Joey is a ten-year-old rapper, singer, and drummer. He is a featured vocalist in two Grammy-considered recordings, Mister G and Jose V’s “Ritmo Y Rima” and Mister G and the Global Citizen’s “Children of the World.” Joey performed twice for Houston’s “Freedom over Texas” 4th of July event and appeared twice at the Jazz Education Network Conference. Joey was the youngest drummer/vocalist featured during Jazz Education Network’s prime evening concert. Joey is working on his first solo project to be released later this year. Recently, Joey has performed with NEA Jazz Master and legendary flutist Hubert Laws, Ignacio Berroa, Jane Bunnett, and Ray Vega.
His musical journey began at six months. He would attend various music conferences, marching band contests, and live jazz concerts. He enjoys music from every genre of music, from Latin jazz to pop music. Joey also loves classical music and has yet to point to one as his favorite. As an infant, his favorite was jazz. At five months, he would clap out patterns while attending his dad’s marching band rehearsals. His favorite thing to do was to listen to the drumline perform at different events. At eight months, he would join the students in their rehearsals and try to play different rhythms while sitting in his walker. He got his first drum set at 12 months.
Joey’s father is the founder of a nonprofit called the Diaz Music Institute, http://www.diazmusicinstitute.org, a Latin Jazz organization, and this has allowed Joey to meet so many amazing artists. His favorite thing is hanging out and talking with the different musicians at the conferences. At these music conferences, Joey loves eating dessert with Jon Faddis or playing ball with Terell Stafford and hanging with his friends Steve Bailey, Ignacio Berroa, John Clayton, Richard Crain, Mary Jo Papish, Dr. Jose Valentino, Jim Widner, and Victor Wooten.