RJAM drummer Jay Hernández might be behind the horns, but she's still in the spotlight.

Hernández spent part of her summer at the prestigious Ravinia Steans Music Institute outside of Chicago, a competitive, invite-only educational opportunity open to international students limited to just 15 slots for jazz students. But she isn't resting on those laurels at all: in August she's set to make her debut as a group leader at The Black Cat supper and jazz club in San Francisco with a lineup that includes SFCM RJAM alumni Alan Jones on bass, Ayden Johnson on alto saxophone, and current student Tinashe McGowan on piano. (Hernández studies with RJAM faculty Matt Wilson and Akira Tana.)

Image

Jay Hernández.

"I was able to work with [pianist/composer] Billy Childs, [saxophonist/composer] Steve Wilson and [bassist/composer John Clayton at Ravinia," Hernández says. (Childs will be visiting SFCM in April for a performance with the RJAM Big Band ensemble.) "The first day, we were only playing people's original tunes, so I was sight-reading everything, and they were not standard 32-bar AABA tunes; there were time signature changes and all these unison hits. It was a lot but it was very worth it."

The experience was equally helpful for Oakland native Hernández, because "in the Bay Area, I'm very comfortable, so when I was in Chicago, I was like, 'Okay, how do I get uncomfortable?' I learned a lot and I was really able to grow mentally and physically as a person."

The program was a mix of group rehearsals, clinics, private lessons, masterclasses, and private concerts, and Hernández grew especially close with Clayton. "Me and John were besties," she laughs. "He didn't know my name at first, so he was just calling me 'Oakland' for most of the time, but as a bassist he was so adamant about my role as a drummer and how we interact in the rhythm section."

"It's a family at this point," Hernández adds of the other jazz fellows. "We had the big performance and then we had a little after-party thing. It was really cool to get to talk to donors that support Ravinia, and I connected really well with one of the directors there too."

Sandwiched between Hernández's time at Ravinia, and her Black Cat performance, she also notched an impressive milestone: Through an opportunity from her high school, she was offered the opportunity to make her first-ever trip out of the U.S. to China, where she toured with an exchange program for musical performances around Beijing.

In the mix for Hernández's set at the Black Cat are tunes by well-known jazz musicians like Art Blakey, and Gene Harris, but she'll also be performing her originals. "It's back to, 'How much can I step out of where I'm comfortable?' Writing and notating is part of that, because with the quartet I usually just play their parts on piano and they learn it by ear."

Hernández doesn't even confine her inspiration to what most people would consider "actual" music. "Recently I find myself trying to listen to nature and what's around me," she says. "The rhythm of people's conversations, even just a car passing by. The other day I was walking with my friends and this bird was just tweeting, but I was like, 'Y'all hear that rhythm?' It might just be a drummer thing but I'm just trying to really listen."

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