Joe Perea is Director of Instrumental Music at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he directs concert band, jazz big band and combo, chamber groups, and steel band.  He was an instructor and program coordinator for the Over-the-Rhine Steel Drum Band in Cincinnati during the early 1990s and created the steel band program at Richland College in Dallas, Texas.  On a 2004 research trip to Trinidad, he performed off season with Phase II Steel Band.  He is an active builder, tuner, composer, arranger, soloist, and arranger.  He has worked with many of the biggest artists and craftsmen in the medium, including Ellie Mannette, Tony Slater, Andy Narell, Ray Holman, Ken “Professor” Philmore, Boogsie Sharpe, Gary Gibson, Tom Miller, Jim Munzenrider, and countless others.  He holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of North Texas.