BIOGRAPHY
Josh has a Masters degree in Modern American Music from Longy School of Music of Bard College and a Bachelors degree in music from University of Alabama in Huntsville. During his formal studies at Longy and UAH, he studied both classical music on nylon string guitar and jazz on the electric guitar making him a well-rounded performer and educator in these genres and others.
Josh started his college education in music at The Ohio State University but left after a year upon being accepted into the Army Bands Program. He spent four years in the Army, with most of that time being spent at Redstone Arsenal with the Army Material Command Band. While in the 389th Army band, he was part of over 200 musical performances with different groups, including a jazz orchestra, three to six piece jazz combo, a popular music ensemble, wind ensemble, and solo jazz and classical guitar. He was part of many educational outreach programs while with the band including master classes and performances at universities, high schools, and middle schools. During his time with the 389th Army Band, Josh was able to take night classes and finish his undergraduate degree at UAH.
Upon completing his four-year contract with the Army, Josh and his wife Megan moved to Boston so he could pursue his Masters degree at Longy School of Music. At Longy, he studied jazz improvisation concepts with Mark Zaleski and Leo Blanco and classical guitar with William Riley. Josh grew as a jazz composer and arranger during his time at Longy as he studied George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concepts with Ben Schwendener and helped arrange music for many of the ensembles he was involved in. While living in Boston, Josh was able to perform and record as a freelance musician outside of Longy with many notable musicians including Mark Zaleski, Sohyun Hong, George Garzone, John Lockwood and grammy winner Mark Walker.
After receiving his Masters degree, Josh moved back to Huntsville, AL with his wife Megan, where he is part of many performing music projects and works as a guitar instructor and music educator. Josh is currently the director of jazz bands at Calhoun Community College where he directs the jazz bands and teaches guitar and improvisation lessons. He also teaches guitar lessons at Alabama A&M University.