JOE PASTOR

DRUMS, PERCUSSION, GUITAR, KEYS, BANDS

Joe Pastor is accomplished not only as a music educator, but also as performer and composer. He holds a Master’s of Art in Teaching and a Bachelor of Music Performance in Jazz Percussion. A Missouri-certified K-12 music teacher, Joe was the director of music at Bishop DuBourg High School for seven years and has been teaching college music classes and ensembles for over ten years at St. Louis Community College and at Jefferson College. He is currently on staff at Chaminade Preparatory High School and works as a rhythm section consultant for many schools around the St. Louis area.

As a drummer and percussionist he has performed in over 3,000 professional engagements since 1993, ranging from jazz, blues, and rock to orchestral and musical theater. He is the principal percussionist of the University City Symphony and has performed in the MUNY Orchestra and Opera Theater of St. Louis. Recording credits include Johnnie Johnson (Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame), Kenny Wayne (Juno Award Winner), Marquis Knox, Kim Massie, Javier Mendoza, and Bonnie Bramlet. As a vibraphonist he leads the Joe Pastor Jazz group which in 2019 was awarded an individual artist grant from the Regional Arts Commission of STL to record an album of original jazz. He has worked professionally as a guitarist and bassist as well as his specialization as drummer and percussionist.

Joe is a commissioned and published composer (Bachovich Music Publications) and was awarded second-prize in the 2014 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest for his work “93 Million Miles,” which has subsequently been performed by both the Mizzou and UMSL percussion ensembles. Joe’s other works have been performed by the St. Louis Wind Symphony, the Modern American Dance Company, Axiom Percussion Ensemble, Jefferson College Concert Band, and in events at the Texas Ballet, Italy PAS Percussion Competition, The University of Kentucky, Stephen F. Austin University, Washington University, University of Missouri, New York University, Truman State University, UMSL, SIUE, and Webster University.

Joe is very excited to have joined the team at Shock City School in 2023. As a teacher he specializes in drums, percussion, jazz keyboard, guitar, bass, improvisation and composition.