Joel Holmes was born in Arizona on December 6, 1982. The family moved to Virginia where at school during Black History Month, Joel heard the musical sound that would change his life, “I first heard ragtime at music class. It was like a window opening.” With a growing passion, Joel soaked up a steady influence of jazz greats like Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. At the age of 10, Joel would sit at the family piano and play along with these great musicians, naturally following their lead. His mother Theresa first noticed her son's musical talent. Encouraged by his initiative his father Dennis, a trumpet player for the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corp in Fort Myers, started off his son’s music education by teaching him all he knew about basic piano. He learnt enough to play in the local church band and a teenage go-go band. With his family finally settling down in the city of Baltimore, MD Joel formed his first band, in the las...