#435 Joe Porter- Percussionist, Educator, Content Creator and More!
This week’s guest is Joe Porter. Joe Porter is a multi-award winning Canadian musician.
Joe’s main goal is to share the wonderful world of percussion and music with people from around the globe.
In 2021, Joe started making YouTube videos during the Covid-19 pandemic. After two years, his online videos passed two billion views and Joe’s YouTube channel gained over five million subscribers.
Before becoming a content creator, Joe taught music for all levels from University students to kids. He founded many youth and community ensembles and raised a significant amount of money for programs to expand their musical instruments.
Joe has many diverse interests but has been recognized for performing and teaching marimba with six mallets. He is the author of two marimba books: The Art of Marimba with Six Mallets (dedicated to expanding the repertoire for six mallets), and Six-Mallet Technique Diversified (a comprehensive book and online video to learn six-mallet marimba technique).
A frequent traveler and international clinician, Joe has presented clinics, master classes and performances in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Recent appearances have included: Gu Dong-Guo Yin International Percussion Festival and Shenyang International Percussion Festival in China, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Hong Kong Baptist University, Royal College of Music and Birmingham Conservatoire in England, University of Hawaii, and the PAS China, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Iowa & Alberta Chapters Days of Percussion.
As a composer, Joe is the recipient of the Global Music Awards, Gold Medal Prize for Creativity and Originality. His album, “Pieces of My Imagination” won the Academia Music Awards Best Instrumental Album, 2020. He has written a wide variety of ensemble, chamber, and solo works that have been performed around the world. His vibraphone concerto has recently been performed by the Brașov Philharmonic, Ploiesti Philharmonic and Pitesti Philharmonic Orchestras in Romania.
Joe has been fortunate to play for audiences around the world. In 2014, Joe was featured in the PASIC International Showcase Concert. In 2016, he was chosen from the world’s top percussionists to be in the World Percussion Group where he toured across the US giving clinics, masterclasses, and concerts (including a showcase concert at PASIC 2016). As a winner of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony National Young Artist Competition, Joe made his international debut as a concerto soloist appearing twice with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony in 2012. Since then he has performed as a soloist with ensembles around the world.
Studying and teaching drumming from around the world has been a passion of Joe’s. A special project has been studying and transcribing traditional Polynesian drumming. He has traveled to Hawaii over ten times to learn from Polynesian master drummers.
Joe has been sponsored by many companies including Amazon, The Home Depot, Candy Crush, Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo, and Genshin Impact.
Joe is a Ludwig-Musser, Salyers Percussion, Dream Cymbals & Gongs, Grover Pro Percussion, Ayasa Handpans, Songbird Duclimers, RAV Vast, Flairdrum, Stylophone, Magadi Kalimbas, and Pearl malletSTATION artist.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Daniel Sadownick! Bronx native Daniel Sadownick earned a Master’s Degree in Musical Education at New York University, where he also studied composition. He then went on to study privately with percussion masters Andrew Cyrille, John Amira and the late, great Frankie Malabe. After graduating, Mr. Sadownick toured with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra for two years. It was here that Daniel made numerous contacts that would lead to tours and recordings with jazz greats such as: Michael Brecker, Dennis Chambers, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, Nat Adderley, George Coleman, Dianne Reeves, Carl Allen, Nnenna Freelon, Dewey Redman and many others.
A versatile percussionist that does not limit himself to one genre, Daniel has spent the last few years touring and recording with such diverse artists as: Steely Dan, Jennifer Lopez, Billy Idol, Tony, Toni Tone’, Maxwell, Angie Stone and Me’shell Ndege’Ocello. Daniel is also a member of the New York based cult band the Screaming Headless Torsos, who were listed as one of the top ten bands in America in the February 1996 issue of Musician Magazine.
Recently, Daniel premiered his own project, which is called Function Over Structure. It features all original compositions as well as showcasing the utilization of percussion in a “straight-ahead jazz context.” Daniel feels that percussion in jazz at this present stage seems to be limited to a certain style that does not included all the possibilities of the instruments. “I want to include all my influences when I play jazz. That runs the gamut from the Art Ensemble of Chicago to Joe Zawinul; from Cannonball Adderley to Frank Zappa. These musicians were torchbearers and pioneers. “I hope that my contributions make a statement that is parallel to these exceptional artists. They were consistent in their commitment to bring passion, intensity, and soul to their music.”
Daniel also teaches private studies in percussion and is a faculty member of New York University.
Happy Birthday to Ron Powell! Ron is a skilled percussionist, accomplished musician, clinician, author and exciting performer. He has toured the world since 1978 and has worked with over a hundred great artists, the most notable being, Madonna, Kenny G., Diana Ross, Sergio Mendes and most recently Brian Hughes.
Through his experience with Sergio, Ron learned the intricacies of Brazilian percussion. He has also played with Tania Maria, Oscar Castro-Neves, and his own band, L.A. Samba, and made special appearances with Gilberto Gil, Ivan Lins, Djavan and Samba School Villa Isabelle. Ron's versatility and showmanship have made him one of the most sought after percussionists in the world.
Ron is well studied in Afro-Latin percussion and has performed with Santana, El Chicano and Miami Sound Machine, Earth Wind & Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Rascal Flatts, and many others.
Ron has participated in many music related projects, which include the coordination of the African drum section of the Lion King Parade at Disneyland in California. He attributes his success in the music industry to his love for performing, sharing percussion and music.
Ron's equipment list changes with each playing situation, however he feels that LP is the only company with the variety and quality of instruments to fulfill his needs. Ron has been an LP artist for over 30 years.
Happy Birthday to Marcos Lopez! Marcos is one of the most promising multi-genre percussionists that broke through the music scene out of his native Puerto Rico. He's armed with a reputation for his profound ability to transition seamlessly between diverse styles with great precision, thanks to a history of great and abundant influences from every part of the world. Marcos is leading an inspiring movement among the musicians of this time that has broad implications for the modern percussion performers.
Lopez began to make his path known with the salsa group N’Klabe. Following its inception, he has become unstoppable. He has toured and performed with figures like Cuban superstar Issac Delgado, Puerto Rican all-stars Wisin & Yandel and salsa veterans like Victor Manuelle, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tony Vega, Andy Montañez, Ismael Miranda, La India and Tito Nieves in venues like the Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center and the Carnegie Hall. Marcos has also appeared in ABC’s Good Morning America and the Late Night Show with Seth Meyers along pop duo Karmin.
As a Berklee College of Music alumni and after only 4 years as a New Yorker, Marcos Lopez has expanded his frontiers as a percussionist. He has appeared in countless recordings, including his contribution and featuring in major studio projects including Ceremony with Nea jazz master Dave Liebman, which was released in November 2014 and Maldades with Grammy winning artists Humberto Ramirez and Oskar Cartaya, released in 2015. He has become a member of the Max Weinberg Orchestra and has also been on tour with Multi-Grammy award winner Lila Downs, superstar Thalia as well as with the Grammy nominee band Plena Libre.
Thanks to family influences, including his grandfather Sammy Ayala, who was one of the founders of Cortijo y su Combo, Marcos began playing caribbean percussion instruments at age two. At age seven, he got into the Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico and at age twelve he was accepted in the Escuela Libre de Musica where he trained in classical percussion, graduating in 2006. Within that time, in 2005, he won a full scholarship from Berklee College of Music, from which he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Music Business & Management in 2011.
While at Berklee, Marcos was part of “La Timbistica”, a group of Latin Jazz with worldwide influences that represented the talent of the renowned college. They headlined the Heineken Jazz Fest in Puerto Rico, the Monterey Jazz Fest in California, the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington D.C, the Saratoga Jazz Festival in NY,and many more. They were awarded Downbeat Magazine’s 2008 Jazz Group of the Year Award in the collegiate category.
As an educator, he has given percussion clinics and performances at The Montreal Drum Fest, PASIC, Berklee College of Music and in the Percussion Festival in The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.
Marcos is continually working to reach new levels, musically and artistically. His evolution rests on a solid foundation layered with diligence and a strong work ethic that has been nourished by all his years in the music industry. These qualities manifest themselves in a form of professionalism rarely found in musicians his age and make him a treasure among the percussionists of this era.
Happy Birthday to Julie Angelis Boehler! She joined The US Army Band (The Pershing’s Own) in 1997 and has served as Principal Timpanist since 2003. Upon assuming that role, she performed a timpani concerto and received a standing ovation while on a trip to her native state of Massachusetts. She was interviewed on the radio and featured in a full-length magazine article as a "hometown hero" during "Spirit of America" tours to Worcester, MA in 2004 and 2008. Boehler's freelance highlights include tours of the US, Japan & Italy where she performed with Pavarotti; subbing with the Houston Symphony & Ballet Orchestras; The Washington Opera Orchestra of which she was an audition finalist; and as a member of The Maryland Symphony Orchestra where she was featured on a PBS documentary called, "Bob The Vid Tech: Music To My Ears." She received degrees from The University of Massachusetts-Amherst cum laude and Rice University in Houston, TX. She currently resides in Arlington with her husband, Joe, and their daughter, Alexis.
Gig Alerts
Friend of the show Bobby Allende is having a 60th birthday party celebration on August 8th, at the Lehman Center for Performing Arts in the Bronx, NY. You can GET TICKETS HERE!
The St. Lucia Jazz Festival is going on until May 11th. You can get tickets HERE.
The Black Radio Experience has announced it’s lineup for the festival happening in Napa, CA August 29th-31st
The Austin City Limits music festival happening in Austin, TX from Oct 3rd-5th and 10th-12th has released their lineup.
Educational Spotlight
The Concert Chamber Percussion Ensemble Competiton is happening at PASIC this year. Registration for the competition is open as of May 1st.
The registration to ATTEND PASIC opens May 15th.
The American Percussion Seminar is happening at the University of North Texas June 2nd-6th.
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording was chosen by Damon and Joe. Joe picked the group, The Bad Plus. And Damon picked the song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” originally by Nirvana.
Music News
This current administration has vowed to terminate NEA grants. This is what the Musician’s Union has to say.
President Donald Trump has signed a late-night executive order that will cut federal subsidies for PBS and NPR. The move escalates a long-running political battle over funding for public broadcasters. -Article
With the TICKET Act’s passage in the U.S. House, several music industry organizations have released full statements in support of the action. Now the law must pass through the Senate. -Article
Lady Gaga Draws 2.5 Million Fans to Record-Breaking Free Concert at Rio’s Copacabana Beach -Article
Joe Porter Interview
The song leading into the interview is a mashup of instruments playing the Super Mario Brothers theme, performed by Joe.
Joe is Canadian and Damon brings up the election results.
He lives in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He grew up in Fernie, British Columbia, Canada.
He attended and then taught at the University of Lethbridge.
He is an avid skier. Damon and Joe talk a little hockey.
Damon brings up the Calgary Stampede that Joe has given workshops at.
Joe talks about his teaching jobs before he transitioned to content creating.
Joe started music around grade 7. Shout-out to his older brother and the drumset in the basement.
Joe talks about learning to read melodic notes at the UBC Summer Music Program.
He chose his university from an older cousin.
He worked at a saw mill on the weekends to buy his first marimba.
He bought friend of the show, Gifford Howarth’s DVD that accompanied the book “Simply Four” to help him learn how to play it.
He talks about the process of learning how to read more and how guitar from high school, helped him with melodies.
He talks about how Covid helped change his trajectory in music.
Joe talks about his other groups outside of teaching.
He talks about his transition to content creation and videos.
Joe does all the video creation and editing and promotion as well.
Joe worked at a coal mine and saw mill in the summer to help him buy new instruments.
Joe talks about having to build a space for the instruments he has accrued.
Joe talks about the different social media platforms.
Joe talks about having to deal with people who steal his content.
Joe talks about his partnerships with non music company. He talks about working with Home Depot.
He also mentions doing something for Diablo.
Damon mentions the cool instruments you can buy from Joe’s website.
He wrote two books on how to play six mallets.
Joe has been to Hawaii over a dozen times. He studied Fire Knife Drumming and Tahitian drumming.
Shout-out to Adam Mason and Dr. Darren Duerden.
Joe spent lots of time with Lloyd Laukea Chandler and has over 200 pages of transcriptions.
Joe talks about bringing world music to Lethbridge.
Joe picks the iconic recording for the week.
Shout-out to Adam Mason!
Joe lists the many instruments he uses. Ludwig Drums, Dream Cymbals, Musser Mallet Percussion, Acolyte Instruments, Ayasa Handpans, Coyle Steelpans, Salyers Percussion, Grover Pro Percussion, Songbird Duclimers, RAV Vast, Flairdrum, Stylophone, Magadi Kalimbas, and Pearl malletSTATION.
You can follow Joe on his Website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Shout-out to friend of the show, Jamie Eckert for making the connection.
The song leading out of the interview is a collection of hip hop riffs on percussion instruments.
