Cello Joe
Website link:
http://www.cellojoe.com There aren't very many singing, rapping, beatboxing, cello players in
the world. You could probably count them on your fingers, if you knew
any of them. But there's a particularly funny and funky curious one you
should remember and he goes by the name of cellojoe.
Like most cello players, Joseph Abraham Tal Tien-Ru Chang Jr. Senior
III esquire (or just Joey for short) started out as a classical
cellist. A mild-mannered suburbanite kid from Los Altos, California,
Joey began studying the cello at age ten. His first instrument was
actually piano which he started at age nine. For the first eight years,
there were weekly private lessons and many music summer camps. There
were also weekly youth orchestra rehearsals. And from this fertile
classical ground sprang forth a very unusual weed from a crack in the
suburbial sidewalk.
Joey discovered playing on the street after eight years of
classical training. First, he played his classical repertoire over and
over. This practice got old pretty quick. He realized that playing on
the street was a great opportunity to begin improvising. After a fair
amount of purely instrumental improvisation, he thought that being able
to sing and play the cello would be infinitely cool and different and
would thus attract more attention and hopefully fill the case with
money. Slowly and surely this talent developed. Hip hop had always been
part of Joey's listening diet and because of this habit, beatboxing
naturally began to work its way into his improvisations on the street.
In addition to being a veritable cello monster, Joey is also very
interested in organic farming and has traveled to and worked at organic
farms in Canada, the west coast of the U.S. and the island of Maui in
Hawaii through the organization WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms
or Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms.)
He is currently living in Santa Cruz, and working on a puppet show and a west coast
U.S. tour on an xtracycle equipped bicycle for the cello. If you know
any great places to play, be sure to contact him! e-mail
cellojoe@cellojoe.com.
Also please visit:
Myspace: myspace.com/cellojoe
