Girls+ Jazz & Groove Camp
For students entering grades 8–12
July 27–31, 2026
9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Tuition: $600
A week-long, immersive camp for all girls and gender-expansive students to build confidence, creativity, and musical skills through jazz and groove-based music.
Students play and sing in ensembles focused on improvisation, groove, listening, and ensemble playing. Each participant receives a private lesson and joins full-camp sessions with guest artists.
The week concludes with a Friday evening performance showcasing the music and community developed throughout the camp.
Led by an all-women faculty, the program creates a supportive environment where students can take risks, collaborate, and develop their voice.
Teaching Faculty
Latin: Mara Fox
Jazz: Janice Maxie-Reid
Funk: Dr. Dee Spencer
Camp Director
Jean Fineberg
Need-based financial aid is available.
Questions? Contact camp director Jean Fineberg at jfineberg@jazzschool.org.
FACULTY BIOS
Mara Fox – Latin
Mara Fox is a trombonist and educator who has been active in the Bay Area for over 25 years, working across jazz, R&B, Latin, and classical genres. She has recorded and toured internationally with Conjunto Céspedes and the Klezmorim, and performs with groups including the Grammy Award–winning Pacific Mambo Orchestra, the Montclair Women’s Big Band, and the Berkeley Symphony.
Mara teaches at St. Theresa School and Head-Royce School in Oakland, maintains a private studio, and has been on faculty at Stanford Jazz Workshop, Berkeley High JazzGirls+ Day, and the San Francisco Jazz Center.
Janice Maxie-Reid – Jazz
Janice Maxie-Reid is a pianist, vocalist, composer, and educator known for her work in jazz and contemporary classical music. Her compositions span solo piano, chamber ensembles, and orchestral settings, often incorporating elements of jazz, gospel, and African American spirituals.
She has received numerous honors, including recognition from ASCAP. As an educator, she has taught at multiple institutions and is a strong advocate for diversity and representation in the arts.
Dr. Dee Spencer – Funk
Dr. Dee Spencer is a professor of Jazz and Musical Theatre at San Francisco State University, where she previously served as director and founded the Jazz Studies degree program. She has recorded, toured, and adjudicated with artists including Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center and Lenny Williams of Tower of Power, and has performed for U.S. Senator Kamala Harris.
Dr. Spencer is an annual GRAMMY Awards screener and founded the San Francisco Jazz Center’s Education Program, later serving as program director at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts.
Jean Fineberg – Camp Director
Jean Fineberg is a San Francisco Bay Area saxophonist, flutist, composer, arranger, and educator. She holds an M.Ed. from Penn State University and has completed post-graduate work at Indiana University.
She leads a quartet, quintet, and the JAZZphoria octet, performing her original compositions in swing, bebop, reggae, funk, bossa nova, New Orleans R&B, and salsa styles. She has released two albums with her former group DEUCE and one with the JAZZphoria octet, whose second album is scheduled for release in 2026. Her work also appears on recordings by the Montclair Women’s Big Band, led by trumpeter Ellen Seeling.
Jean has toured and/or recorded with artists including David Bowie, Luther Vandross, Laura Nyro, Melba Liston, Chic, and Bo Diddley. She has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the GRAMMY Awards, as well as major festivals including Monterey, San Francisco, and San Jose Jazz Festivals, and international festivals in Montreux, Pori, Rio de Janeiro, and Acapulco.
Her compositions appear in New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers (curated by Terri Lyne Carrington) and the Bay Area Jazz Composers’ Fakebook. She teaches at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, CA, and has received awards from ASCAP, the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, InterMusic SF, and Meet the Composer.
She has served as Composer-in-Residence at art centers nationwide, including Ucross and Brush Creek (WY), the Anderson Center (MN), Studios of Key West (FL), KHN Art Center (NE), Rogers Art Loft (NV), Escape to Create (FL), the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation (NM), and Headlands Center for the Arts (CA).