the longer story...

Canadian drummer and percussionist Joe Sorbara (they/ them) has spent more than two decades developing a reputation as a dedicated and imaginative performer, composer, improviser, collaborator, organiser, listener, writer, and educator.

Sorbara is a highly inventive player with a penchant for coaxing music out of practically anything. Their setup is regularly augmented with found and prepared materials which ensure that the sounds at their ready disposal are practically orchestral in scope. They combine these skills with an extraordinary time-feel that makes them one of the most swinging drummers in Canada when the music demands it. A consummate sonic adventurer, Sorbara’s music draws on a vast array of influences, most notably the African American Creative Music tradition.

Joe is currently working on a new sextet project that you will hear (more about) soon featuring Ted Crosby, Tania Gill, Rebbecca Hennessy, Michael Herring, and Aline Homzy. They play in duo projects with Norm Adams, Paul Dutton, François Houle (SoHo), Thollem McDonas, and Steve Sladkowski; The Imperative, a trio with saxophonists Jay Hay and Karen Ng; Never Was, a quartet with Madeleine Ertel, Naomi McCarroll-Butler, and Patrick O’Reilly; The Imaginary Percussion Ensemble with Germaine Liu, Mark Zurawinski, and other adventurers; Alien Radio, with François Houle and James Meger; Reliable Parts, with Jared Burrows and Clyde Reed; Nine Brothers, a sextet exploring the early music of Jimmy Giuffre with Dan Gooch, Jay Hay, and Pete Johnston; and an improvising trio with Bill Gilliam and Glen Hall. They also co-lead Aurealities, a large international new music ensemble featuring Lina Allemano, Christine Duncan, Anil Eraslan, Matthias Mainz, Albrecht Maurer, Tom Richards, Samuel Stoll, Laura Swankey, Chris Tonelli, and Emily Wittbrodt. In addition to all of this, Joe takes part in numerous ongoing and ad hoc collaborations with improvising musicians from all over.

Sorbara's music can be heard most recently on Hush, a duo recording with clarinetist François Houle, released on ezz-thetics by HatHut in November 2022. Other recent releases include Mars People: Music By & For Ken Aldcroft, Vol I; My Misshapen Ear; and Washing Windows (all 2022, Oval Window Records); Clichés Vol. I: Trio Music (2020, Oval Window Records) and it's sibling release Clichés Vol. II: Trio Axiums (2020, After Day Audio); Reliable Parts (2018, Oval Window Records) with Vancouver musicians Jared Burrows and Clyde Reed; and Waiting for the Bomb (2018, ReR Megacorp) by Alan Ravenstine (Pere Ubu, Red Krayola). In 2017, Joe released The Imperative (2017, Oval Window Records), a tribute to the life, music, poetry, and prose of Sun Ra featuring saxophonists Jay Hay and Karen Ng. Among many other recordings, they appear on At Somewhere There alongside long-time rhythm-section comrade, Wes Neal, on bass and free improvisation pioneer Evan Parker on tenor saxophone; on two releases by The AIMToronto Orchestra, one featuring creative music luminary, Anthony Braxton; and on numerous recordings with long-time collaborator Ken Aldcroft. Sorbara can also be heard alongside Tania Gill, Peter Lutek, and Scott Peterson interpreting Mitchell Akiyama's music for the score to David Hartt's 2015 film/installation, Interval, which is in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

Joe has worked extensively as a workshop facilitator and guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music, Humber College, Wilfred Laurier University, Carleton University, Capilano University, Vancouver Community College, and elsewhere. They have taught through the School of Music and Fine Art at the University of Guelph since 2007.

Sorbara is a student of master drummer Jim Blackley with whom they studied for nearly five years from 1998 through 2003. They hold an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music from York University in Toronto and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Guelph. They are currently studying toward a PhD in Critical Improvisation Studies.

A stalwart creative music organiser and scene-maker, Sorbara serves on the board of directors of Silence, a creative music space and art gallery in Guelph, Ontario. They have played a key role in many of the seminal creative music series’ in Toronto: as co-director of As Is with trumpeter Ellwood Epps from 2000-03, as co-founder and long-time lead curator of the Leftover Daylight Series along with numerous partners for the better part of a decade beginning in 2003, and with the Somewhere There collective running a venue and presenting concert series’ and a yearly festival from 2013 through 2020. They were a founding board member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto and co-founder of AIMToronto's Interface Series of weekend-long performance events featuring many well known improvisers from far and wide. From December 2016 through March 2019, Joe presided over monthly series of Music By & For Ken Aldcroft in celebration of their long-time collaborator and friend.