About Garfield Jazz

Garfield High School Jazz is one of the truly outstanding high school jazz programs anywhere in the world.

– Earshot Jazz

Garfield High School is a public high school in Seattle and attracts students from a variety of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Garfield’s jazz culture has been built over 40 years and remains strong to this day. Garfield Jazz has over 80 students enrolled in the program in three levels of ensembles. Students learn the great jazz traditions including Duke Ellington Count Basie, as well as a variety of other jazz styles.

Our Directors

Jared Sessink

CO-DIRECTOR OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

Jared Sessink is the Co-Director of Instrumental Music at Garfield, overseeing the collaborative work of all Wind Band, Jazz, and Orchestral Ensembles. Sessink has over a decade of experience teaching in the Central District, both at Washington Middle School and Garfield.

Sessink’s teaching philosophy is centered in student voice and ownership in the learning process. He sets high expectations for students and supports them through the journey of achieving excellence in music performance.

Under his leadership, Garfield has been a frequent participant in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Competition and Festival held in New York City, considered one of the most competitive high school jazz festivals in the nation. Many of his students have gone on to become educators and musicians, at institutions ranging from Berklee School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory, Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, and more.

Sessink regularly plays his trumpet in the Magnolia Big Band in Seattle. On Monday evenings, he is the Director of the North Seattle Community College Symphonic Band working with adults of all ages.

Hannah Mowry

CO-DIRECTOR OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

Hannah Mowry (pronounced "MORE-ee") is the Co-Director of Instrumental Music at Garfield, overseeing the collaborative work of all Wind Band, Jazz, and Orchestral Ensembles. Mowry joined the Garfield music team in 2026, and is a songwriter, educator, and advocate. Originally from Tri-Cities, Washington, Mowry obtained her Bachelor’s in Music Education with a minor in Interdisciplinary Honors from Central Washington University and holds a Master’s degree in Music Education from the American Band College of Central Washington University.

From 2018-2022, Mowry served as the Co-Director of Bands at Mount Si High School, teaching Wind Bands, Jazz Bands, Orchestra, and various music elective courses. From 2022-2026, Mowry served as the Director of Bands & Jazz at Roosevelt High School.

In October of 2021, Mowry was appointed to the position of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Chair of the WMEA Eastshore Music Region Board. As an active musician and educator, advocacy and DEI is an integral part of her musical philosophy.

Blake Saunders

DIRECTOR OF VOCAL JAZZ ENSEMBLES

Blake Saunders has been lucky enough to teach Choir, Percussion, and Musical Theater at Garfield High School since 2019. He is the director of Garfield’s three choirs, two percussion classes, and runs all things music for any musical production the theater department puts on.

Saunders centers his classroom in community, collaboration, and communication. Walking into any of is classes, you will see joy, focus, and a lot of noise!

Outside of Garfield, you can see Saunders rocking outside Lumen Field, as has been a member of the Seahawks Blue Thunder Drumline for the past eleven years.

Abbey Blackwell

DIRECTOR OF JAZZ ENSEMBLE 2

Abbey Blackwell is the director of Garfield's Jazz Ensemble 2.

Since 2021, Abbey has been teaching in the Seattle Public Schools as a sub and as a music coach, thanks to boosters and programs like the Jazz Scholars. She has been teaching private bass and composition lessons for nearly a decade, and over time, has developed a teaching philosophy that goes past the traditional play and repeat approach to progressing in music. She includes ideas from Alexander technique and meditation, making sure that students don't feel physically or mentally overwhelmed, while maintaining long term and short term goals to cultivate motivation.

Abbey holds a Master's degree in Jazz and Improvised Music and a Bachelor’s of Music in Double Bass Performance from the University of Washington. Outside of teaching, Abbey performs and records her own music, as well as with a wide variety of groups in and around Seattle, ranging from orchestral (Seattle Modern Orchestra) to avant-garde (Wayne Horvitz's Electric Circus) to songwriters (Tomo Nakayama), and of course jazz (Neil Welch, Ray Larsen, Marco de Carvalho).

Christian Pincock

DIRECTOR OF JAZZ ENSEMBLE 3

Christian Pincock is a multifaceted trombonist, composer, improviser, and music educator. Specializing in brass instruction, he has coached students for over a decade at Seattle-area schools including Garfield High School, Seattle Academy, and Lincoln High School. As an educator, he approaches instrumental technique as a means of removing barriers to musical expression, helping students gain the freedom to develop their own musical ideas and the motivation to keep growing as musicians.

As a performer and composer, Christian works across a wide range of styles, most recently becoming deeply involved in making music for social dance with his groups Baseless Accusation and The Upbeat Society. He also creates new instruments, leads several other ensembles performing original music, and performs with local groups including Wayne Horvitz’s New Works Ensemble.