The Jazz Project

Our Jazz Project offers small combo experiences in both Santa Fe and Los Alamos for intermediate and advanced players. Students explore improvisation, groove, and ensemble performance, with opportunities to showcase their talent at community events.

Quemazon Jazz Combo

Jazz Combos | Santa Fe

Jazz Combos | Los Alamos

Ryan Finn 
Jazz Coach

Ryan Finn is currently an Assistant Principal at Los Alamos High School where he also serves as the school’s Activities Director. In this position he leads the Topper Freshman Academy, the Activities office, oversees the English Dept, Career & Tech Dept, World Languages Dept, manages discipline and attendance for 9th & 10th graders, oversees Duane Smith Auditorium, and helps to provide the best educational environment for all students at the school.

For 18 years, Mr. Finn taught Band & Orchestra, the most recent 11 years being in Los Alamos, New Mexico where he was a Band Director at Los Alamos Middle School & High School, directing concert bands, jazz bands, and the LAHS Topper Marching Band. He is also the Director of Jazz for the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association where he runs the “Jazz Project” program in Santa Fe and Los Alamos. Ryan performs locally with a number of jazz and blues bands on trombone and leads a jazz group that performs many of his original compositions, most of which are in Caribbean and Latin American styles.

In January 2020 Ryan was awarded the NMMEA Music Educator of the Year Award and in January 2021 he had the distinct honor of leading one of the NMMEA All-State Jazz Bands. Currently, Ryan serves as the Vice President of Jazz for the NM Music Educators Association and is working statewide to help create an educational space and priority for jazz and improvisational music.

Before joining the SFYSA team as Director of Jazz, Ryan directed the Youth Philharmonic for SFYSA, helping to grow the program over a four year period. During the “COVID” school year, he was instrumental in creating a virtual concert series including a 405-student nation-wide combined youth orchestra presentation.

Ryan received a Bachelors of Music Education in 2004 from Loyola University – New Orleans and a Masters of Educational Leadership in 2018 from New Mexico Highlands University. He regularly clinics middle school and high school bands from around the state and his own groups regularly receive Superior ratings at district festivals and the NM State Contest.

Before returning to New Mexico in 2012, Ryan taught band, orchestra, jazz, and music theory for seven years at the St. Lucia of Music on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. He also performed with many well known Caribbean musicians such as Luther Francois, Barbara Cadet, Alison Marquis, Ronald ‘Boo’ Hinkson, and Rob ‘Zi’ Taylor. While in St. Lucia, Ryan arranged and composed in a variety of local folk styles and has a portfolio of over 30 compositions. Some of these pieces include full symphonic works, musicals, jazz band charts, concert band arrangements, and more.

In his free time, Ryan can be found hiking and skiing around Northern New Mexico with his wife Ellen, their 3 children, and their dog.

Xander Mancino
Quemazon Jazz Combo

Alexander Mancino is a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, songwriter, and recording artist. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2020 with a Bachelors in Music, focusing on jazz piano and ethnomusicology. Currently based in Los Alamos, he teaches three Jazz Project combos, leads Jazz Band II at LAHS, works at the Duane Smith Auditorium, regularly plays jazz and pop gigs in the surrounding community, and writes and records original music in his home studio using multitracking techniques. When he has time to indulge in activities outside of music, Xander enjoys hiking, reading, playing board games, and designing clothes. As one of the first Jazz Project students, Xander is proud to be back as an educator contributing to its legacy.

William Finn
Jazz Coach

William Finn is a saxophonist, jazz educator, private lesson instructor, avid hiker, and dog owner. He leads the Los Alamos Middle School Jazz Band, coaches two Jazz Project groups as part of The Santa Fe Symphony’s Education & Community Engagement Program, and recently taught the front ensemble for Los Alamos HS Topper Marching Band. Will performs locally on tenor saxophone with a number of local bands. He holds a Bachelors in Middle East Peace Studies from Loyola University-New Orleans, where he studied jazz saxophone with New Orleans legend, Tony Dagradi. He is regularly invited to serve as a guest woodwind instructor around Northern New Mexico.

Jesse Parker 
Jazz Coach

Based in Santa Fe, Jesse Joaquin Parker is an in-demand percussionist and music educator. He has performed at venues such as the Telluride Jazz Festival, DROM/Manhattan, and the Nuyorican in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has performed, toured, and recorded with Marcos Crego and The Latin Union, Bernard Purdie, Bata Ire, Mike Crotty Jazz Quintet, Taumbu International Ensemble, Chuchito Valdez, Raul Pineda, Carmela y Mas, Ritmo Latino, El Paso Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Mesa Symphony and many others. He currently performs with the legendary New Mexico band, Nosotros, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. Jesse earned his Bachelors of Music Education from New Mexico State University and his Masters of Music Performance from Arizona State University. A dedicated educator, he instructed the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps from Denver, and Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps from Lexington KY. His teaching credits on the college level include serving as an Associate Faculty member at Arizona State University, a Teaching Artist at Phoenix Conservatory of Music, and as Director of the World Music Ensemble and Latin Jazz Ensemble at Paradise Valley Community College. Jesse currently directs the World Music program at Mandela International School in Santa Fe and is also director of percussion studies, Music Fundamentals 2, and Latin Jazz band at the New Mexico School for the Arts.

Robert Beasley 
Jazz Coach

Robert Beasley is a trumpeter, composer, and educator residing in Santa Fe. As a performer, he has backed up many touring artists, most notably Ahmad Jamal, The Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra, The Temptations, Maelo Ruiz, Tony Vega, and Frankie Negron. Robert’s recording credits include The New Triumph’s “Night Trip” and “Keep on Push’n,” James Ziegler’s “Better,” and Dyaphonic’s “Element of Proof,” as well as work for composers such as Mateo Messina, Phillip Peterson, Andrew Joslyn, and Garrett Gonzales. His theater experience includes more than 100 performances of Verlaine and McCann’s “Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker,” Verlaine and McCann’s “Through the Looking Glass: The Burlesque Alice in Wonderland,” and Seattle Children’s Theater’s “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”