Joe Bergamini maintains a diverse career as a drumming performer and educator. Enjoying various styles of playing, he is known for his progressive rock drumming in the bands Happy the Man and 4Front, and he is the current international touring drummer for The Doo-Wop Project. Based in the New York area, Joe has worked extensively on Broadway. In 2018, he held the drum chair for the Broadway production of Gettin’ the Band Back Together, and he has also performed at over 15 other shows including Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, In the Heights, Beautiful (The Carole King Musical), Hamilton, The Lion King, Million Dollar Quartet, and others. Joe has also appeared on the first national tours of Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys and Beautiful, and with major symphony orchestras including the Philly Pops and the Detroit, Nashville, Seattle, San Diego, Indianapolis and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.
A best-selling drum set author, Joe has won four Modern Drummer Readers Poll awards for his drum books, including best drum book of 2013 for Neil Peart: Taking Center Stage. In 2023 he wrote GADD: A Life in Time, the authorized musical biography of Steve Gadd, under Gadd’s supervision and with his extensive involvement. He is also the author of The Working Drummer’s Chart Book, Stewart Copeland: Drumming in The Police and Beyond, Drum Techniques of Led Zeppelin, and several other books. As the Senior Drum Editor for Hudson Music since 2009, Joe has worked closely with many of the world’s greatest drummers, acting as editor on books with Steve Gadd, David Garibaldi, Steve Smith, Liberty DeVitto, Mark Guiliana, Tommy Igoe, Stanton Moore, Todd Sucherman, and many others.
In 2007, Joe co-founded the publishing company Wizdom Media LLC with his late teacher and friend Dom Famularo, and continues to run the company. Their books are distributed physically by Alfred Music and digitally by Hudson Music. Since 2015, Joe has also been Education Consultant for Sabian, designing and directing the Sabian Education Network for drum teachers.
Recognized internationally as an educator, Joe has given hundreds of drum clinics in schools, retail stores, and conventions. He has appeared at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) multiple times, the Ultimate Drummers Weekend (Melbourne, Australia), the Cape Breton Drum Festival (Nova Scotia, Canada), KOSA (Vermont, USA), and the Sonny Emory Drum Camp (Atlanta, USA), and has done two clinic tours for Tama Drums. He has been teaching privately at his own studio for over 30 years. Among Joe’s many private students who have gone on to pro careers is world-renowned jazz drummer Mark Guiliana. Joe proudly endorses Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Evans drumheads, Latin Percussion, and Cympad.
