World renowned sousaphone virtuoso Kirk Joseph is a jazz sousaphone player from New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of trombonist Waldren “Frog” Joseph, Kirk Joseph began playing the sousaphone while a student at Andrew Bell Middle School, and took part in his first professional gig at the age of fifteen when his brother Charles invited him to play a funeral with the Majestic Band.
In 1977 he became one of the founding members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a group which is credited with reviving the brass band tradition in New Orleans. He has played with the Treme Brass Band and Forgotten Souls Brass Band, and currently leads his own group called Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove.