Joe Barna ’04

Joe Barna ’04 (Jazz Studies) is a drummer/composer/bandleader originally from Troy, NY.

Joe spent his first four years of college focused on classical percussion and performance before transferring to Purchase in 1999, where he focused on drumset performance and composition and had the privilege of studying with jazz greats such as Jon Faddis, Hal Galper, Adam Nussbaum, John Riley, Todd Coolman, and Ralph Lalama.

See a 2025 performance of Joe Barna and Sketches of Influence at New York City’s Smalls Jazz Club (with Malik McLaurine ’16 on bass).

Some of the outstanding performers Barna has had the honor of performing alongside include: three-time Grammy Award winners The Celtic Tenors, seven-time Grammy Award recipient Gary Smulyan, world-renowned classical violinist Peter Fisher, and four-time Grammy Award recipient Ralph Lalama.

Other notable performances include Joe Magnarelli, Dick Oatts, Joel Frahm, Jon Gordon, Lee Shaw, Grant Stewart, Jim Rotondi, Keith Pray, Charlie Sigler, George Muscatello, Ray Vega, Jerry Weldon, Stacy Dillard, Jon Elbaz, Matt Garrison, Victor Gould, Lee Russo, Bryan Patneaude, The Big Soul Ensemble, and his own original band Sketches of Influence.

Barna has taken his passion and talent abroad to Canada, Australia, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, New Zealand, Dubai UAE, Turkey and Egypt.

He has also traveled across the United States and through the Caribbean Islands. In 2013, Barna also performed around the coasts of Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti, and New Caledonia.

Barna has recorded on over 10 albums as a sideman and has six albums as a bandleader. His most recent effort, The Purpose (2022) is an album dedicated to his mother Pamela Rose Barna.