Joe LaBarbera

Joseph James LaBarbera ( born February 22, 1948 in Mount Morris, New York) is an American jazz drummer and composer, known as a member of the final trio of Bill Evans.

Joe LaBarbera is the younger brother of saxophonist Pat LaBarbera and the trumpeter and arranger John LaBarbera. He received from his father lessons in percussion, clarinet and saxophone, played in the family band and studied in 1966 for two years at the Berklee College of Music in Boston with Alan Dawson, Charlie Mariano, John LaPorta and Herb Pomeroy. He then spent two years in a U.S. Army Band at Fort Dix, New Jersey. In the 1970s he played with Gap Mangione (1970), in the quartet of Chuck Mangione (with interruptions from 1972 to 1979 ) and from 1971 to 1973 with Woody Herman. As a freelancer in New York he worked, inter alia, with Phil Woods, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Gary Burton, Art Pepper, John Scofield, Bob Brookmeyer and Toots Thielemans. In 1979 he released his first album under his own name ( " Coincidence" ). From 1978 he was for two years with bassist Marc Johnson in the last trio of Bill Evans. After that he played in the 1980s, inter alia, with the singer Tony Bennett (for 12 years), Jim Hall, Phil Woods, Conte Candoli, and Scott Hamilton. Since 1986 he has taught at Arizona State University and in 1993 the " California Institute of the Arts" in Valencia in Los Angeles ( where he since 1987 lives ), but also taught at many other schools and in the " Bud Shank Jazz Workshop " in Port Townsend in Washington. He played from the early 1990s with its own quintet and zBmit Billie Mays, Randy Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Alan Broadbent, Kenny Wheeler, Baseline ( with John Abercrombie and Hein van de Geyn ), Bud Shank ( South American tour ), Lee Konitz ( Japan tour ), Diane Schuur, the WDR Big Band and with his brother Pat in the band JMOG

In 1999 he founded with Tom Warrington, Larry Koonse and Clay Jenkins, the label " Jazz Compass ", where his first recording under his own name appeared ( " The Joe LaBarbera Quintet Live" ).