Al Joseph
- williamconway167
- Mar 2, 2025
- 2 min read
I think the first I heard of Al Joseph was “Shogun” with Hyvmine. A guy named Chris Joseph was playing bass. Could Chris be his brother? Not sure, but the band was rock’n. He had another musician on guitar - Alon Mei. Interesting. The two were superb guitarists.
Now, I saw the live version on Jam In A Van (a YouTube channel). They rocked it, but the videos did them justice. Really good band.
I, also, checked out Al’s solo work. Very nice. “Desperate Times” was my favorite off the Out In the Open album. I, even, heard some keyboard on a song or two.
Now, hearing guitar players, in this day and age, is gett’n sort of scarce for African Americans. I mean, Lionel Loueke is hitt’n the jazz scene, but who’s filling up the rock world?
I, believe, Al left Penn State to pursue music at Berklee. Real nice. Berklee is always graduating the finest in musicianship. Al graduated, and I’m to believe, he started teaching on the infinite guitar.com website. I see him all the time on Instagram - barking at guitar players to toughen up their “game”, or practicing. Which brings me to my last point - where are all the African shredders?
Rapper Don Toliver has a guitarist in his live shows. We are making an appearance, but, um, where are all the African shredders? I’ve heard Diamond Rowe with Tetrarch, and Chenna Roxx. 24/7 Spyz with Jimi Hazel rocked out. Fishbone . . ., but this next generation of guitarists are rock’n hip hop and spit’n in the mic. Where are we, now, though?
I’ve heard a lot of Instagram guitarist like Jules the Wulf - who was last seen jamm’n with a famous pop star. Miles Does Music is another African American rocker. The band Parking Lot Grass featured two guitarists who rock out - but are they “up” there with rapper Lil Tecca whose early video (“Ransom”) viewed 513 million people.
The Out In the Open album was around 30k, last I checked. Hell, I’d love to get that high on this blog and/or magazine.
Al is doing well, but the future looks odd. Should I pick up a guitar, or as Nas once said, “All I need is one mic”.
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