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"Joe Giardullo is the only person, in my experience, who can verbalize key concepts in free group improvisation and can communicate them to all musicians, those with a lifetime of experience at this, and those with no experience at all. He does so with wisdom and a kind of poetry in his speech, and with delightful and nurturing leadership. The proof is in the results, which are spellbinding music. Two weeks later, my students are still on a high from the experience of just one afternoon with Joe!"

Lewis Porter
Professor of Music
Director of the M.A. in Jazz History and Research
Rutgers University

"Joe Giardullo's workshop for the University of Michigan's Creative Arts Orchestra stretched our students' musical boundaries as well as exposed them to broader sociological and cultural contexts and ramifications of improvised music. Our ears and heads are still spinning, and we look forward to having Joe back in the future."

Ed Sarath
Professor of Music
Chairman-Dept. of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation
University of Michigan

"Thanks so much for taking the time to stop and to work with my students; they are still excited and still talking about your visit. It inspired many of the inexperienced to actually start improvising. Many of my students wouldn't even consider taking solos in the jazz ensemble - now they all want to solo. The more experienced students are organizing a free improvisation group on their own."

John Salerno
Professor of Music
Director of Jazz Studies
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

"I thought it was fantastic!!!! Ive done a bit of work on free improvisation before but not like this. I liked the way he unobtrusively guided us to gain coherence as a group. I would love to attend one of his 5 day workshops the results must be astounding!! "

"It was one of the greatest experience I had as a performer. The effort of each player was to create an individual unique sound yet the purpose was for the music to be present as one coming from all of us, sounding together as one instrument. Yes, it was free improvisation but within certain limits taken by each of us for the best of the ensemble. I found the creation process to be quite beautiful, relaxing and stress releasing because you lose your self in a spontaneity and you play interesting melodic or rhythmic patterns. I agree with Aleisha, I would love to attend one of his 5 day workshops. "

"This was the first time I have ever used my voice as an instrument, been credited for catcalls that were reminiscent of Luciano Berio, worked in a creative ensemble setting, let it hang out! Let the world rejoice! Bless the gifts!"

"I enjoyed the free improvisation seminar. It should be the first lesson any music student has. Potentially everything in music could be derived from the manipulation of the "constraints" of a free musical setting and therefore all music becomes freer in that sense. This was a much needed experiment in spontenaity. This type of environment raises your concioussness of different aspects of your playing. It also is a good way to gain control/clarity of what you are trying to project about your perspective. Just imagine having strength of musical identity to negotiate superstructuralism in the compositions/improvisations of Cecil Taylor or the strength of the identities on Coltrane's Ascension. It was great."