whojoe?
“Dapper, handsome and quick witted…and gifted with dazzling digits” The Times
Joe has released 9 solo albums, five of which have topped the UK Jazz chart. His current record is ‘Welcome To The Club’, which has been declared “brilliantly unique” by The Telegraph - it features Joe supported by a new band, The Entertainers, comprising some of the finest young jazz musicians in the UK including Emma Smith, Honey Boulton and Joe Webb.10 new songs, written with Giacomo Smith, shine a light on the characters found in jazz clubs around the world. His previous album ‘THEATRE’ featured The Metropole Orkest and was released in May 2022 to huge praise with a launch show at The Barbican featuring The BBC Concert Orchestra. The album, produced by the legendary Steve Power and arranged by Tom Richards has been recognised as a landmark in Joe’s recording career.
Growing up as the youngest of 5 children he was surrounded by music, with two parents in the business - songwriter and TV personality Richard Stilgoe and opera-singing Annabel Hunt.
He is a true modern-day entertainer, known globally as a performer of wit, style and a level of musicianship which has seen him recognised as one of the best singer-pianists in the world. Always searching for a new way of bringing not only his own songs but those he loves from the past to a new audience, he is an enticing mix of his heroes Danny Kaye, Nat King Cole and Dudley Moore. He is known for writing songs that sound like they’ve been around for years and for adapting classics and making them sound like they’ve just been written.
"A songwriter of uncommon originality" THE observer
The album Stilgoe In The Shed, which topped the UK Jazz Chart, came about after Joe started broadcasting on Youtube from his shed at the start of the pandemic in 2020. The resulting show, 'Stilgoe In The Shed' picked up over 250,000 viewers around the world, raised over £50,000 for local charities and led to this unique album, praised in the UK press and featured on both BBC and ITV news.
He has created award-winning shows for the London Jazz Festival including A Tribute To Gene Kelly at LSO St Lukes, Songs On Film at Cadogan Hall (plus three sold out Edinburgh Festival seasons and UK tour), and notably Joe Stilgoe & His Big Band at St Johns Smith Square. He has performed with orchestras and bands including The John Wilson Orchestra, RPO, BBC Concert Orchestra, The Hallé, BBC Big Band, RTE, Lahti Symphony, RLPO and many more.
"his stagecraft is without peer" broadway world
He works extensively on radio, having hosted and starred many times in BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night, while also being a regular presence on the station (Joe Stilgoe – Christmas At The Movies, Jingle Bell Joe, One Night Stand at Ronnie Scotts), and being a regular guest and presenter on JazzFM, Radio 3 and 4.
He also has a successful secondary career writing for theatre, having created the musicals The Jungle Book, The Midnight Gang and three shows with Julia Donaldson - Zog, Zog & The Flying Doctors and 2025’s The Baddies. He is currently working on new musicals, including Hooked with Gary Barlow and Jason Manford.
On TV, he has appeared most notably hosting BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year, and least notably in Bargain Hunt.