5/25/18:</br>Joseph Block Quartet

Joseph Block is 19 years old. Abounding talent and a relentless work ethic have delivered early recognition:

• 2016 co-founder and leader of the Philadelphia Ambassador Big Band

• 2016 winner of the Essentially Ellington composition contest at Lincoln Center

• 2017 finalist in Jazz/Keyboard category of the National YoungArts Foundation

• 2018 Kimmel Center commission to arrange movement of Holst’s “The Planets” for the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia (performance June 8)

With a list of mentors who are believers—from Susan Starr and Lovett Hines to Frank Kimbrough and Wynton Marsalis—Joseph is now completing his first year at Juilliard and Columbia with a curriculum of jazz and American Studies. He is ambitious yet humble. “I’m only 19. At this point, I just want to learn more about this music and its meanings in American culture.” In New York, Joseph is now surrounded by the brightest lights in jazz, young and old—a creative crucible for his continuing development. 

Pianist. Composer. Arranger. With abundant evidence to recommend these roles. Check out Joseph’s take on Monk’s “I Mean You.”

For his appearance @exuberance, Mr. Block is joined by a cohort of young lions:

Anthony Hervey, trumpet

Nathan Pence, bass

Andreu Pitarch Mach, drums

Plan on joining us for this unusually talented group of jazz musicians.

@exuberance parties at Matt’s are by invitation only to provide a dignified, comfortable and acoustically ideal setting for worthwhile art and ideas. Cellphones and other devices are to be holstered during the performances. Between sets, conviviality rules.