Double Vision Jazz Ensemble — Educational Programs & Community Workshops
Youth Jazz Workshop & Jam Session
The Double Vision Youth Jazz Workshop & Jam Session is designed for middle school, high school, and community youth jazz students. The program helps young musicians feel more comfortable entering a live jazz setting and participating in a public jam session.
Jazz Meets Art
Double Vision’s interdisciplinary work connects original jazz performance with visual art, projected imagery, storytelling, and creative response. Programs can be adapted for galleries, museums, colleges, community arts organizations, and public performance spaces.
College & University Programs
Double Vision Jazz Ensemble offers educational programs designed for college and university music departments, arts programs, and interdisciplinary studies settings. Because both co-leaders are experienced university educators, the ensemble’s outreach connects professional performance with practical learning.
Double Vision Jazz Ensemble is an Austin-based contemporary jazz quartet co-led by pianist-composer Hank Hehmsoth and saxophonist/flutist-composer John Mills. The ensemble presents original jazz, modern swing, improvisation, and interdisciplinary projects that connect music with visual art, spoken word, education, and public engagement.
The core quartet features Hank Hehmsoth on piano, John Mills on saxophone and flute, Utah Hamrick on bass, and Aaron Easley on drums. Hehmsoth and Mills share a long creative partnership and a deep commitment to original composition, ensemble interaction, and mentorship.
Seeing Sound / Hearing Color is an interdisciplinary art and music program by jazz pianist, composer, visual artist, and educator Hank Hehmsoth, blending lecture, workshop, visual art, guided listening, creative response, and live jazz performance.
Filmed during Hehmsoth’s 2026 residency at Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Texas, this video documents a gallery-based workshop and performance experience connecting original artwork, QR-linked audio excerpts, reflective writing, and live contemporary jazz by Double Vision Jazz Ensemble.
The program is designed for colleges, galleries, museums, arts organizations, and community settings, and can be adapted as a lecture, workshop, performance, residency, or interdisciplinary public program.
Program formats: Lecture · Workshop · Performance · Residency
University Masterclasses
Focused sessions on combo interaction, improvisation, modern swing, rhythm-section communication, and developing a personal sound.
Composition & Improvisation Labs
Workshops exploring original composition, collaborative writing, melodic development, form, groove, and improvisational decision-making.
Art & Sound Workshops
Interdisciplinary sessions pairing live jazz, visual art, guided listening, reflective writing, and creative response.
Campus Residencies
Multi-day programs that may include lectures, open rehearsals, student ensemble coaching, gallery-based workshops, and public concerts.
Related Projects & Archive Pages
Double Vision is part of a larger body of work connecting recordings, performances, visual art, residencies, and interdisciplinary projects.
Topics may include:
jam session etiquette
listening before playing
following the form
supporting soloists
interacting with a live rhythm section
building confidence in improvisation
The goal is to make jazz participation feel welcoming, practical, and musically engaging.