Joe Chindamo, pronounced Kindarmo.

• Short Biography
• Long Biography

Short Biography

Joe Chindamo can comfortably take his place amongst the best jazz pianists in the world. An artist with an individual sound and style, listening to him play barely a few notes immediately reveals his identity, even to the non aficionado.

A man with an international reputation, Joe has performed concerts all over the world. Of particular note, at the Umbria Jazz Festival, The Tokyo Dome and The Lincoln Centre in New York. He also toured with famed US drummer Billy Cobham for over 10 years. Numerous of his recordings reached number 1 on the modern jazz charts in Japan.

His formidable pianism has earned him admiration from amongst the classical elite. In 2008 Joe was invited to perform 3 concerts in Italy by the celebrated classical pianist Michele Campanella, who was curator of a respected piano festival . In the same year, as a result of an enthusiastic recommendation by the formidable Nickolai Demidenko, piano maker Paolo Fazioli invited Joe to perform at his auditorium in Venice, a venue normally reserved for the likes of Angela Hewitt, Nickolai Demidenko and Aldo Ciccolini.

Back in Australia, Joe is routinely invited to perform at all the principal festivals. and a host of other venues ranging from house concerts to jazz clubs to the Sydney Opera House. Throughout it all, he has the rare gift of making difficult and complex music sound easy, coupled with the uncanny ability to make it accessable.

Amongst a plethora of awards, Joe has twice won the MO award for Jazz instrumental performer of the year, two Bell awards for best album and the APRA award for best jazz composition of the year in 2009 for 'Something Will Come To Light." Another of his compositions "The Bermuda Tango (from the same album Duende - the Romantic Project) is currently being featured as the theme music for ABC National's book show. A gifted arranger, Joe has recently been commissioned to compose and arrange for chamber ensembles such as the Freshwater and Seraphim Trios. An Australia Council Fellowship in 2003 facilitated his composing of a concerto for Accordion and Orchestra.

He has recorded 18 CDs under his own name and collaborated on other recordings with distinguished artists such as James Morrison (James Morrison and Joe Chindamo 2X2), Ray Brown- of Oscar Peterson Trio fame (The First Take), and the Brecker Brothers (Reflected Journey).

Joe is an artist who has done it all. He has performed and recorded with Shirley Bassey, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Yvonne Kenny and Olivia Newton John, and worked on over 60 film soundtracks, providing the piano work for iconic Australian movies such as Pharlap, The Man From Snowy River II, Babe, and The Sound of One Hand Clapping.

Long Biography

Pianist and Composer, Joe Chindamo was born in Melbourne in 1961, the eldest son of Italian immigrants, who came to Australia in search of a better life. At the age of 6, he was encouraged by his parents to take up a musical instrument: the accordion. He immediately fell in love with music and the idea of creating it. At the tender age of 13 he won the televised talent quest Kevin Dennis' New Faces and, a year later, Bernard King's Pot ‘O’ Gold (also a nationally televised talent quest). Along with his brother, Domenic, on drums, Joe spent most Saturday nights playing accordion at local Italian functions. On the day of his 14th birthday, he made his first record. The record company closed its doors only months before it was due to be released, so it never became available to the public.

Tiring of the histrionics that went with performing on the accordion (“all that smiling made me nauseous”) and inspired by the great pianist Oscar Peterson, Joe switched, at the age of 15, to the piano. Soon he was working with the well-known band leader Denis Farrington and other musicians twice his age during the 70’s. Meanwhile, at home he taught himself jazz piano. He studied the recordings of the great jazz pianists, wrote out their solos, then duplicated them on his piano.

At 18, Joe attended Melbourne State College, where he received his first formal piano lesson and studied classical music for the first time. He soon became the preferred pianist of just about every film composer in town, including Bruce Smeaton, Brian May, Bruce Rowlands, Nigel Westlake and Paul Grabowsky, and later, of visiting international composers, Jerry Goldsmith and Angelo Badalamenti.

Joe's playing has adorned more than 60 films, including Pharlap, Man from Snowy River 2, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Evil Angels and Babe. He has accompanied Shirley Bassey, recorded with Vince Jones, Olivia Newton John, Christine Sullivan and Yvonne Kenny, orchestrated and conducted a string orchestra for Peter Andre, and played with Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Caroline O'Conner and Don Burrows.

He has toured extensively through Europe, the US, Japan and Argentina and recorded & played with international jazz artists such as the late Ray Brown, Billy Cobham, Lee Konitz, Mike and Randy Brecker, Frank Morgan, Mark Turner, Ernie Watts, Ravi Coltrane, Larry Coryell & James Morrison.

When Billy Cobham first heard Chindamo play in 1990, he immediately asked him to join his group and tour internationally. This association has led to seventeen major tours throughout America, Europe, Japan and Argentina as well as two international recordings (The Traveller and By Design).

Joe has to date recorded 10 CDs as leader. His debut recording entitled A Brief History of Standard time, featuring legendary US bassist Ray Brown and Australian drummer Andrew Gander achieved wide acclaim. In late 1997, a second CD and an ARIA nominated release entitled Anyone Who Had a Heart, featuring Chindamo's highly personal arrangements of eight Burt Bacharach songs also met with critical and public acclaim, winning the ABC Listeners' Choice award for Best Australian CD of 1997. Following this, Joe's third recording, Reflected Journey, was released worldwide by A Records in 1998: this CD features Michael and Randy Brecker.

In July 1999, Chindamo was awarded an Australia Arts Council Grant to perform and represent Australia with his trio (bassist Ben Robertson and drummer Dave Beck) at major Jazz Festivals in Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Finland. He lived in Paris throughout most of 1999 where he worked with the celebrated guitarist Christian Escoude.

The year 2000 saw the release of Good Little Ploy which features Joe's original compositions and orchestrations, performed by his own trio and 20 strings from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Later this same year ABC TV filmed a 20 minute story entitled “Joe Chindamo – Profile of a Jazz Pianist”. Joe was also featured in the 5th episode of ‘The Pulse’ a television documentary show casing the cream of Australia's jazz musicians.

More recently, his very successful ARIA nominated CD Joy of Standards reached number 1 on the HMV modern jazz charts in Japan, the first Australian artist to have achieved this distinction. A Vol. 2 edition was released in January 2003 to wide acclaim reaching number 3 on the HMV modern jazz charts.

He was invited back to France in July 2002 to tour with such US luminaries as Mark Turner and Ravi Coltrane (son of John Coltrane). He is becoming a regular performer at Australian festivals, most notably, The Perth, The Wangaratta Jazz and The Port Fairy Music Festivals.

Never one to rest on his laurels he travelled to Italy on at least 3 occasions throughout the past 15 years in order to further his classical piano studies. His teachers in Naples were Alexander Hincef and Massimo Bertuccio.

In June 2002 Joe's talent was recognised by the Australian music industry – he was awarded the 2002 Australian Entertainment 'MO' Award for Instrumental Jazz Performer of the Year . He was nominated for the same award in 2003 and won it again in 2004.

In 2005, appeared at Umbria Jazz Winter in Orvieto, Italy in January, and Umbria Jazz in Perugia in July, where he joined a distinguished lineup of jazz greats, including Oscar Peterson and Tony Bennett. (Recorded first solo CD, Joe Chindamo, Solo- Live At Umbria Jazz 05 at this festival). In April 2005, performed a series of concerts in India. In August that year, performed in Taiwan (with James Morrison and vocal group Idea of North) and in November was invited by the Australian/Israeli Cultural Exchange to play in Israel, where he gave a concert in Tel Aviv and a nationally televised solo recital at the Jerusalem Museum. In December, performed at Norfolk Island, with Australian jazz legends Don Burrows and James Morrison. In late 2005 recorded first collaborative CD with James Morrison called James Morrison and Joe Chindamo 2X2. A performance of an orchestrated version of 2X2 with James and Joe as featured soloists is scheduled for 2008 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Opera House. In 2005, composed a modern orchestral work, Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra.

In 2006, recorded a live solo DVD in Tokyo entitled Joe Chindamo in Japan. This was released in early 2007. Also in 2006, supported jazz singer Dianne Reeves on her Australian tour in a solo set.

In 2007, featured in 4 concerts at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Later that year he was personally invited by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to perform at the Lodge for in Canberra for the signing in of his ministers. Later that evening Joe was invited to join the immediate family for their first dinner at their new abode. Also in 2007, Joe travelled to America to perform at the Lincoln Centre in New York with celebrated singer Karrin Allyson.

In 2008, Joe was invited by one of the world's great concert pianists, Michele Campanella, to perform three concerts in Italy in February 2008. As curator of this piano festival, Michele has invited 10 outstanding classical pianists from all over the world - Joe will be the only improvising pianist to participate in this distinguished series of piano concerts. In the same month, and coincidentally, the famous piano maker Paolo Fazioli invited Joe to perform at his celebrated Fazioli Auditorium in Italy where it is customarily reserved for distinguished classical artists, such as Angela Hewitt and Nicolai Demidenko. Also in 2008 Joe performed with James Morrison at Jazz a Juan, one of France's most prestigious jazz festivals.

In 2009 Joe returned to Israel, as part of an Australian delegation which incuded Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Peter Costello. As well as performing at the official Gala dinner in Jerusalem, he performed a solo concert in Tel Aviv. Also in 2009, Joe recorded two albums, the first featuring his conceptions and arrangements of the music featured in the Coen Brother's films, and the second, a reworking of 8 Puccini Arias. Of late, Joe has been commissioned to compose and arrange for various classical ensembles including such notables as the Freshwater and Seraphim Trios.