Joe Daley (July 30, 1918 – March 5, 1994) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and music teacher.
Daley was drawn to the jazz bands of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Larry Clinton, Tommy Dorsey, and Artie Shaw, and his early models for playing were Coleman Hawkins, Georgie Auld, and Lester "Pres" Young.
He studied with orchestral saxophonist Larry Teal and others, but wanting to expand beyond them into jazz, Daley was forced to become mostly self-taught.
He appreciated that the New York and Detroit branches of the American Federation of Musicians were racially integrated (it would not be until 1974 that all locals would be so), which gave Daley the opportunity to experience a unique musical and cultural crossover, a rarity for the times.
In 1950-51 Daley toured with Woody Herman in the Third Herd band with Urbie Green on trombone, Sonny Igoe on drums, and Red Mitchell on bass.
From 1971 to 1974 he had a society music job in the house band at the Mill Run Playhouse, a renowned dinner theatre outside Chicago.
From 1978 to 1987, he played a regular weekly session at Chicago’s Orphan’s nightclub, with a rotating cast of local jazz players and some of Daley’s own students.
For musicians who were already musically competent on saxophone or other instruments, including voice, he taught improvisation, composition, and how to expand their range.
Daley joined the faculty in 1984 and taught until he left Chicago in 1987. Notable students included: Richard Corpolongo,[2] Steve Duke,[3] Rich Fudoli,[4] Kent Minor[5] and Abshalom Ben Shlomo.