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Joe Townend

Joe was raised in Denville, New Jersey, a lovely small town near the railway station that his father used to catch a commuter train to New York City to work. Some early training on saxophone paved the way for further adventures with the flute later on.

While in college at the University of Scranton he learned to play upright and electric bass and joined his first band, The Druids who recorded a few singles for Columbia Records and toured and played at the Jersey Shore and in many other spots in the Northeast. One memorable tour was of Job Corp schools in Minnesota, Kentucky, and other states with boxing great Archie Moore.

Joe continued playing bass at while a student at Michigan State and his blues band Soap opened for some top acts including Cream at Detroit's Cobo Hall and Buddy Guy and Ted Nugent in Indianapolis.

In San Francisco, he played with Nazgul, a guitar/bass/drums power trio and opened shows for Stevie Wonder, Jeff Beck and others at Winterland and the Fillmore Auditorium.

In Los Angeles he recorded an album with super guitarist John Ussery which was released on Mercury Records and also did a lot of club and concert dates all over California and Nevada with bands like Eric Burdon and the Animals, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, Jackie Nigro and the Plain Truth and Krayola.

In Minneapolis he was one of the founders of performance group Meeting Rivers which combined music, dance and spoken word in shows that had a spiritual journey theme.

Joe began studying West African Percussion in Tucson in 2005 with Martin Klabunde and has also taken workshops with great teachers like Mamady Keita, Mabiba Baegne and others.

Joe is excited and proud to be a member of Planet Djembe and is eager to bring this exciting and transcendent music to the Tucson community and beyond.