Dr. John Calloway
Dr. John Calloway is a nationally recognized multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger who simultaneously led a dual career in education for 40 years. John began teaching in the Bay Area in 1984 for the San Francisco Unified School District as a middle school band teacher and later taught music classes and ensembles throughout K-12. He was a long-time advocate for inclusion and diversity in the arts, including proportional representation at district festivals for students of color. As an administrator, John worked for equitable student access to the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and helped to create the district’s Mariachi program before his retirement in 2020.
John is a longtime faculty member in the School of Music at San Francisco State University. In 1999, he founded their widely popular Afro-Cuban Ensemble and was its sole director for 25 years. He has also taught jazz theory, arranging, and teacher education courses, and in the College of Ethnic Studies, courses related to music and culture.
Outside of academic institutions, John led the Bay Area renowned Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco as music director from 2021-2024 and currently advises them as Director Emeritus. John has also taught regularly at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Jazz Camp West, the Lafayette Jazz Summer Music Workshop, and the Jazz School in Berkeley, CA.
As a performer, Dr. Calloway has worked with internationally known musicians Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Charles Musselwhite, and Max Roach, and in the Bay Area, with Mark Levine, John Santos, Marcus Shelby and Wayne Wallace. He has led various ensembles under his own name that have performed at SFJAZZ, the Stanford Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Summerfest, the Monterey Jazz Festival and he has released several of his own recording projects: “Diaspora” (2001), “The Code” (2007), and “Asere Ko,” (2016).
As an arranger and composer, John has written for several GRAMMY nominated recordings (John Santos, Ritmo y Candela), was awarded an EMMY in 2019 for his composition “No Hay Nada Mas SF” and arranged music for the HBO movie “Hemingway & Gelhorn.” John also created and collaborated works for theatre and multimedia projects, including “El Son de La Mision,” a musical narrative on San Francisco’s Mission district and in 2023, “Buffalo Soldiers in the Philippine - American War: a Crisis of Conscience,” about African American and Filipino solidarity during the Philippine-American War of 1899-1901.
John earned a BA in music from the City College of New York, an MA in music education from San Francisco State University, and a Doctorate in multicultural education from the University of San Francisco. He was recognized by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Jazz Hero Award in 2012, and by the California Music Educators Association with the Ernest R. Yee Illuminating Culture Award in 2015. Lastly, Dr. Calloway is a community activist and a long-time social justice and cultural advocate. He served as an SF Arts Commissioner from 2008-2013, is a long-time entertainment consultant for Carnaval San Francisco, and is on the advisory board for Living Jazz.
