Instructor Bio

JOE DAVIDIAN

email: jdavidian@greenvilleschools.us

864-355-2570

Joe Davidian attended the University of Miami where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Jazz Piano Performance. While there, he served as Teaching Assistant in the jazz program, and met the other members of his long-standing trio, The Lost Melody (bassist Jamie Ousley and drummer Austin McMahon). Over the course of the past two decades, the trio has toured internationally, performing at numerous jazz festivals, clubs, and universities, and presenting master classes on improvisation and trio playing. They have recorded five albums, the most recent of which, “I’ll See You Again” (2023), was a tribute to their musical mentor, the late Vince Maggio.

Joe has performed as a sideman on dozens of recordings and has released five albums as a leader: “For the Birds” (1999), “JD3: Live” (2003), “Silent Fire” (2008), “Live at the Jazz Cave: Volume One” (2013), and “Live at the Jazz Cave: Volume Two” (2017).

From 2007 until 2016, Joe lived in Nashville, Tennessee, where he played and recorded with the region’s finest jazz talent, including drum legends Chester Thompson and Duffy Jackson, and saxophonist Jeff Coffin. He was hired as piano instructor at Belmont University and at Middle Tennessee State University, and taught various theory, ensemble, and improvisation classes at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Prior to moving to Nashville, Joe also taught jazz history and directed small ensembles and a big band at the University of Vermont.

In 2016, Joe moved to New York City, where, propelled by a win at the 2019 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition, quickly gained recognition as a major player on the world’s foremost jazz scene. He performed at many of New York’s top jazz clubs, including Blue Note, Birdland, Dizzy’s, Mezzrow and Smalls.

Joe now lives in Greenville, SC and heads the Jazz Program at the illustrious Fine Arts Center. In each of his teaching and performing endeavors, Joe strives to honor jazz’s ancestral forebears by carrying on the legacy of groove, harmonic ingenuity and melodic integrity.

www.joedavidian.com