Joe Sanders is an American jazz double bassist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[1][2][3][4] In 2023, saxophonist Joshua Redman described Sanders to the New York Times as among "the greats of [his] generation and [one] of the most active and emulated musicians on the scene today."^[5]

Sanders was born in Milwaukee in 1984 and grew up at the intersection of Ninth and Locust Streets.^[6] A 2002 Milwaukee High School of the Arts graduate, Sanders studied music at the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific in California under bassist Christian McBride after winning a rare scholarship to the then-new program.^[7] Sanders additionally studied at the Thelonious Monk Institute. He studied under Terence Blanchard, learning from John Clayton and Bob Hurst, and moved to New York thereafter.^[8]

Sanders recorded the album Introducing Joe Sanders in 2011 with his New York band, featuring pianist Luis Perdomo, alto saxophonist Will Vinson, and drummer Rodney Green. The album was released by Criss Cross Jazz.^[9] Sanders has played bass on recordings by numerous notable modern-day jazz artists.^[10] Sanders has performed in Vietnam and India with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, and toured North America and Europe with the Roy Hargrove Quintet.^[11][12]

He collaborated with Justin Brown as a member of Gerald Clayton's trio, and toured with Charles Lloyd as part of his quartet in 2015.^[13][14]

In 2023, he performed on Joshua Redman's Where Are We.^[15]

As of 2022, Sanders lives outside Marseille, France with his family.^[16]