Saxophonist-composer-arranger VIRGINIA MAYHEW has been an active participant in the New York jazz scene since 1987. A native of San Francisco, Virginia came to New York to enroll in the New School's Jazz Performance program, and was awarded its first Zoot Sims Memorial Scholarship.
In the course of her career, Virginia has worked with such renowned artists as Earl "Fatha" Hines, Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa, James Brown, Norman Simmons, Al Grey, Junior Mance, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Doc Cheatam, Joe Williams, Leon Parker, Clark Terry, Terry Gibbs, Kenny Barron, Chico O'Farrill, Dena DeRose, Ingrid Jensen, Claudio Roditi, and many others.
As a leader, Virginia has performed at many jazz festivals, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, Floating Jazz Festival, Verizon Jazz Festival, Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, East Coast Jazz Festival, Panasonic Jazz Festival, Guinness Cork (Ireland) Jazz Festival, Verizon Music Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, Melbourne Jazz Festival, Llangollen International Music Festival, and Jazz At Sea. She has also performed at most of the noted Jazz venues across the United States, including the Blue Note, the Village Vanguard, the Village Gate, Sweet Basil, Sweet Rhythm, Birdland, Carnegie Hall, the Jazz Standard, Lincoln Center, and Town Hall.
Virginia has traveled twice as a representative of the United States as a Jazz Ambassador. In 2001, she traveled to the Newly Independent States (formerly the USSR) performing the music of Louis Armstrong, and in 2003 to Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam, Malaysia, India and Bangladesh) demonstrating the Latin and Brazilian influence on Jazz Music.
In addition, Virginia has established her credentials in the field of jazz education, both as a teacher of private students, as faculty at numerous jazz camps, (including Stanford Jazz Workshop, Monterey Jazz Festival summer camp, and Jazz Camp in Pescadero, CA), and as an experienced clinician and Artist-In-Residence, (including Univ. of Mass, Univ. of Louisville, Bloomington Univ. and others). She has traveled around the U.S.A. working as an adjudicator, teaching master classes, and working with school ensembles large and small. She teaches at the Greenwich Music House, a 100-year-old community music center, where she is the director and founder of the Greenwich House Jazz Workshop.
