Joe's Extended Bio Page

Joe Conti was born in New Jersey on Christmas, 1957. His father plays mandolin and both brothers play guitar and drums. After early lessons on piano, Joe started playing the electric bass in 1974. In 1976, he first heard Emmett Chapman performing on his instrument- invention, The Chapman Stick Touchboard, at a small Los Angeles club. See Joe's Stick & Warr Page

Here is Joes latest Stick which is made of purple heart wood. This instrument is a custom made one with fretless bass on the bottom 3 bass strings.

Thats right - a 12 string 1/4 fretless midi'ed Stick!

The Stick is an expanded grid of strings and frets. It's like having "an Orchestra on a 2 X 4! " Joe Conti moved to Kealakekua Bay in 1981. He played at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel with Bernie Hall-Mann in 1983, and in 1984 toured Europe and America as a technician with the legendary Frank Zappa - see Joe's Zappa Page.

Colin John - the blues and rock master from Ohio playing wtih Dave Seawater and Joe at the Corner Pocket in Kealakekua

Joe co-founded the popular Kona groups Messenger in 1986 and Silk and Steel in 1987. He currently plays with many Big Island musicians including Hawaiians Unlimited, RAndy Lorenzo, Dennis Pascabillo, Bruno Bianco, and Kunia Galdeira whose Stick enhanced debut album won Hawaiian Music Awards ³Best Contemporary Album of the Year-1996²

One of Joe¹s greatest assets is his ability to be flexible in a wide variety of settings. When Joe performs as a soloist at restaurants or special functions, he will play instrumental versions of popular songs, Latin and jazz standards, soft rock and also Hawaiian music.