Who We Are

Welcome to our PJGR website and thank you for visiting!

We are a community of performers and educators dedicated to developing aspiring female jazz musicians.

Now in our 3rd year of educational programming and performances, we are grateful to our many supporters and benefactors, which include The Nash, parents and families, and the entire local community of music educators and performers.

  
Our programs are developed and led by jazz musicians Claudia Bloom and Mary Petrich. Please join us as we work with the local community of artists and educators to build the next generation of female jazz artists. 

All levels and instruments welcome!

Our mission is to create and expand the female jazz education community, and to bring opportunities to new populations and new places. We want to increase awareness of this work and build a network by capitalizing on connections to other professional performers, educational institutions, performance platforms and facilities such as schools, churches, community groups.

Create a strong community of female performers who succeed and lead, and change  

the narrative in Phoenix and be able to see our female population represented fully in the art of jazz.

Meet the Instructors

Mary Petrich is a composer, active performer and educator, holding an adjunct faculty position at Phoenix College teaching small jazz groups. She has a very versatile background in jazz and music education, which includes teaching jazz in the valley, Tucson, AZ, and Chengdu China, as well as a number of educational outreach programs at places such as the Nash, The Musical Instrument Museum and various middle and high schools in the valley.

Claudia Bloom is a performer and educator and holds a classical piano degree from a major university but has been studying jazz since she was in her twenties with teachers in Denver and New York. She has traveled the world playing jazz, rock, and pop and since re-locating to the Phoenix area has played long stints with smooth jazz singers and salsa bands.

Articles featuring Phoenix Jazz Girls Rising in the Downtown Devil and  PHOENIX magazine.