I am a professional guitarist and perform almost exclusively my own compositions. My tastes are eclectic and very hard to represent with just four songs. I attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and graduated with a BFA in Jazz Guitar and an MFA in Guitar Performance. I had a brief stint composing for film and television but didn't like the stress so I now focus more on performance, teaching and private composition comissions. I am a member of the music faculty at Mt. San Antonio College and College of the Canyons where I teach guitar, improvisation and world music. I write the column "the Global Guitarist" in the magazine Fingerstyle Guitar.
The music I play in a group setting could be considered "world jazz" or "global jazz" although some pieces fall outside of that category. My most recent CD is an acoustic world jazz and classical project and my upcoming CD (Fall 2008) will be a more electric ensemble with a world and funk jazz approach. Please go to my commercial website (joelopiccolo.com) for more information. My latest CD, "Passages" is available on itunes and CD Baby. I was fortunate to have my friend (and 2005 Grammy winner) Andrew York and my former teacher Miroslav Tadic play on several tracks of the CD.
