C & C ARTIST
JOE LASTIE
Joe Lastie was born into a New Orleans family and community filled with musicians. His early years were spent listening to, and then playing, gospel music that became the core of who he became as a musician.
In 1970, Hurricane Camille flooded the family home, resulting in a move to Long Island. Joe studied with a bebop drummer named Clyde Harris, and played in his first school bands. He listened to live jazz and early hip-hop and to improve his own drumming, he listened to drummers like Max Roach, Billy Cobham and Buddy Rich. Never forgetting his native New Orleans, Mr. Lastie played along with Pete Fountain and Al Hirt albums.
Mr. Lastie returned to New Orleans, playing at the Maison Bourbon, down the block from Preservation Hall, and at the Mediterranean Café. Lastie joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 1990 as the youngest member of the band, benefiting from the instruction of the older musicians.
Mr. Lastie is dedicated to preserving New Orleans’s traditional music (what the rest of us call, Jazz). He does that through performing with Joe Lastie’s New Orleans Sound, and as a member of the Preservation Hall Foundation. Mr. Lastie continues writing and recording original material.