CD Reviews:

Midnight Clear (2005)

In Focus (2003)

Bio:

When Joe was young, he couldn’t resist tapping the keys of the Kawai piano that sat near the kitchen of his home, so his parents enrolled him in piano lessons at six years old. Joe would continue taking lessons for the next twelve years, training in the basics of classical piano while also learning the art of improvisation.

At 14 years old and in eighth grade, Joe became a regular pianist and cantor in the music ministry at his home parish, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Elk Point, S.D. It was at St. Joe’s that he learned the importance of sharing his musical gifts with others. In 1998, when Joe was a junior in high school, he became intrigued at the possibility of composing his own music and recording it. Pretty much green to the music industry, he spent time in the library and on the Internet researching the many steps and costs involved in making and selling his own recording.

Joe took a calculated risk that he could break even on his first CD, and dipped into his college savings to fund the music project and open his part-time business. He released his first original piano CD, Milestones, two weeks before his high school graduation in 1999. For graduation, Joe composed and arranged “Test Your Wings,” one of the songs from his album, which his high school choir performed at the commencement ceremony. He taught himself how to notate his own music, developing piano books based on his albums and offering free sheet music downloads to encourage and inspire others to share their musical gifts.

He continued composing songs between his college homework and exams, and he recorded his follow-up CD, In Focus, in 2003 and a Christmas instrumental album in 2005. Joe’s music style is “piano music that paints a picture (SM)” and his songs invite listeners to use their imagination and interpret the music. Joe has a marketing degree from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He currently resides in Chicago.