemble, recently joined the RJAM faculty as trumpet instructor.)

Learn more about studying Roots, Jazz, and American Music at SFCM.