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Meet the Directors

Joe Bongiovi 

Earned his bachelor's degree in filmscoring from Berklee College of Music in Boston and earned a master's degree in music education from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is currently the band director at Princeton High School in Princeton New Jersey.  Mr. Bongiovi is an avid composer/arranger of jazz band, concert band and marching band literature.

 During his time as the Princeton Studio Band Director, the band has placed 1st numerous times at the Berklee Jazz Festival and has been the New Jersey State Champion 4 times. The Studio Band has toured Italy, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  

Mr. Bongiovi is the director/founder of The Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra, an all-star high school and college student group that performs all over the world. The program takes place during the summer and has featured master classes and performances by Dennis DeBlasio, George Rabbai, Andrea Brachfield, Bob Gravenor, Joe Federico, Andrew Neu, Vic Juris, and Jimmy Bruno.

Mr. Bongiovi worked and performed with many jazz greats such as:  Phil Wilson, Tim Hagans, Greg Hopkins, Ben Elkins, Denis DiBlassio, Peter Erskine, Rufus Reid, Wycliffe Gordan, and Ravi Coltrane. Mr. Bongiovi and the Princeton Studio Band have had joint performances with The Count Basie Orchestra, The Artie Shaw Orchestra, and The Glenn Miller Orchestra. He has worked with great music programs at the following schools: Princeton High School, Steinert High School, Nottingham High School, Levitt Middle School (Willingboro), Neshaminy High School and Neshaminy Middle School.  Mr. Bongiovi is on the board of directors for The New Jersey Jazz Education Association.  

 

Scott Grimaldi

Earned a B.M. degree from the Manhattan School of Music, NY, where he also did post graduate work, and is an alumnus of the Berklee College Of Music, Boston, MA. In addition to being a band director at Princeton High School,  Mr. Grimaldi continues in his role as an adjunct faculty member of the Fine Arts Dept. at Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY.  Over the years, many of his private woodwinds students have won auditions with organizations that include the CJMEA Regions & All-State Bands/Orchestras, NJ Youth Symphony, NJPAC Jazz For Teens and been accepted at various music conservatories/colleges as music majors.  

In addition to teaching, Mr. Grimaldi is active in the music business as a woodwinds specialist (flutes, clarinets and saxophones), arranger, transcriber and music copyist.  He has performed with many well known stage acts including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Manhattan Transfer, Vanessa Williams, Frank Sinatra Jr., Rosemary Clooney, Linda Eder, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra,Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, The Temptations, Little Anthony & The Imperials and Etta James, just to name a few.  His resume extends to the  N.Y. Broadway musical stage and includes performances with "Steel Pier", "Kiss Of The Spider Woman" and "Me And My Girl".

In the field of recording, Mr. Grimaldi has worked for Grammy award winning record and jingle producers Tony Camillo, Jimmy Wisner and Bill Giant as a woodwinds player, arranger and copyist. His performances can be heard on various music projects including the soundtrack for the movie Sprung, the TV show Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous and various Venture Music Group/T.C. Records. In addition to performing and writing, Mr. Grimaldi has worked on numerous music copyright infringement cases for Music Research Consultants, as a music transcriber.