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Joe just passed away from the brain cancer that he'd been fighting for the last five years. If you didn't grow up on Lawnguyland, NY, you probably never heard of him.
He was a great player and teacher who taught hundreds of players at Five Towns College for many years. I knew him years before that, when he was my first guitar teacher when I was thirteen years old. He told me at my first lesson that he only took me on as a student, because my father told him he had a D'Angelico (1935 Snakehead) when he saw Joe trying out guitars at Coret music store.
Joe went through a bunch of D'Angelicos and D'Aquistos in his lifetime, and I got to play his D'A Excel and D'Aquisto solid body when I was studying with him for about five years.
He had studied with Joe Monk, the reigning jazz guitar guru on Lawnguyland, and played concerts in a four or five guitar ensemble with rhythm, that Joe Monk had written arrangements for. I was just a 13 year-old kid, and I was flipped out over Joe Monk's wild sense of humor.
Joe made his living mainly playing all types of commercial gigs, like 'club dates' (weddings etc....), occasional jingles, record dates, and shows, besides teaching. His two greatest influences were Wes and Johnny Smith. Later on, he was heavily influenced by Joe Pass, and would hang out with him when JP would come to New York.
He once beat out Chuck Wayne (whose playing he detested) for an audition to accompany a singer. He also did Music Business Shows for various music companies. At one Show, Johnny Smith came up to him as he was playing, and said, "You're on the right road, young man".
Although he was a great jazz player, he rarely played jazz gigs. I asked him why, and he said he once played a gig as a leader at a jazz club, and no one came down. RIP, Joe.
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11-06-2020 02:41 AM
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thank you for posting this. I met Joe at Five Towns College in 1981. He took a liking to me, and since I didn't have any family on Long Island, he sort of took me in, paying me to do odd jobs around his house in Baldwin. Sometimes he would give me lessons for my work. I would name a tune that was in my head and Joe would harmonize a beautiful chord-melody on the spot while whistling the melody. I wish I would have kept in touch with him because I still play his arrangements and he was always and still is in my heart. I loved him.
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nice tribute s
lesser known players like that, have shaped us all
rip jc
cheers
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I'll second what neatomic said. I've a few guys who helped me a lot, yet they were never known outside their street, and even there by few. Nice tribute.
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Here's an official obit, and a Go Fund Me Scholarship Fund:
Fundraiser by Joanna Kelly : Joseph Carbone Young Guitarist Scholarship Fund
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Originally Posted by rob taft
Classic solo by Joe showing his Wes influence.
On the walls, you can see album covers of Wes, Barney, Joe Pass, and Tony Mottola.
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Is that a guitar in a case in the wall?
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Originally Posted by wintermoon
I'll find out at his wake tomorrow if that was the guitar in the case.
His D'Aquisto was on display at The American Guitar Museum, a little place on LI that a guitar repairman ran.
Joe was very close to Jimmy D'Aquisto, before Jimmy became well known, and Jimmy did a lot of work on his D'A's.
When I was studying with him, he only played D'As, and he told me he owned at least one New Yorker that he had to sell for $1,000, when he needed the money. That's what they went for back then. The guy lived, ate and breathed the guitar.
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"His D'Aquisto was on display at The American Guitar Museum, a little place on LI that a guitar repairman ran"
I visited that little place once on an excursion to collector Michael Katz's place on LI [anyone remember Michael?] and I remember the D'Aquisto though the guy at the shop didin't say it was on loan.
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Originally Posted by wintermoon
It was like a Road to Emmaus experience, you don’t realize all that was going on at the time, but looking back it was a moment. Michael was a fine host and gentlemen!
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Nice guy that wasn't much of a player but really knew and loved vintage guitars , really had a great collection of especially vintage DA's and Martins, most of them he purchased in the 60s and 70s when they were dirt cheap. I was there to buy his friend's '31 L-5 and got to play all the DA's. He had a little snakehead DA that I offered to trade my car for provided he gave me a lift to the train station......I drove home
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Originally Posted by deacon Mark
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When I met Joe Carbone I knew nothing about music. By the time I finished his music theory and ear training classes, I could recite every major and minor scale in time to his hand claps without missing a beat, and name any note or chord he played on the piano. He exuded excellence and demanded nothing less of his students. He was a Musician’s musician. R I P BONE!
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What a beautiful instrument. I think there were only something like ten of those made.
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Originally Posted by BlackNapkins
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Very sad news. Joe was a fine gentleman and a good friend.
Tony D.
Brazilian Rosewood and CITES
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