Joel Springer was raised in Bloomington, Indiana and moved to Boston in 1984 to study with master saxophone teacher Joe Allard. That same year he began a three-year adventure with Volo Volo, a Haitian dance band, that included touring Martinique, France, Canada,
and New York, and playing many parties in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

       He joined Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet (YNSQ) in 1989, and with the group has performed at Merkin Hall, New York (WNYC's "New Sounds Live"); Bang on a Can Festival, New York; Mellon PSFS Jazz Festival, Philadelphia; Bimhuis, Amsterdam, and other venues on four European tours; a Midwest tour; and numerous clubs & concert halls in New England. Joel recorded two CDs with YNSQ: "Plutonian Nights: The Music of Sun Ra" (Coppens, 1991) and "Wolftone" (Coppens, 1994).

        Joel has recently been performing with the Fernando Huergo Big Band and the Allan Chase Septet.