Joe Block

Joe Block is a Steinway Artist and award-winning pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and musical director from Philadelphia, based in New York City. Classically trained from the age of two, he later discovered a deep passion for jazz and went on to study at Columbia University and The Juilliard School. He performs as a sideman with Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Gary Bartz, and leads his own quintet, trio, and big band.

Recognized by Jazz at Lincoln Center as one of “jazz’s most promising young composers,” Block received the 2024 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, was a semi-finalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, and was selected as a finalist for the 2027 American Piano Awards.

Block is a frequent musical director for projects at Jazz at Lincoln Center and has served as guest musical director for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. In 2025, he served as associate musical director and pianist for George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck on Broadway, and as musical director for Ornada, the Armada Skis feature film presented with a live original score. In 2026, he served as musical director for The Voice of Miles: A Symphonic Celebration, a live orchestral concert experience based on the documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool.

His third album, There is Always Hope, was released on Blue Engine Records in September 2026. Featuring twelve original compositions, it is his debut album leading his own ensemble.