Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Joe Giardullo is Brooklyn-born, and raised on the South Shore of Long Island, New York. He grew up on R&B music, playing tenor sax in club and regional bands and moved north to the Woodstock area in the 1960's.
It was a rich environment for hearing and playing original music, and it was here that he got his first soprano saxophone. The local scene included great players like saxophonist Gene Dinwiddie (Paul Butterfield Blues Band), multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson (Archie Shepp Band), and a whole segment of the original ESP Records lineup! Joe played all kinds of music -improvised, jazz, rock, blues, club date, weddings-you name it. But things grew stale and in 1977, he packed up and moved to Amsterdam, Holland.
Amsterdam was alive with great music--Burton Greene, Han Bennink, Charles Tyler, Philip Wilson and a thriving local scene as well. It was a good season to be living and working there.
After a short period based in Amsterdam, Joe returned to live 100 miles north of New York where, after a few years, he slipped into a 10 year hiatus from public performance, although he continued to play in private.Then he met up with saxophonist/trumpeter Joe McPhee one night at a club. That meeting in 1991 marked the beginning of a continuing collaboration. And it has also reintroduced audiences in the US, Canada and Europe to Giardullo's music.
Since then, Joe has been active in the US and Europe with so many of the most regarded musicians: Joe McPhee, Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening Band, Bill Dixon, Warren Smith, Borah Bergman, Marilyn Crispell, Susan Alcorn, Thomas Buckner, Steve Lacy, Milford Graves, Weave Soundpainting Orchestra, Carlos Zingaro, Carlos Santos, Vitor Joaquim, Roy Campbell, Jackson Krall, Ken Filiano, Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble, Lisbon Improvisational Players, and Bobby Bradford.
Joe's music has been commissioned by The Oliveros Foundation , by the Udu Drum Division of LP Percussion, and by Amnesty International Woodstock.
Joe's newest disc is RED MOROCCO on the Rogue Art label from Paris, music for large ensemble. It has been getting serious attention worldwide
”Creativity fresh as a breaking wave” --All About Jazz
”Freely improvised music of the highest order.” --Signal To Noise
”Virtuosic technique and a soulful, life affirming spirit” --EXCLAIM CANADA
”Luminous” --TOMAJAZZ, Spain
”Pure joy!” --PARIS TRANSATLANTIC 2005
”Resplendent in its sheer beauty” --TOUCHING EXTREMES, Rome
”A combination of toughness and lyrical creativity” --SIGNAL TO NOISE
”Full of complex detail and abstract freedom” --CADENCE
”Luminescent crescents from his horn” --THE WIRE, London
”A heady mixture of outside & in, experimentation & tradition, technique & imagination” --BBC, London
”His signature- a tumbling, cascading torrent of sound” --DOWNBEAT
”Startlingly impressive” --ALL MUSIC GUIDE
”Brings to mind Albert Ayler at his most beatific” --THE WIRE, London
”His triumph is .... the way magicians tear paper into scraps then magically restore the whole sheet.” --JAZZ WEEKLY
