Joseph Daley, the low-key yet legendary tuba player, trombonist, euphonist, composer, educator and toast of the downtown New York loft scene, died on August 3 in Hackensack, New Jersey at the age of 75. No cause of death was given during initial announcements.
According to Legacy.com, Daley is survived by his son Christopher Daley; daughter Devorah Daley; grandson Wynton Daley; brother Nimrod Daley; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife Wanda Daley; sister Evelyn Kirnon; brothers Irod, Winston, and Benjamin Daley; mother-in-law Dorothy Haskett; and sister-in-law Winifred Brent.
As erudite as it was emotional, the expressionist music of Joseph Daley burrowed deep (what can the tuba do better than go low?), but moved mountain-high in its ambition, immensity and invention.
Few would dare to touch on the topic of heaven’s edge and hell’s temptations on his debut leader albums The Seven Deadly Sins (Jaro, 2010) and The Seven Heavenly Virtues (JoDaMusic, 2013), or base their epic complexities on the contrasting planes of enigmatic painter Wade Schuman (founder of the band Hazmat Modine, which featured Daley), then give its bottom the rumble of baritone and bass saxophones to go with his tuba in a decadent sonic display that would’ve made Mingus envious. His third leader album was Portraits: Wind, Thunder and Love (JoDaMusic, 2014).
If Daley had only made six brilliant, burly albums, with and without his Earth Tones Ensemble, that would have been enough. But Daley was a renowned sideman whose early live collaborations were in the company of Rene McLean and Monquito Santamaria. When it came to recording sessions, from the early 1970s onward, Daley was in demand, starting with godhead orchestrator Gil Evans on Svengali (1973) and There Comes a Time (1976) before gigging with eminent saxophonist Sam Rivers for ten albums, starting with his Crystals (Impulse!, 1974) and ending with Braids, an archival set from 1979 released by NoBusiness in 2020.
Daley also played on albums by Muhal Richard Abrams, Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum and spoken-word poet Jayne Cortez.
Once Daley began teaching with the New York City Board of Education (1972-1976), there was no stopping him, or what by all accounts was a deeply respected brand of influence he had over his students. Along with serving as a band director at Wadleigh Junior High School 88 and acting as the associate director of the Manhattan Borough-Wide Band, Daley worked for the Englewood, New Jersey Board of Education closer to his home, where he taught music and directed bands at Janis Dismus Middle School and Dwight Morrow High School. He retired in 2005. (Details via Legacy.com.)
Joseph Peter Daley was born on August 6, 1949, in Harlem, New York to immigrant parents from Montserrat, in the Caribbean. He graduated from the High School of Music & Art in 1967 and earned both a Bachelor’s degree in Performance (1972) and a Master’s in Music Education (1973) from the Manhattan School of Music. He became an active part of the then-bourgeoning SoHo-centered loft scene, along with the likes of Ornette Coleman, Ed Blackwell, Dewey Redman and Rashied Ali.
Daley’s viewing will be held on August 13, 2025 at 1 p.m., at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street. Visitation will follow on August 14, starting 1 p.m. A funeral will be held on August 15 at 10 a.m. at the same location. Interment will take place at Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum, 770 Riverside Drive at 1:30 p.m., followed by a repast for family and close friends. JT