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 is a Steinway Artist and award-winning pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and musical director from Philadelphia, PA. Classically trained from the age of two, he later discovered a deep passion for jazz while studying at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts and the Kimmel Center’s Creative Music Program, immersed in the city’s rich musical community.

Now based in New York City, Block is a graduate of the Columbia–Juilliard dual-degree program (BA ’21, MM ’22), where he studied with Geoffrey Keezer, Marc Cary, Ted Rosenthal, and Frank Kimbrough. He performs with Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Gary Bartz, and has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, and Apollo Theater.

Recognized by Jazz at Lincoln Center as one of “jazz’s most promising young composers,” Block received the 2024 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, was a semi-finalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, and was selected as a finalist for the 2027 American Piano Awards.

Block is an active composer and arranger, contributing works for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet, as well as ensembles including the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, and artists including Grace Kelly and Kenny Overton. He leads his own ensembles, the Open Heart Trio and the Joe Block Quintet, dedicated to performing his original music, and has taught over 30 students, continuing the tradition that shaped his upbringing in Philadelphia.

He has served as guest musical director for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and as a guest conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. In 2025, Block served as associate musical director and pianist for George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck on Broadway, and as musical director for Ornada, an award-winning Armada Skis feature film presented with a live original score.

He has released two albums as a leader: Love Shadows, a collaboration with vocalist Shabnam Abedi, and Solo Piano, Vol. 1.

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, Kurt Elling, 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