All the News that’s fit to print about violinist/composer/singer/mandolinist Joe Deninzon

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to the roaring twenties!
I’m getting ready to play some swing fiddle on a LOT of Great Gatsby-themed parties in the next ten years. Hey, it could be worse…

Hope you had a wonderful Holiday season and are ready to turn a new page in the new decade. Despite all the fucked up things going on in the world, I remain hopeful that we will learn total care of our planet and show each other some respect and compassion. Call me an idealistic fool, but I wear my idealism like a badge of honor!

Anyway, enough of my rambling.

Nah, here’s more rambling…

Looking back on the past decade, it’s been a wild ride!
2 kids, 3 albums, a book, a violin concerto, new bands, new friendships formed, and some of the greatest recording and touring experiences of my life!

Highlights of my 2019:

Celebrating 20 years of marriage with the lovely violinist/NY Philharmonic member Yulia Ziskel!

Hanging out with my musical heroes and Playing on Cruise to the Edge with In Continuum featuring Dave Kerzner Steve Hackett Michael Sadler Jon Davison Randy McStine Marco Minnemann Nick D’Virgilio The McBroom Sisters Fernando Perdomo Leticia Wolf Gabriel Agudo Ruti Celli and Kaitlin Wolfberg.

Appearing on four of the year’s critic’s choice best prog albums: In Continuum “Acceleration Theory Part I & II,Fernando Perdomo :Out to Sea II, and Thank You Scientist “Terraformer.”

Playing with The Who at Madison Square Garden & Jones Beach!

Playing with Kurt Elling (with Deedee Bridgewater and Ben Vereen) at Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Working on the underscore to “The Rose Tatoo” on Broadway starring Marissa Tomei with Alessandra Belloni

Co-writing & producing “The Greatest Lives” with Anne Leighton featuring Carmine Appice on drums and Thembeka Mnguni on vocals!
https://soundcloud.com/leighto…/the-greatest-lives-with-band

Touring as concertmaster with Renaissance for their 50th anniversary tour with my brothers in Sweet Plantain.

Releasing the first single, “Impostor,” with the new lineup of Stratospheerius on Melodic Revolution Records with Jason Gianni Paul Ranieri Michelangelo Quirinale.
https://joedeninzonstratospheerius.bandcamp.com/tr…/impostor

Playing the main stage with Stratospheerius at ProgStock Festival the biggest Progressive rock festival in the Northeast U.S!

Publishing my string quartet, “Benson Burner Boogaloo” with Ludwig Masters/JW Pepper.
https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/search.jsp…

Having my “Dream Diary” Electric Violin Concerto performed by Rudolf Haken and my piece “Electric Lake of Soul” performed by renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine.

Teaching/performing residencies with
Northside HS in San Antonio, TX with Heather Newman Gonzalez Angelica Guerra
Highland School in Medina, Oh Rachel Martin Gamin
East brunswick HS Arvin Gopal
Vance Music in Wichita, KS
Arlington HS with Sweet Plantain in LaGrangevile, NY
American String Teachers Conference Albuquerque, NM
Fiddle Hell Massachusettsl in Westport, Mass

Teaching and playing at MWROC Music Festival my favorite week of the year!

Performing and teaching at the Grand Canyon Music Festival with Robert Bonfiglio.

Playing at Vail Jazz festival in Co with Mark Diamond trio.

Playing with Brooklyn Raga Massive Mahavishnu Orchestra/Shakti/McLaughlin tribute,

While 2019 will be a hard year to live up to, I got many projects cooking on multiple burners, so stay tuned…..

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius post-holiday sale!

MAJOR discounts on  CD’s. vinyl, mugs, t-shirts, and more!
visit: www.stratospheerius.bandcamp.com
LIMITED TIME Sale ends at the end of January!

BUY A MUG, send us your Mug shots, and we will post on our instagram! 

Upcoming performances

Sunday,Jan 12
Playing with Brooklyn Raga Massive
celebrating the music of John McLaughlin,Mahavishnu Orchestra, & Shakti
55 bar (55 Christopher St. NYC)
2 sets: 9:15 & 10 PM
with: Joe Deninzon-violin, Premick Russel Tubbs (original Mahavishnu member)-sax, Neil Murgay-sitar, Vin Scialla-drums, Dan Asher-bass, Dr. David Ullman-guitar

Thursday, Jan 23rdSweet Plantain makes it’s debut at the Fever Up Candlelight Concert Series
Middle Collegiate Church (50 East 7th St. NYC)
7-10:30 P.M.
BUY TICKETS HERE!!

Friday, Jan 30 7 P.M. Residency with Ridge View High School Orchestra Columbia, SC with director Phillip Pagal
4801 Hard Scrabble Rd.
Columbia, SC 29229
Honored to be conducting/performing my arrangements with this talented group of young musicians.

Feb 27 Sonic Voyage Fest presents: STRINGFEST II

Echo of the Ghost (7 P.M.)
Susan Aquila Band (8 P.M.)
Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius (9 P.M.)I’m starting a tradition of mini-electric and eclectic string festivals. The concept is an evening of bands playing original music led or comprised of creative electric string players who push the boundaries of their instruments. We had a great first mini-fest last year at DROM with Mazz Swift, 2 Birds Band, and Seven Suns. The sequel will feature Stratospheerius along with 2 of my favorite electric violinists/songwriters/friends; Susan Aquila and Claudia Chopek.

March 5-7: ASTA (American String Teachers) National Conference in Orlando, FLA.
Hyatt Regency Hotel (9801 International Dr. Orlando, FL)
Order of events:
Thursday March 5th 2:45-3:45 P.M. Teaching masterclass open to attendees.
Thursday March 5th 8 P.M. Performing all-star triple bill with violinist Jesus Florido and Tracy Silverman! 
Friday, March 6th 2:45-3:45 P.M. Live Loop clinic
Saturday, March 7th 1:30 P.M. Panel on effects for electric strings hosted by Julie Lyonn Liberman

March 11-14, Sonic Voyage Fest Tour with Potters Daughter & Dark Beauty
Stratospheerius is honored and excited to tour with our label mates at Melodic Revolution Records! More details forthcoming…

Wed, March 11th: Debonair Music Hall (1409 Queen Anne Rd, Teaneck, NJ 07666)
Thur, March 12th: Bushwick Publick house (1288 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221)
Friday, March 13 TBA
Saturday March 14th TBA

New Recordings

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius new single, “Impostor” on Melodic Revolution Records


If you haven’t already, stream (or better yet, download) the new Stratospheerius single, Impostor.
Featuring: Joe Deninzon-electric violin/vocals, Jason Gianni-drums, Michelangelo Quirinale-guitar, Paul Ranieri-bass, Bill Hubauer (Neal Morse Band)-keyboards, Randy McStine-guitar/vocals
Recorded by Rave Tesar (Renaissance). Mixed and Mastered by Rich Mouser (Spock’s Beard, Flying Colors, Neal MKorse, Trans Atlantic, Dream Theater, Tears for Fears)

ZAPPA COVER ALERT!

My friend and brother Matt Bell has released this killer version of “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama,” with guest appearances by yours truly, ThatViolaKid Patrick Contreras and Ross Holmes.

The Greatest Lives

Earlier last year, I was blessed to collaborate on this song with my friend and manager Anne Leighton. The lyrics she sent me were inspired by her hero Muhammad Ali, and deal with overcoming your worse fears and personal demons to live your best life and inspire others. She recently launched an indiegogo campaign to help promote the song. We had the privilege of Thembeka (Universal artist/winner of the Voice South Africa) to grace us with her incredible voice, and the legendary Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Jeff Beck,Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osborne) to play drums. Engineered by Dale Wardell, Mixed by Alex Salzman, mastered by Fred Kevorkian. Check it out!

The Greatest Lives

In Continuum 

I’m honored to have participated on one of the best Prog albums of 2019 with an all-star cast. Keyboardist/singger/songwriter/producer Dave Kerzner released the sci fi concept albums, Acceleration Theory Part I & II in 2019, and I contributed strings to both projects. Musicians on the album include Michael Sadler (lead singer of Saga), Jon Davidson (lead singer of Yes), Steve Hacket (original Genesis guitarist), drummer Marco Minneman (Joe Satriani, Aristocrats), drummer Nick D’Virgilio (Spock’s Beard, Big Big Train), singers The McBroom Sisters (Pink Floyd), bassist Matt Dorsey, guitarists Randy McStine and Fernando Perdomo, and singers Gabriel Agudo and Leticia Wolf!

TPM Top Keys of 2019

Joe Deninzon Published Sheet Music

Attention string players!
Check out my original compositions available on from Lathasm Music/JW pepper. My latest is a “Sidewinder”-style funky jazz string quartet titled “Benson Burner Boogaloo.”
BUY SHEET MUSIC HERE!

New Projects

We are currently hard at work filming and editing the video for Stratospheerius “Impostor,” with videographer David P. Levin, who produced our video for “Behind the Curtain”

 

Here is the full performance of my “Dream Diary Electric Violin Concerto” by Prof Rudolf Haken!

Finally, check out this bootleg video of Stratospheerius performing our song, “Game of Chicken” live at Progstock Oct 13, 2019. Union County Performing Arts Center.

We are also putting the finishing touches on three new tracks that will be a part of the next Stratospheerius album. At least one will be released as another single until the album comes out. Also writing new music we plan to record.

I will soon be launching patreon account and look forward to the opportunity to share my day to day musical activities, projects, and general thoughts with you. Stay tuned…

Peace, love, and music,
-JD