Joe Cinderella (1929) began playing the guitar when he was nine years old. By the time he was sixteen he was being compared to players like Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian. He studied the guitar with Frank Staffa and he attended The Essex Conservatory where he earned a degree in music.

In the 1950’s he recorded with Vinnie Burke (East Coast Jazz 2) and Chris Connors (Sings Lullabys For Lovers). In 1959 he was recognized in Downbeat Magazine as an Outstanding Guitarist.

During this time he recorded with Gil Mellé for Blue Note and Prestige Records. The Mellé recordings Primitive Modern and Patterns in Jazz earned Joe Cinderella the Concert Associates Player of The Year award. These recordings along with Mellé’s Quadrama and Gil’s Guests established Cinderella as one of the most progressive of modern jazz guitarists.

In the 1960’s Cinderella ‘dropped out of sight’ as a studio guitarist when he focused on recording sessions, radio and TV work and film scores in the New York studios. During these years he recorded with artists as diverse as The Beach Boys and John Cage and he played on recording sessions for many pop singers like Billy Joel. Joe Cinderella served as staff musician for the Kraft Music Theater in New York and other formal venues in the New York and New Jersey areas.

In 1969 Joe Cinderella became an Adjunct Professor of Music at New Jersey’s Paterson Sate College as Paterson’s first guitar instructor. Joe established a jazz guitar curriculum at Paterson that became a model for other university jazz programs throughout the US. Joe has also authored guitar instruction material.

In the year 2000 Joe Cinderella released Concept which featured his own compositions and arrangements played on custom made 8-string guitars.

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