Joe Viera

Josef Viera (4 September 1932 – 7 April 2024) was a German jazz saxophonist and educator. In 1970, he founded the German jazz festival Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen and directed it for more than 50 years. In 1993, Viera co-founded the Lehrer Big Band Bayern (LBB Bayern) with Walter A. Neubeck.

Biography Viera studied physics at LMU Munich until he graduated, but his heart was set on becoming a jazz musician. He remarked that he "learned how to think from physics and how to feel from music". He attended his first jazz concert in 1952 at the Circus Krone, on the day of his final high school exam. He subsequently bought his first saxophone, a soprano, from a friend from Munich for 70 marks, and formed a band with a guitarist.

Viera worked with the band Hot Dogs from 1955 to 1957, From 1968, he worked in a quartet with , and . From 1976, he played in a sextet named after him, later joined his trio.

Viera taught at the University of Duisburg-Essen from 1971 to 1998, appointed professor there in 1981. He also taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover from 1971 to 1997 and lectured at LMU Munich, and the University of Passau. that he directed for more than 50 years. Viera was its musical director until the early 2000s. He recorded several CDs with this ensemble.

Viera became ill in 2022 and missed the Internationale Jazzwoche festival for the first year since its inception. His health further deteriorated after a fall in 2024,