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There is Always hope

Joe Block

Label: Blue Engine Records
Released: 2026
Duration: 01: 11:
Views: 16

Tracks

The Opening; No Easy Way; The Crossover; Panopticon; Self-Questions; Nadir; Ways; Worlds Within; There Is Always Hope; Wherever the Wind; Spark; Ungrounded (featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel); Nadir (reprise)

Personnel

Joe Block

piano

Dylan Band

saxophone, tenor

Morgan Guerin

multi-instrumentalist

Chris Lewis

saxophone

Abdias Armenteros

saxophone

Samuel Harris

bass

Christian X.M. McGhee

drums

Kurt Rosenwinkel

guitar

Noah Halpern

trumpet

Album Description

Blue Engine Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s in-house record label, is proud to announce Steinway Artist and award-winning pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and musical director Joe Block’s There Is Always Hope. The album marks not only Block’s debut as a bandleader, but also his first album composed entirely of original works: a culmination of years of writing, performing, and musical collaboration.

The record features special guest Kurt Rosenwinkel and a battle-tested ensemble consisting of trumpeter Noah Halpern; saxophonists Chris Lewis, Morgan Guerin, Dylan Band, and Abdias Armenteros; bassist Samuel Harris; and drummer Christian McGhee. The group’s collective sound has served as Block’s compositional laboratory since 2019, resulting in a bold, cathartic statement that moves through love, perseverance, heartbreak, fear, wonder, introspection, and, ultimately, hope.

Joe Block has spent his career refining his distinct musical voice, collaborating with icons like Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Gary Bartz as well as serving as associate music director for George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck on Broadway. With There Is Always Hope, he brings that voice to the forefront through a deeply personal collection of original compositions.

“After six years of performing, revising, and living with these pieces, recording the album felt less like capturing a finished product and more like documenting a moment shaped by years of collective growth and refinement,” says Block. “I believe that hope does not require the absence of fear, grief, or uncertainty; it is the choice to continue imagining possibilities even at our lowest points.”

Joe Block is a Steinway Artist and award-winning pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and musical director from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Classically trained from the age of two, he later discovered a passion for jazz and went on to study at Columbia University and The Juilliard School.

Block received the 2024 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, was a semifinalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, and was named a finalist for the 2027 American Piano Awards. In 2025, he served as associate music director and pianist for George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck on Broadway, and as musical director for Ornada, Armada Skis’ feature film presented with a live original score. He has previously released two albums: Love Shadows, a collaboration with vocalist Shabnam Abedi, and Solo Piano, Vol. 1.

Album uploaded by Joseph Block