Joshua Espinoza / Joshua Espinoza Trio
Baltimore, MD
Grant amount: $8,800
Performances
Keystone Korner Baltimore. Baltimore, MD. 11/10/2021
Gloria Faye Dingus Music Alliance. Warrenton, VA. 11/11/2021
White Horse Black Mountain. Black Mountain, NC. 11/12/2021
Sharp Nine Gallery. Durham, NC. 11/13/2021
Reformation Lutheran Church. Newport News, VA. 11/14/2021
About the Artist
The Joshua Espinoza Trio was formed in November 2017 in Baltimore, MD. It includes New York City-based upright bass player Kris Monson and Baltimore-based drummer Jaron Lamar Davis. Influenced by such disparate artists as Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, bassist Avishai Cohen, pianist Shai Maestro, and classical composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, the Joshua Espinoza Trio has cultivated an aesthetic akin to a classical chamber trio as much as a jazz trio. Having developed a repertoire of compelling, through-composed original material alongside sophisticated arrangements of standards and pop songs from the past five decades, the trio released their debut album in June 2019, toured in April 2020 (four dates in Kansas/Missouri), and then again in October (four dates; South/North Carolina). Two tours are planned for January 2022 (Tennessee and Arkansas) and March 2022 (Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana).
Pianist Joshua Espinoza was a finalist in the 2018 Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano Competition and a semi-finalist in the 2016 UNISA International Jazz Piano Competition (Pretoria, South Africa). He has performed recently with such luminary artists as Warren Wolf, Sean Jones, Miho Hazama, Mike Pope, Chuck Redd, Paul Bollenback, Damien Sneed, and Alex Norris. He has performed at Blues Alley, The Jazz Kitchen, Keystone Korner, the Barns at Wolftrap, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A faculty member at the Peabody Institute of Music at the Johns Hopkins University, Espinoza shares music both as a dedicated educator and freelance performer in the Baltimore, Maryland area.