Jazz Composer · Pianist · Educator · HPPAA Founder
Hank
Hehmsoth
Composer, pianist, educator, speaker, researcher, and founder of HPPAA
Hank Hehmsoth is a Texas-based jazz composer, pianist, educator, visual artist, researcher, and public speaker whose work connects original music, jazz history, education, and interdisciplinary art. He is founder, president, and artistic director of H Project Performing Arts Association and Professor of Practice in Jazz Studies at Texas State University.
Through HPPAA, Hehmsoth places that experience in service of public programs that support musicians, present original jazz, preserve and interpret Texas jazz history, expand access to music education, and connect music with visual art, research, and public humanities.
HPPAA grew from ideas developed during Hehmsoth’s 2011 MacDowell residency, where exchanges with artists from different disciplines reinforced the value of an organization capable of sustaining creative work beyond a single performance, exhibition, grant, or academic appointment.
Selected grants, fellowships & honors
Recognized work in jazz, research, education, and interdisciplinary art
These selected distinctions document the professional experience Hehmsoth brings to HPPAA’s artistic programs, educational work, research, public partnerships, and stewardship of nonprofit projects.
National fellowship supporting original jazz composition, 1979.
Fellowship in music composition and MacDowell residency, 2011.
International teaching and cultural-exchange work in Chile.
First place in the NACUSA Texas Composition Competition.
Selected by ASCAP’s independent jazz awards panel in 2024 and 2025.
Performance Program support for presenting contemporary music.
Support for the composition and presentation of Carlos ’n Charlie’s.
Rutgers Fellowship supporting archival jazz research and scholarship.
Recognition for excellence in scholarly and creative activity.
Institutional recognition for research and creative scholarship.
Artistic, educational & scholarly practice
A practice connecting creation, history, education, and public engagement
Hehmsoth’s work moves between original music, live performance, education, public speaking, film composition, recording, archival research, publication, visual art, and public humanities.
Jazz composition and performance
More than four decades of original jazz and concert music, recordings, ensemble projects, and live performance. Current HPPAA-supported work includes Double Vision Jazz Ensemble and the Hank Hehmsoth Trio, whose weekly performances at Nica on 4th connect original music with Texas jazz history and storytelling.
Education and public speaking
University teaching, workshops, lectures, artist talks, youth education, public programs, and guided listening developed to make jazz, improvisation, creative process, and music history accessible to students and community audiences.
Film and media composition
Original scores include the Austin cult film Scary Movie (1991) and the National Park Service documentary about Lady Bird Johnson (1997), alongside additional work for film, documentary, and media.
Jazz research and archival scholarship
Published research, interviews, archival discoveries, and public scholarship concerning jazz history, musicians, recordings, and cultural memory, including research connected with Dan Morgenstern and the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University–Newark.
Eddie Durham and Texas jazz history
Long-term research, publication, preservation, exhibitions, performances, and documentary work devoted to Texas jazz innovator Eddie Durham and the broader history of jazz in Texas. Explore HPPAA’s Texas Jazz History work .
Seeing Sound / Hearing Color
An evolving interdisciplinary program connecting jazz, improvisation, visual art, exhibition, projected imagery, guided listening, workshops, and public participation. Explore the HPPAA program .
Relationship to HPPAA
Artistic leadership in service of HPPAA’s public mission
Hehmsoth’s professional record is presented here because it directly informs HPPAA’s nonprofit work. His experience in composition, performance, education, research, public speaking, archival practice, nonprofit development, and interdisciplinary art provides a working foundation for the organization’s programs and partnerships.
Through HPPAA, individual artistic practice becomes part of a larger public-service structure: supporting jazz musicians, presenting original work, preserving Texas cultural history, expanding access to jazz education, creating interdisciplinary programs, and building durable documentation for audiences, researchers, educators, and cultural institutions.
HPPAA develops and supports live jazz through projects including Double Vision Jazz Ensemble and the Hank Hehmsoth Trio, connecting musicians with audiences, presenters, and public programs.
Research, performance, digital documentation, exhibitions, and public interpretation preserve the work of Texas artists while returning their stories to contemporary audiences.
Workshops, talks, guided listening, artist encounters, youth programs, and historical interpretation connect jazz practice with education and community participation.
HPPAA connects music with visual art, improvisation, research, exhibition, projected media, and public participation through Seeing Sound / Hearing Color and related projects.
Institutional profiles
Independent professional documentation
Independent institutional records corroborate Hehmsoth’s academic appointments, grants, awards, research, creative work, professional service, and artist residencies and provide authoritative context for the experience he brings to HPPAA.
Texas State University Faculty Profile
Texas State University’s faculty system documents Hehmsoth’s appointment in the School of Music, biography, grants, scholarly and creative work, honors, professional service, and downloadable faculty curriculum vitae.
MacDowell Artist Profile
MacDowell’s artist record documents Hehmsoth’s 2011 residency in music composition and his selection as the Norton Stevens Fellow.
Full career record
Additional awards, projects, publications, recordings, and performances
This HPPAA profile documents the artistic, educational, scholarly, and professional experience that informs Hehmsoth’s work with the organization. A more extensive chronology of awards, compositions, commissions, recordings, research, interviews, performances, and creative projects is maintained through HanksJazz and the Texas State University faculty curriculum vitae.