Joe Riposo is the former Director of Music Education for the Liverpool Central School District, where he worked for 31 years. As Director of Music Education he was responsible for developing and designing numerous curriculums. Riposo was the first to develop the non-graded music curriculum, which was used as a model in many school districts. In 2013 he retired after 28 years as the Director of Jazz Studies from Syracuse University. At Syracuse University, Riposo developed the first Jazz Studies Curriculum for Jazz Saxophone. He was also responsible for designing the first credit-bearing Jazz Program. Riposo served as past president of the New York State Unit of the International Association of Jazz Educators and as the IAJE's North Eastern Division Coordinator. In this position he has served on many curriculum committees. Riposo has served as Jazz Coordinator and Clinician for the New York State School Music Association from which he received the presidential medallion.

He remains extremely active as a performer, having worked in house bands for nationally known artists such as Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, the McGuire Sisters, and many others. He played a special performance with Woody Herman's New Thundering Herd on tour with Jack E. Leonard and Tony Bennett.

Riposo appears frequently as clinician, adjudicator, guest conductor, and soloist in jazz festivals across the U.S. He has composed several published jazz scores as a contract writer for Walrus Music Publications, and is the author of the book, Jazz Improvisation "The Whole-Brain Approach" Improving Improvisation through Understanding Hemisphericity. He has written two recorder books: the LMI Recorder Method (1999) and a second recorder method book published by Increase Music.

Jamey Aebersold published Riposo's book, Bebop Scales, “Jazz Scales And Patterns In All 12 Keys”. He authored Target Tone and Approach Tones “Shaping Bebop Lines”. Jamey Aebersold published Riposo's Developing A Jazz Vocabulary and Making A Connection With Your Saxophone.

Riposo received the Outstanding Jazz Educator's Award from the National Band Association for effective leadership in instrumental music education by developing successful concert and jazz bands in America’s schools. On Nov. 21, 1997, Riposo was inducted in the Syracuse Area Music Awards Music Hall of Fame. On June 8, 2003, he was also inducted into the Liverpool Central School District's Fine Arts Hall of Fame.

In 2008, he received the Jazz Educator of the Year Award presented by the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation. Riposo received the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra musicians’ award for Outstanding Music Educator of 2009. In November 2011 he was inducted into the SAMMY’S Music Educator Hall Of Fame as a Music Educator. Riposo was honored by two State of New York Legislative Resolutions, one for his contributions to Music Education from Assemblyman, Majority Leader Michael Bragmen April 1992, and a State Senate award for his lifetime achievements as a musician and teacher by Senator John DeFrancisco on March 7, 2012.