Joe Leaman is a pianist, percussionist, educator, and creative professional based in Northeast Ohio. Raised by a music educator, he developed an early curiosity for performance and began working professionally by the age of 16. He relocated to Akron to attend the University of Akron, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Performance and cultivated a dual focus in piano and percussion.

 

At the University of Akron, he studied with distinguished educators and artists including Dr. Larry Snider and Jack Schantz. His musical training supports a stylistically eclectic career spanning jazz, classical, sacred, and contemporary idioms.

 

Joe maintains an active teaching and performing schedule throughout the region. He serves as part-time faculty with Cuyahoga Community College programs, operates a private teaching studio in Akron, focusing instruction in percussion, jazz and classical piano, music theory, and improvisation. In addition, he has served since 2014 as Music and Worship Director at Montrose Zion United Methodist Church in Bath, Ohio, where he directs ensembles and mentors volunteer musicians.

 

As a freelance musician, Leaman performs regularly as a pianist, keyboardist, and percussionist, balancing work as both a bandleader and sideman while composing and arranging for a variety of settings.