Joe Solomon

  A native of Greenwich Village in Manhattan, string bassist and teacher, Joe Solomon, has freelanced in the New York area jazz and classical fields since the mid-1960's. He has performed  with Warne Marsh, Sal Mosca, Lee Konitz, James Moody, Tom Harrel, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Muza String Quartet among many others. "The Lovebird's Embrace" Joe's composition for string quartet, harpsichord, oboe and counter tenor was premiered in June 2000 at the Merkin Concert Hall by the Queen's Chamber Band. Along with drummer Roger Mancuso, he accompanied the late pianist Connie Crothers on "Perception", her debut album released on Steeple Chase records back when all three members of the trio were students of Lennie Tristano. Joe can also be heard on Bob Arthurs "Notes from the Underground" as well as two more recent albums released on YouTube: one a trio recording featuring his vocalist wife, Alexa Fila and the other "The Tristans Live at the Baha'i Center", recorded at the Center's Dizzy Gillespie Auditorium by the drummerless quartet that has gathered weekly at Joe's studio for the past 25+ years. He has appeared (however briefly) in a Cannes prize winning film and at jazz festivals both in the U S and abroad.

    Joe Solomon started teaching privately in 1975 out of his East Village loft when he was still a student of Lennie Tristano. When the rent on his loft skyrocketed to $290 a month, he moved his family to Brooklyn and his teaching practice to the first of his studios, a very small office near the Flatiron building he transformed into a music space. The studio was relocated to two other spaces before it arrived at it's present (and hopefully last) location in a commercial building on 34th street near the Empire State Building. Now known as the Jazz Improvisation Workshop, the present studio is home not only to Joe's teaching but to several ensembles that  rehearse there regularly and to master classes, recitals,  concerts and can accommodate an audience of 25 to 30. Although he began his practice taking only fellow bassists as students, Joe soon followed his teacher's lead and started to teach the art of improvising to students on all instruments (including drummers and vocalists) and all levels. Over the ensuing 50 years his students have included seasoned professionals, high school  age beginners, lawyers, doctors, transit workers, bicycle messengers, therapists all who want to grow as musicians. 

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     In 1984 Joe Solomon received a Performing Arts Masters Degree on the classical bass from the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of the wonderful classical bassist, Julius Levine. In addition to Lennie Tristano, he studied  extensively with the great jazz pianist and teacher, Sal Mosca. Joes' 1989 article "Doing it the Slow Way", an homage to his teachers and an outline of his teaching approach, originally  published in a now long-defunct bass magazine, has been translated into several languages including Japanese and has circulated widely via the internet..