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Joel Bowers
About Me
Joel Bowers is a 35-year-old native of San Jose, California. Joel is a 1997
graduate of the New England
Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Music in
Jazz Studies. In May of
2002 he completed his Masters of Music Jazz Performance and Pedagogy
from the University of
Colorado at Boulder. While at CU Boulder, Joel was the jazz departments
teacher assistant. His duties
included coaching a jazz ensemble, assisting the jazz faculty and teaching
private students through the
Universities continuing education program.
Joel, who has been playing saxophone since age nine, is unique among young
saxophonists in that he
has a very strong interest in older styles of jazz. His influences include such
legendary saxophonists as
Lester Young, Stan Getz, Stanley Turrentine, Hank Mobley and Dexter Gordon.
He has learned to play in
the idiom of those players and has done so quite convincingly. Joel has
personally studied under such
recognized names as: Jimmy Giuffre, Plas Johnson, George Garzone,
John McNeil, Joe
Maneri and Jerry Bergonzi. Joel has received
numerous Music
Scholarship Awards, Special Music Recognition Awards and Teaching
Fellowships.
Joel has played many varied venues across the nation both as a leader and as
a sideman. He has
performed or recorded with many established touring bands and legends of
the music world including:
Alicia Keys, Big Daddy Kane, Too $hort, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Black
Sheep, Biz
Markie,
Pharoahe Monch, Little
Brother, Nice & Smooth, Bun B, Marley Marl, Juice Crew, Apl.De.Ap, Anthony
Hamilton, Jennifer
Hudson, Lupe Fiasco, Estelle, Fred Wesley, Eddie
Bo,
Melvin Sparks, Ms. Spanky
Wilson, Pete Escovedo, Leon Spencer, Clyde Stubblefield, Masta Ace, Mister
Cee, Nappy Roots, Craig G, Ohmega Watts, Aloe
Blacc, Nikka Costa,
Money Mark, Stanton Moore, Quantic and the Quantic Soul Orchestra, Ron
Miles, Dirty Dozen Brass
Band, Garage a Trois, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Motherlode, The Motet,
L.A. Carnival. He has supported such artists as
Al Green, Maceo Parker, The Roots, Naughty By Nature, De La Soul,
Whodini,
Gil Scott Heron, Ozomatli, The Aggrolites, Mayer Hawthorne, The Greyboy
Allstars, Karl
Denson's
Tiny Universe, Leftover Salmon, Particle, Stanton Moore, Robert
Walter's 20th Congress,
Zion I, Project Logic, Crown City Rockers, Heavy D, Doug E. Fresh, Dirty Dozen
Brass Band, The Sam
Kininger Band, Wild Magnolias, Rebirth Brass Band, DJ Z-TRIP,
JRocc & Cut
Chemist among others.
In 2002 Joel moved to Los Angeles and has since established himself as a
sought after recording artist
and session musician. Joel has recorded for numerous movie soundtracks
including: Our Family Wedding, Good Hair, Sex and
the City, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, Sex Drive, Deck The Halls, Bonneville
&
Barnyard. He has also recorded for several television
shows and t.v. commercials
including: Take Home Chef, Coca-Cola, Joey, Miss Rap Supreme,
The Shot &
Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand Up's. When not
recording or performing,
Joel teaches privately and leads two of L.A.'s funkiest bands, the all-star
funky music machine,
The Greasy Beats and the soul-jazz Hammond organ
sextet JB and The
Rebellion. Joel is also a busy sideman in several L.A. bands
including Connie Price
& The Keystones, Orgone & The Lions.
In August of 2006 Joel joined the teaching faculty at St. Bernard High School
in Playa Del Rey, CA and
currently instructs the Instrumental Music classes and directs the super funky
Viking Band. Joel has
previously taught at both Crossroads Elemantary School & New Roads High
School in Santa Monica, CA
and has been a frequent faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop in
Palo Alto, CA. Joel is proud
member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 and the
International Association of Jazz
Educators.