Students (and one alum) from SFCM's Roots, Jazz, and American Music (RJAM) Department landed in New York for a whirlwind weekend in June for Lara Downes' NEXT250 concert at the Lincoln Center. For students Kole Dixon (bass) and Myles Turk (drums), it was their inaugural trip to New York, capped by a show at the city's legendary Village Vanguard jazz club. (2023 RJAM grad Spencer Hoefort, who lives in Brooklyn, rounded out the quartet on guitar.)

Miles Turk (Credit: LCPA/Sean Chee)

The performance was held as part of  The Declaration Project, Downes' ambitious multimedia experience that premiered on July 1 at Lincoln Center. The pianist (and SFCM Pre-College alum) traveled around the country for two weeks seeking out "diverse, multigenerational collective of voices from a broad spectrum of geographical, economic, and cultural perspectives" for conversations about America's past and future. The results of that trek were compiled into a freely available digital archive, excerpts from which were part of the premieres of the musical portion of the project, three commissioned works titled Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness, from Grammy Award-winning composers Valerie Coleman, Arturo O’Farrill, and Christopher Tin.

Laura Downes (Credit: LCPA/Sean Chee)

Downes is no stranger at SFCM: She recorded Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined, a daring new arrangement of George Gershwin's iconic work by Edmar Colón, with the SFCM Orchestra in 2023, a work that broadened Rhapsody to include elements more representative of the immigrant communities in the U.S. at the time, like Afro-Caribbean percussion and Chinese folk instruments. 

Kole Dixon (Credit: LCPA/Sean Chee)

"Lara suggested our set have the loose theme of democracy," RJAM Executive Director and SFCM Associate Dean of Community Development Jason Hainsworth says. "So we played a tune I wrote, 'Juneteenth,' a Thelonious Monk song, 'Four In One,' and—because Sonny Rollins passed recently—'The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,' which he recorded in the 1960s."

"I think I got in at two o'clock Saturday morning, and I think Miles got in at six o'clock. So we did the soundcheck, played the show, and then we went to the Vanguard that night. A couple of buddies of mine were playing there, and I didn't tell them I was in the city so we just kind of surprised them on the street! It was a very long day. I may be getting too old for this kind of thing," Hainsworth jokes.

Spencer Hoefort (Credit: LCPA/Sean Chee)

Just under a week later, Downes (who has recorded with Hainsworth before), then released Hold These Truths on Pentatone, which features a wide range of American composers, from Charles Ives and Aaron Copland to iconic jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and country music legend Willie Nelson. 

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