Joe Utterback
Joe Utterback (b. 1944) - free-lance jazz pianist, recitalist, composer, recording artist, conductor, university professor, church musician - has received ASCAP awards annually since 1991 for his jazz-influenced compositions for piano, organ, chorus, voice, and instrumental ensembles. Joe has toured in Europe and throughout the United States both as a solo artist and with his trio. His first professional gig at the age of seventeen in Wichita's Golden Chance Saloon started him on a path which has led to eight solo jazz piano improv recordings released by Connoisseur Society andjazzmuze, Inc. since 1995, and high visibility gigs, including the holiday season in The Empire State Building lobby and the Tony Awards Gala.
Joe's more than 250 compositions published by jazzmuze, Inc. are performed internationally and extensively in the United States. His music has been frequently recorded and aired on NPR. His workshops are often filled and closed well before the scheduled event, including his university lectures with performances for the students, often requiring a lottery for entrance. Joe's compositions are largely based on his improvisations, taking root in lead sheet format. They reflect the color and energy of his highly sophisticated treatments of blues, ballads, Broadway songs, and traditional jazz.
Premieres of his compositions include venues such as London's Wigmore Hall, Harvard and Princeton Universities, California's Crocker Museum, Dayton Museum of Art in Ohio, St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., and Teatro Principal, Mallorca, Spain. Recordings of his works have been released by Connoisseur Society, Jazzmuze, Arktos, AFKA, Pro Organo, Ethereal, Raven, and the Organ Historical Society, among others. Joe is Adjunct Associate Professor of Music at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT and Director of Music/Organist for the First Congregational Church of Stratford, CT. He conducts the Stratford Sister Cities Chorus and performs regularly in NYC, after long-term gigs in the jazz centers of San Francisco, St. Louis, and Kansas City.
