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).