j o e s o r b a r a [ d o t ] c o m . b i o

[ i ] bio

[ ii ] events

[ iii ] projects

[ iv ] discography

[ v ] gallery

[ vi ] contact

the short story...

Canadian drummer and percussionist Joe Sorbara has spent decades developing a reputation as a dedicated and imaginative performer, composer, improviser, collaborator, organiser, listener, writer, and educator. A consummate sonic adventurer, Sorbara’s music draws on a vast array of influences, most notably the African American Creative Music tradition. They have performed and recorded with Ken Aldcroft, Anthony Braxton, Jared Burrows, Nikita Carter, Marilyn Crispell, Christine Duncan, Paul Dutton, Joe McPhee, Hafez Modirzadeh, Evan Parker, William Parker, Allen Ravenstine, Clyde Reed, and Bry Webb, among many many others. Their own projects include a sextet featuring Ted Crosby, Tania Gill, Rebbecca Hennessy, Michael Herring, and Aline Homzy. Collaborations include duo projects with Norm Adams, François Houle (SoHo), Jonathan Kay (The Rest), Friendly Rich Marsella, Thollem McDonas, and Steve Sladkowski, as well as groups Never Was (with Brandon Davis, Bea Labikova, and Patrick O'Reilly); Carry On - Thinking from the End (with Matthias Mainz and angela snæfellsjökuls rawlings); Klang (with Norm Adams and François Houle); the large international new music ensemble, Aurealities (with Lina Allemano, Christine Duncan, Anil Eraslan, Matthias Mainz, Albrecht Maurer, Tom Richards, Samuel Stoll, Laura Swankey, Chris Tonelli, and Emily Wittbrodt); and the Imaginary Percussion Ensemble (with Germaine Liu and Mark Zurawinski).

Sorbara is a long-time student of master drummer Jim Blackley. They hold an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music from York University in Toronto, a Master’s degree in English from the University of Guelph, and are currently studying toward a PhD in Critical Improvisation Studies. Joe has worked extensively as a workshop facilitator and guest lecturer and taught through the School of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Guelph for over a decade. As an organiser, they have contributed substantially to Toronto's creative music scene, co-founding the long-running Leftover Daylight Series and the Association for Improvising Musicians, Toronto (AIMToronto). Joe now resides with their family in Guelph, serving on the board of directors of local artspace, Silence, and as Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival.

the longer story...

Canadian drummer and percussionist Joe Sorbara has spent more than two decades developing a reputation as a dedicated and imaginative performer, composer, improviser, collaborator, organiser, listener, writer, and educator.

Sorbara is a highly inventive player with a penchant for coaxing music out of practically anything. Their setup is regularly augmented with found and prepared materials which ensure that the sounds at their ready disposal are practically orchestral in scope. They combine these skills with an extraordinary time-feel that makes them one of the most swinging drummers in Canada when the music demands it. A consummate sonic adventurer, Sorbara’s music draws on a vast array of influences, most notably the African American Creative Music tradition.

Joe is currently working on a new sextet project featuring Ted Crosby, Tania Gill, Rebbecca Hennessy, Michael Herring, and Aline Homzy. They play in duo projects with Norm Adams, François Houle (SoHo), Jonathan Kay (The Rest), Friendly Rich Marsella, Thollem McDonas, and Steve Sladkowski; in Never Was with Brandon Davis, Bea Labikova, and Patrick O'Reilly; in Carry On - Thinking from the End (with Matthias Mainz and angela snæfellsjökuls rawlings); in Klang (with Norm Adams and François Houle); and in the Imaginary Percussion Ensemble with Germaine Liu, Mark Zurawinski, and other adventurers. They also co-lead, with German pianist and composer Matthias Mainz, a large international new music ensemble known as Aurealities featuring a revolving cast that includes Lina Allemano, Christine Duncan, Anil Eraslan, Albrecht Maurer, Tom Richards, Samuel Stoll, Laura Swankey, Chris Tonelli, and Emily Wittbrodt. In addition to all of this, Joe takes part in numerous ongoing and ad hoc collaborations with improvising musicians from all over.

Sorbara's music can be heard most recently on a series of recordings documenting their table-top duo work with Halifax cellist, Norm Adams: Coffee & Velocipedes and This. (both 2026, Oval Window Records) as well as Klang 1 and Klang 2 (2026, Afterday Audio and Oval Window Records, respectively), twin recordings of the duo along with clarinetist François Houle. Other recent releases include Live at Sonomadic Music . 7/9/2024 with saxophonist Jonathan Kay as the rest (2025, Sonomadic Music); Hush, a duo recording with clarinetist François Houle, released on ezz-thetics by HatHut in November 2022; Mars People: Music By & For Ken Aldcroft, Vol I; My Misshapen Ear; and Washing Windows (all 2022, Oval Window Records); Clichés Vol. I: Trio Music (2020, Oval Window Records) and it's sibling release Clichés Vol. II: Trio Axiums (2020, Afterday Audio) with Houle and bassist James Meger as Alien Radio; Reliable Parts (2018, Oval Window Records) with Jared Burrows and Clyde Reed; and Waiting for the Bomb (2018, ReR Megacorp) by Alan Ravenstine (Pere Ubu, Red Krayola). In 2017, Joe released The Imperative, a tribute to the life, music, poetry, and prose of Sun Ra featuring saxophonists Jay Hay and Karen Ng. Among many other recordings, they appear on At Somewhere There alongside long-time rhythm-section comrade, Wes Neal, on bass and free improvisation pioneer Evan Parker on tenor saxophone; on two releases by The AIMToronto Orchestra, one featuring creative music luminary, Anthony Braxton; and on numerous recordings with long-time collaborator Ken Aldcroft. Sorbara can also be heard alongside Tania Gill, Peter Lutek, and Scott Peterson interpreting Mitchell Akiyama's music for the score to David Hartt's 2015 film/installation, Interval, which is in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

Joe has worked extensively as a workshop facilitator and guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music, Humber College, Wilfrid Laurier University, Carleton University, Capilano University, Vancouver Community College, and elsewhere. They taught through the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph from 2007 through 2023.

Sorbara is a student of master drummer Jim Blackley with whom they studied for five years from 1998 through 2003. They hold an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music from York University in Toronto, a Master’s degree in English from the University of Guelph, and are currently studying toward a PhD in Critical Improvisation Studies.

A stalwart creative music organiser and scene-maker, Sorbara currently serves on the board of directors of local art space, Silence, and as Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival. They have played a key role in many of the formative creative music series’ in Toronto: as co-director of As Is with trumpeter Ellwood Epps from 2000-03, as co-founder and long-time lead curator of the Leftover Daylight Series along with numerous partners for the better part of a decade beginning in 2003, and with the Somewhere There collective running a venue and presenting concert series’ and a yearly festival from 2013 through 2020. They were a founding board member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto and co-founder of AIMToronto's Interface Series of weekend-long performance events featuring many well known improvisers from far and wide. From December 2016 through March 2019, Joe presided over monthly series of Music By & For Ken Aldcroft in celebration of their long-time collaborator and friend.