Concert Showcases Enloe Talent
Composer call on school for premiere

Monday, February 12, 2007
By Thomas Goldsmith
tgold@newsobserver.com
Raleigh News and Observer, Raleigh NC

Raleigh - Musician Joel A. Martin's arts in education residency at Enloe High School last was the start of something bigger for all concerned.

The weeklong stint at the magnet school first produced a 2006 performance at the Artsplosure city festival featuring the Raleigh native Martin and the Enloe Jazz Ensemble.

That association led in turn to the world premiere Sunday of Martin's "Requiem for Peace," which drew more than 900 people to Meymandi Concert Hall downtown. About 150 Enloe musicians and singers joined pianist-composer Martin in a full program of his work.

"It's a pretty serious work," Martin said of the requiem.

"It takes in old folk songs, Gregorian chants, marches -- it is really music, the kind of music you remember."

Martin also got permission from poet Maya Angelou to set her poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" to music as one of the requiem's movements.

Performance by Martin and Enloe's chorus, wind ensemble, symphony strings and jazz trio won a standing ovation from what amounted to a home-towm crowd.

Martin, 40 was born at Wake Memorial Hospital, though by the time he started his classical music studies at age 7, the family had moved on. He now lives in Massachusetts.

For Enloe musicians like violinist Julie Ma and French horn player Carlie Huberman, wekks of work with Martin for the concert meant new exposure to the angular contours and ear catching dissonance of jazz. "It sounded all distorted at first, but it made sense after he explained every single detail and chord," Ma said, "It's jazz," Huberman added, "it wasn't what we are normally used to."

For the composer's music educator parents, Margaret and the Rev. Kenneth A. Martin, who live in Wilson, the homecoming was a moment of pure pride.

"The musicianship, the love and passion with which Joel is able to paint pictures with sound is simply miraculous and glorious, " the senior Martin said. "we're so pleased that he decided to come home to premiere his Requiem."

Palace benefit introduces magical night of Jazzical

Sunday, May 21, 2006
By Carrie Macmillan
Republican-American, Waterbury CT

What do you get by combining classical and jazz music?

Jazzical.

A musical style created by pianist and composer Joel A. Martin, Jazzical melds classical compositions with energetic smooth jazz. It's Sergei Rachmaninoff and Cab Calloway in one show!

Martin and his 13 member Jazzical Big Band Orchestra will perform with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at the Palace Theater in Waterbury on May 25 at 8 PM. Proceeds will benefit Waterbury Arts Magnet School's music department. "Although the school is new and we have lots of amenities, we still need a musical library and special instruments, which some of the kids don't have the resources to purchase on their own," said Phil Sterling, a music teacher at WAMS who organized the fundraiser. Sterling has been friends with Martin, who is based out of Springfield, Mass., for more than thirty years.

“He has toured all over the world in both the classical and pop genres,” Sterling said. “This is just a stepping stone. The next time you see his name, it’ll be on Oprah Winfrey. We’re just happy to have him on his climb. It’ll be a magical night of great music. For anyone who is interested in jazz or classics, or both, you’ll get an earful.”

Sterling hopes the event raises $10,000 for the school. It would be put to good use, he said. You’d be surprised. An English horn or oboe is around $4,000, and we don’t have a tenor saxophone, which would be in the $2,500 to $3,000 range.”

The Waterbury Arts Magnet School opened in August, 2004. The school, which is grade 6-11, is adjacent to the Palace Theater on East Main Street. Through an educational partnership with the Palace, students use the theater's stage and shadow professionals.

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For composer-pianist, 'It's all just music'

Thursday, May 25, 2006

By GEORGE LENKER

glenker@repub.com
THE REPUBLICAN, Springfield MA

The formal structures of classical music may seem 180 degrees from the free-from, improvisational world of jazz, but composer-pianist Joel A. Martin sees it differently.

"To me it's all just music and I don't see them as that different," he said. "I don't know why we have to create these divisions and categories."

To this end, in 1997 Martin created "Jazzical," a marriage of the two genres. He will bring his hybrid show to a fund-raising luncheon at the Colony Club in Springfield on June 1. The 11 a.m. performance is $35 and will benefit Springfield schools. The show is sponsored by the Women's League for the Arts (formerly known as the Women's' Symphony League.)

Martin, an award-winning concert and jazz pianist said the idea for "Jazzical" came to him when he realized he would often start playing jazz riffs off classical pieces he was rehearsing. Although this idea may seem odd to some classical purists, Martin noted that many classical composers were known for their improvisational abilities.

"All those old composers would constantly improvise on their works when they played them," he said. "It's just a continuation of making music. We can only imagine what some Bach or Beethoven pieces would sound like if jazz and African rhythms had been introduced to Europe back in the 1600s."

Martin certainly has the background to develop this program. He has served as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Delaware Symphony, as well as being the director for the Boys Choir of Harlem and musical director of the Cab Calloway Orchestra. He has also performed with a host of jazz artists and Broadway musicals.

But Martin's goal is not to meld the most difficult aspects of both styles in a some overly complex manner. Instead, he wants to engage listeners with the most melodic and accessible parts of both jazz and classical.

"My mind set is to think of what would interest a 12-year-old," he said. "If you don't get his attention in two or three minutes, you've lost him. So I pick song-oriented pieces."

And while both genres can lend themselves to showy playing, Martin's focus is on creating music people can sing.

"This isn't about being ostentatious. It's about bringing people into music they can enjoy," he said. "I don't want to be considered a classical or jazz artist. I just want to be an artist, while being true and honest to both forms. But in the end, I want people to be able to sing the music we play."

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EXCERPT FROM EL PASO TIMES ARTICLE ON JAZZICAL AND BEN LOEB

A little youth music Symphony nurtures fledgling musicians

Leonard Martinez, El Paso Times

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Normally, Americas High School senior and cellist Frank Rodriguez takes learning a new piece of music in stride.That wasn't the case when he discovered he would be playing Beethoven's "Egmont" overture, Joel Martin's "Jazzical Prelude" and Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite," second and fourth movements, as part of the El Paso Youth Symphony.

"When I first saw the music, I was pretty scared," said Rodriguez, 18. "Wow, we're going to be playing this? Then I thought, 'With hard work I can get this,' and I have. One piece, Beethoven's 'Egmont' overture, looks like one of the hardest pieces to learn. You're expecting it to be given to professionals to play, and we're playing it. "That piece and several others will be performed at the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras' inaugural concert Sunday at the Abraham Chavez Theatre. The group consists of the El Paso Youth Orchestra, El Paso Youth Symphony, El Paso Youth String Ensemble and El Paso Youth Symphony Philharmonic. The El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras, or EPSYO, has come a long way in a short time. "It was only an idea until Oct. 20 when we made fliers for the auditions," music director Benjamin Loeb said. "The hardest thing about this isn't musically, it's putting this organization together from top to bottom." Loeb said other cities El Paso's size had youth orchestras and he saw no reason why El Paso shouldn't either. "San Diego has 31," he said. "Albuquerque has six. Now we have four. "The EPSYO is under the umbrella of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and includes musicians from different high schools in El Paso, plus UTEP, New Mexico State University and El Paso Community College."The first thing we had to address was 'Why does the community need this?' "Loeb said. "In some communities, music is not taught in schools but that is not the case in El Paso. They're actually doing OK in schools here. What's missing is those that really had the initiative to take it to the next level didn't have a way of doing so." High schools have orchestras, but many of the musicians in them are doing marching band in the fall, which cuts into what they can do, Loeb said." We're able to offer a full orchestra experience all year long," Loeb said. After auditioning and getting a seat in one of the EPSYO's groups, students pay tuition every semester ranging from $175 to $250 depending on the group. Financial aid is also offered. Loeb said some people had suggested it be free, but he disagreed. "If you put a price on it, then they value it more," Loeb said.....

....Loeb remembers meeting Joel Martin, who was his roommate at Boston University's Tanglewood band camp in the summer of 1982 between his sophomore and junior years in high school." He is a character with a capital every letter," Loeb said with a smile. The camp was the first time Loeb had ever been a part of something like that and he didn't feel like he fit in. Martin inspired him and made an impression. "He was brilliant, and he could play the piano and played the trumpet and played jazz and he was from rural Maryland," Loeb said. Martin started a fusion of jazz and classical music called Jazzical. The youth symphony will perform one of his pieces, "Jazzical Prelude," with him at the inaugural concert." He's a guy I met when I was 16, and it was music that brought us together," Loeb said. "Music is something that can help make a community, and the community can help shape the musical life." Loeb wants his students to create a shared musical experience. "When you have that, you have an emotional experience just like with a popular song," he said. "Music is so special that way. It will be great for the kids to feel that they can exact that kind of experience for the audience.

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THE JOURNAL BRAVO - Massachusetts, March 20, 2003 by Tom Slowick

Joel Martin, piano

Springfield - If you either love classical music and hate jazz or love jazz and hate classical, Joel Martin gave both camps plenty to be happy about on Sunday. During a remarkable piano performance, he displayed a rare combination of dazzling technique and musical sensitivity that served both forms of music with equal respect.

The first half of the program consisted of three sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven. In these pieces Martin rendered performances of penetrating insight and freshness which were executed with such spontaneity that they sounded improvised.

Judging from the first half ovation, if the concert had ended at that point, the audience would have gone home happy.

The second part of the program consisted of music that he coined "Jazzical."

I have always counted myself a skeptic of fusion music. Memories of Peter Nero (himself a classically trained pianist) inserting great fists of notes, a la Rachmaninoff, into a pop song by the Beatles never rose above the level of a curiosity. However the music that Martin played was more a classical riff in which jazz improvisation forms the backbone. The music he used as a basis for the style ranged from a simple Chopin Nocturne done as a jazz waltz to a Scriabin Etude in which he accompanied himself vocally with scat, a la Bobby McFerrin. Even if Martin is not creating a new musical form, he certainly gave the audience thrilling examples of what a great jazz improviser can do regardless of the nature of the material.

Martin is a gifted musician who possesses all the skills needed to become an outstanding interpreter of each musical art form as well as this new "jazzical" style, which appears at the nexus of both.

This was by any standard an astonishing performance.

Jazz At A Glance, Volume 43

December 15, 2000
by Lee Prosser

For those who enjoy jazz with a Brazilian theme, Joel A. Martin's "Jazzical: Brazil" will become a very welcome addition to the home musical library. For those of you who recall the early recordings of pianist Peter Nero with his unique ability to fuse classical and jazz, you will discover in Joel A. Martin a greatly creative individual in the same imaginative vein of approach! Where Joel Martin adds his own vocals is worth listening to, for he has a very mellow and pleasant voice that blends well with the music he is performing. Everything about this CD has the touch of Brazilian jazz about it, and it is a worthy gift for a loved one or friend, and a good item to have in the Public Library jazz music section. This remarkable collection forms a highly melodic CD, one that will linger long in the listener's mind, and one to play again and again! For those who like Brazilian music, this is a must have CD for them. Excellent!

New York Times Westchester Weekly Desk
October 15, 2000, Sunday
Footlights: Jazz as Inspiration and Muse
by Roberta Hershenson

When Joel A. Martin found his calling, he prepared himself for the skeptics. There were bound to be some, considering that Mr. Martin's mission is to spread what he calls ''jazzical music'' to the masses.

The term, which Mr. Martin, a pianist, has copyrighted, refers to the marriage of classical music and jazz. He has played both styles seriously in his 34 years, even competing at 17 in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and as soloist with the New York Philharmonic.

Despite his classical credentials, his career didn't take off until he began combining a talent for arranging with an ability to find the jazzy elements in, say, a Chopin nocturne or a Scriabin etude. ''I play this music very seriously,'' he said. ''I turn the piece truly into a jazz composition without negating the classical tune itself.''

The occasional objection has been heard, but one review suited Mr. Martin just fine. After the release of his latest CD, ''Jazzical: Brazil,'' a critic wrote that while purists might hate the idea of Mr. Martin's music, the reality was beautiful. The pianist thinks he is onto something. ''If the composers of the past were alive today, what would they be using as inspirational materials?'' he said. ''I think they'd be using jazz.''

Mr. Martin will play music from ''Jazzical: Brazil'' at the Westchester Broadway Theater in Elmsford tomorrow at 8 p.m. in a fund-raising event for Bran Pace, a paralyzed actor. The performance will be filmed for broadcast on A&E and Black Entertainment Television.

Cadence Magazine: The Review of Jazz and Blues
September 2000 Vol. 26, #9
Creative Improvised Music
by David Lewis

I suppose reinterpreting Classical composers like Chopin, Debussy, Faure and Scriabin with a Brazilian groove will sound like a grand notion to anyone who wants to samba to a Chopin Nocturne, but it's a perverse novelty and a bastardization of two art forms I love, but there's nothing pure about the musical food chain. And as such bastardizations go, this one sounds like a smooth labor of love and there is some pretty music making here. So I will emphasize the good points from now on, having already made my negative bias plain. Scriabin's "Etude, Op. 2, #1" is the most successful of Martin's hybrids as the fluent interplay between Martin, Bargonetti and Torff builds a swinging dynamic that succeeds precisely the further it leaves Scriabin behind. Torff's smooth virtuosity distinguishes Debussy's "C'est l'extase langoureuse" and Treharne's "Corals", the acoustic guitar of Steve Bargonetti sounds best in the versions of Chopin, Scriabin and Faure's "Apres un reve", while Martin is his most inventive in the Chopin Nocturne.

New York Times Westchester Weekly Desk
March 14, 1999, Sunday
Q&A/Joel A. Martin;
Jazzical: When Classical and Jazz Entwine
By Donna Greene

HIS father plays 36 instruments, his mother, 12. It is no wonder that Joel A. Martin became a musician.

At 9, he was the youngest member of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, where he played the tuba; at 13, he made his symphonic debut with the Newark Symphony Orchestra and a year later performed at two concerts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1984, at 17, he was the youngest competitor accepted in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The next year, he was a guest soloist with the New York Philharmonic when Zubin Mehta conducted.

Now Mr. Martin, 32, lives in White Plains, which he uses as a base for a variety of music-related activities. In 1997 he released his first self-produced CD: ''Jazzical: a Marriage of Classical and Jazz.'' in which he shows the interrelationship between the two kinds of music he loves.

Next Sunday Mr. Martin, who is a pianist, takes his patented Jazzical to the Fox Lane High School in Bedford, where he and the school district's instrumental and choral students will perform various works together. Here are excerpts from a recent conversation with Mr. Martin:

Q. Have you been interested in music since you were born?
A. Well, no. I actually started music on the tuba at age 7. And about a year or so later I started my first piano lessons with my parents. My mother was an organist, and I was a little too small to reach the pedals so she put me on piano, and that's where I've been ever since.

Q. At what age did you and people around you realize you were really a good musician?
A. I think it started within the first year. I went through a couple of grade school music books and went from there to Rachmaninoff preludes. It was basically within my first year on the piano.

Q. Is a gift like that a burden or a joy?
A. There is no burden involved with this. When I first started on tuba, about a year or so later, I was accepted as the youngest performer in the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Everyone said that's a large deal, considering I was 9 years old. But to me, it was something that I enjoyed doing. There was no real sweat or burden involved; it came very naturally. The gift of music, which I believe I have, comes from God, and it also comes from the teachings and the work of everyone, all my teachers, my parents, my family. Everyone has given much time and support, energy, love and money. And there is a certain sense if you don't use the gift that is given to you, it will be taken away from you. But for me, it has always been a joy.

Q. How did Jazzical come about?
A. Jazzical came about because I always felt that classical and jazz music were very much similar. On the one hand, theme and variation, on the other, theme and improvisation. While others see the differences, I see the similarities between the two disciplines. Jazzical was my answer to the divisions that classical and jazz have. The classical people don't necessarily accept jazz as an art form, and vice versa, because they haven't found any common ground between them. So I pretty much reached the point that I was not happy with the status of classical music and jazz. About three or four years ago, I was interweaving classical and jazz as I practiced, and my girlfriend heard this and said, ''You know you really have something there.'' And I said, This is something I've been doing all my life. I've been taking a Brahms intermezzo and all of a sudden expanding on that and coming back to it within the span of three or four minutes. She suggested that I do this as an encore at the end of one my classical concerts. After I had done this several times I realized there was a lot more to it.

Q. Meaning the audience received it favorably?
A. Yes. Also, theme and variation is very similar in improvisation as it is when Beethoven wrote theme and variations. He took the theme and he expounded upon that, and that allowed him to improvise on those expounded works. So to me there wasn't that much difference. It's just that the language hadn't been incorporated into the classical. For me, this music should always be effortless; it should never be contrived. There is a certain sense of equality or integrity -- honesty that you have to take when you're doing this kind of work -- taking classical music and giving it a jazz context and still retaining the whole melody or a very large portion of the song.

Q. Are some classical pieces better suited to the jazz approach than others?
A. I think there is plenty of music from the classical composers to the Romantics to even Americans such as Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein. I don't, however, like using Baroque music because I feel that that is too easy a way to do that. Bach's music is in a sense too perfect to give it a jazz interpretation because it's already there. But Brahms and Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, the list goes on.

Q. Are other musicians doing what you are doing?
A. There are people who have used it, and it goes across all party lines. But a lot of people don't really do classical and jazz as a living. That is the distinction I make, because I feel you should be equally adept at both so that neither side looks at it and says, Here's this guy who is taking our music and has no real appreciation of this. I think that makes a huge difference in the end.

Q. So if you are asked which is your favorite, classical or jazz, you would say both?
A. I love them both equally.

Q. Describe the Bedford school project.
A. At the beginning of January, the Friends of Music and Arts, which is the parental music arm of the Bedford public school system, contacted me because they were looking for someone who could play with their students and be part of this fund-raising event, which is held every March or April. I met with them and I realized there were a lot of things that could be done with the school system. They were looking for something that pretty much incorporated the band program and the choral program. So after playing them a little bit of Jazzical, I suggested to them I would write for their big band a Jazzical piece, and I would also create a very special piece for the high school chorus. Then they said, Well, we'd like to incorporate the elementary and middle school and high schools. So that created more of a challenge for me.
To make a long story short, I wrote the music in about two weeks, and one was a piece by a Spanish guy named Xavier Montsalvatge. And I also used a piece from Chopin's D flat major Nocturne for the choral piece. And I used lyrics that I invented that basically talked about school and what kids go through. And for the big band piece I wrote a piece based upon Chopin's C minor Prelude, which was covered in a pop version by Barry Manilow, and was actually an inspiration for turning into a big band piece.
Basically, this whole concert is an answer to my long-term goal of bringing classical music to larger audiences through Jazzical. It is also a great alternative venue to the usual concert hall or a jazz club. It is my way of actually bridging those audiences and bringing people together, and because of the nature of the arts in education, I'm bringing the music to many people instead of 30 or 40.

Q. Have you seen an appreciation of music in those students that they did not have before?
A. Classical music has become more user-friendly to them, to use the computer term. Because I don't look too much older than they do and I certainly don't act like I'm an old man -- and I love kids and I love people in general -- they get a different appreciation because they can appreciate the man and the music. It's not like I'm some guy walking in there and saying in an authoritative voice, ''I have this piece and I would like you to try it out.''

Q. In the face of rap and rock and every other form of popular music, is it difficult to get teen-agers interested in classical music and jazz?
A. It is a little, but if the other things are great music, that's O.K. You just have to bring the level of quality up. I think, in general, record companies think audiences are stupid and will just accept anything they will give out, that it doesn't have to be good. In my house, I have everything from rap to heavy metal to the New York Philharmonic. But they're all classic records that have stood the test of time. I think that great art doesn't have to be sacrificed. I think every record from the Mamas and the Papas to the Beatles had something that was special and very artistic and withstood generations. Times change, but the music is still there. Who said that art and commerce can't walk hand in hand?

Seconds Magazine
March, 1998
by Tom Terrell

Back in the Fifties, Classically trained Bebop pianist John Lewis had an idea to form a Baroque-like quartet that could combine Classical motifs with Jazz improvisations. For the next three decades, Lewis's Modern Jazz Quartet more than fulfilled his goals, creating in the process a new music dubbed "Third Stream". Save for Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley and Bill Evans, few have swum in the Third Stream.

With his new album, Jazzical: A Marriage of Clasical and Jazz, concert pianist Joel A. Martin not only resuscitates the genre, he creates his own style within it -- "Jazzical". On Jazzical the record, Martin takes fifteen pieces from the repertoires of Stravinsky, Chopin, Brahms, Schumann and Debussy, squeezes notes, alters meters and swings rhythms. While songs like "Petite Chorale" and "Chiarina" are coolly sublime, the pianist really gets his Jazzical groove-on with a quickness on the Thelonious-ized "Debussy Meets Monk" and the "Night In Tunisia" variations of "Baroque Gets Dizzy." Jazzical -- A Marriage of Classical And Jazz is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

JazzTimes Magazine
December, 1997
by Dave Burns

Jazzical: A Marriage of Classical and Jazz -- A fascinating exploration "beyond category." Martin has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony. He believes that classical theme-and-variation, and jazz theme-and-improvisation can be merged without trivializing either. This CD is powerful evidence that there is interesting and valid music at the intersection of the two vernaculars. "Rather than compose wholly original, classical-like pieces," he "sought inspiration from classical motives": Stravinsky's Grand Chorale and Petit Chorale from "The Soldier's Tale;" Chopin Nocturnes, Op. 72 and 37; Brahms' Intermezzo; Chopin, Promenade and Chiarina from Schumann's "Carnival;" and Reverie and Girl With the Flaxen Hair by Debussy. Martin has chops, ideas and Bill Evans' romantic expressiveness (with nods to Monk and Dizzy). the pianist is joined by bassist Jonathan Gilley on seven tracks, with drummers Bruce Cox or Scott Latzky on four tracks.

Classical Reviews

The Washington Post
by Joan Reinthaler

Joel Martin is an unusually interesting, unusually talented young pianist...the tones his sensitive touch coaxes from the piano are the loveliest heard around here in a long time.

The News and Observer, Raleigh, NC
by Nancy R. Ping-Robbins

Young Pianist delivers power, passion in concert
Wednesday, June 6, 1990

Wilson, NC – Joel Martin is a pianist so gifted, so accomplished at the onset of his career, he could become one of the world’s greatest pianists. After a 15 hour bus ride from New York, the 24 year old arrived Sunday at 1 AM and gave a 90 minute concert at Fike High School at 4 p.m., changing his program onstage as his mood changed.

After substituting three additional (fiery) Etudes Tableaux for two already listed, he added an introspective, mature interpretation of the second movement of Schumann’s Kreisleriana (dedicated to his mother). He opened the concert with the romantic Fantasy and Fugue in C major by Mozart, which suffered disastrously from amplification on stage in a very live hall. Apparently the microphone was turned off in subsequent numbers because remaining selections came off fine.

For the finale, instead of the Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata, Op. 57, as listed on the program, he substituted Franz Liszt’s B minor Sonata! (“the most difficult piece I ever, ever worked on” he said). The young man spoke to the audience prior to the beginning the Sonata, mentioning how much he loved the piece and how it represents the good in all of us as well as some craziness (Liszt probably would have agreed.) Then the pianist sat down and literally poured his soul into the instrument, making the piano speak profoundly with power and passion.

He does not yet caress the piano quite as poetically as Feltsman, but he has the energy, dynamism and technique on the level of Evgeny Kissin. Now and then a stray note wrong note might sound, but the underlying sense of the music is strong and sure. His performance of the Liszt Sonata literally brought tears to my eyes.

Who is this young man? He is a native of Raleigh who performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony in 1983, going on to performances with the New York Philharmonic (under Zubin Mehta) in 1985 after winning the Youth Concert auditions there.

He studied with the late Natalie Hinderas and is not living in New York, continuing to win awards and grants for his talents. In 1985 he was the youngest competitor in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

The audience was treated to a sample of his jazz stylings as an encore, something that he does on the side. He will be cutting his first jazz recording soon.

The Delaware Symphony Orchestra
by Stephen Gunzenhauser, Conductor

He performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with great poetry and skill. Joel Martin is no "whiz kid", but a young man with great depth and talent. When he performs, Joel gives the music that extra something that makes his performance something we seek to hear again and again.