BIOGRAPHY

“Block is very intellectually engaged with the music. He thinks about the effects of different soloists, different time signatures, it really speaks on the completeness of his musicianship.”

-Wynton Marsalis

Joe Block has ascended to be one of the premier pianists, composers, and bandleaders working in music today. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Block began his musical journey playing classical piano at 2. In middle school, he began regularly studying at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts and the Kimmel Center’s Creative Music Program while soaking in the city’s rich jazz scene. Block now resides in New York City and is a graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard dual-degree program (BA '21 and MM ‘22) where he studied with Geoffrey Keezer, Marc Cary, Ted Rosenthal, and Frank Kimbrough.

Block captures the most special moments and feelings of humanity through his music and compositions. He has played with musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Leslie Odom Jr. and at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theater, and the Village Vanguard. He has been nationally recognized as a YoungArts Foundation Finalist, a Jazz at Lincoln Center J. Douglas White Award winner, and has played on Orrin Evans’ Grammy-nominated album, “The Intangible Between”.

Hailed by Jazz at Lincoln Center as one of "jazz's most promising young composers", Block is a regular arranger for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He also writes for the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, Grace Kelly, Kenny Overton, and the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia. In April 2023, he served as the musical director and pianist for Internationally Ellington, a Jazz at Lincoln center concert celebrating Duke’s international repertoire featuring drummer Herlin Riley.

In the summer of 2023, he performed at the Village Vanguard with the Kurt Rosenwinkel Quintet and at the Marciac Jazz Festival with the Wynton Marsalis Septet. Most recently, he was named a finalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition.

Block is the co-founder and leader of the Philadelphia Ambassador Big Band as well as the Joe Block Quintet, where he regularly performs his original compositions. He has taught over 30 students, carrying forward the rich culture of mentorship he was surrounded with.

Joe has a broad range of performance experience, having played with:

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis Quintet/Septet, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Eric Harland, Steve Wilson, Immanuel Wilkins, Joel Ross, Victor Lewis, Peter Bernstein, Seamus Blake, Ari Hoenig, Eric Alexander, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jaleel Shaw, Rodney Green, Joe Farnsworth, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Captain Black Big Band, and the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.

Performance venues include: 

Village Vanguard, Dizzy’s Club, The Django, Birdland Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Smalls Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Bar Next Door, Shapeshifter Lab, Cafe Bohemia, Chris’ Jazz Café, Black Cat, Ornithology, BRVSH CULT7UR3, South Jazz Kitchen, Symphony Space, Carnegie Hall, Frederick P. Rose Hall, New York City Center, Alice Tully Hall, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia Clef Club, Detroit Orchestra Hall, New World Center, and the Hilbert Circle Theatre.

He has also performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Belize Jazz Festival, Montclair Jazz Festival, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Next Generation Jazz Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, Saratoga Springs Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival

Piano instructors have included: Dr. Harvey Wedeen, Susan Starr, Tom Lawton, Will Wright, Bruce Barth, Frank Kimbrough, Marc Cary, Geoffrey Keezer, Ted Rosenthal