Joey Defrancesco RIP

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Jazz Organist, & saxophone etc
Joey DeFrancesco has passed.
Confirmed, but his website as yet unchanged.

*******

"Raised in Philadelphia, this is where the foundation of his musical roots in Jazz, Blues and other musical art forms were born. To hear Joey DeFrancesco today, his music embodies the traditional art form infused with a distinct modern approach, just part of what makes his music unmistakably his own.

" He has dominated the instrument and the field as no one of his generation has.” – Chicago Tribune

“Mr. DeFrancesco is a deeply authoritative musician, a master of rhythmic pocket, and of the custom of stomping bass lines beneath chords and riffs.” - New York Times

Joey DeFrancesco's emergence in the 1980s marked the onset of a musical renaissance. Organ jazz had all but gone into hibernation from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s until DeFrancesco reignited the flame with his vintage Hammond organ and Leslie speaker cabinet"

[Joseph K]

Just beat me to it...

RIP.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

And more... Plays Monk, trio live at Dizzy's 2017

http://youtu.be/RueQ3IPvtHU

[cloughie]

And more... Plays Monk, trio live at Dizzy's 2017

http://youtu.be/RueQ3IPvtHU

He was featured on 2018 Van Morrison ‘You’re driving me crazy’ CD. Great organ sound!

RIP Joey

[Jazzrook]

John McLaughlin with Joey DeFrancesco & Elvin Jones playing Coltrane's 'Crescent' from the 1994 album 'After The Rain':

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=oDylbHR7GU4

JR

[Joseph K]

Alyn Shipton:

https://www.jazzwise.com/news/article/joey-defrancesco-10-04-1971-25-08-2022?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1KhF4bORnTgYsTh5SoJVbxHC9OCd8g5GeaT-Wn_qN9a8QQBZ3M5y1zZF4#Echobox=1661527700

[Ian Thumwood]

There is plenty of decent and wide ranging stuff with Joey DeFrancesco on. Another musician I have been saddened to know has passed. The whole "jazz organ" thing is pretty much it's own oeuvre but the records of JdF I am familiar with place him squarely in a jazz tradition. He was another of the contemporary jazz musicians my Dad was in to and he chalked up all sorts of unusual records including tributes to Italian music, Horace Silver, Bobby Hutcherson and the NDR big band which is pretty decent. Like so much of the music in that field, I think organ jazz gradually lost it's social function and gravitated towards a more mainstream position so by the time DeF was making records, there was ultimately room to be more musical than how this style ultimately evolved in the 1970s when the emphasis was on funkiness. The album with Hutcherson is called "Organic Vibes" and the ensemble has a really nice sound. Not too aware of that many records with organs and vibes together albeit this disc has a saxophonist fronting the line up. I would have to be honest and say that the quality of jazz on DdF's albums ultimately was superior than the later stuff produced by his mentor Jimmy Smith. Maybe the recent work of Dr Lonnie Smith might off a better comparison on how he embraced more traditional, hard-swinging jazz.

I am surprised that more people in here are not fans of JdF but, along with Mike LeDonne, i would argue that this field is certainly a lot more musically rewarding nowdays than many of the records made during the heyday of this music in the 1960s.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Records with organs and vibes..."

Larry Young, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones and Grant Green, from Green's very good (and I'm normally not a huge fan), "Street of Dreams" Bluenote album...

"Lazy Afternoon" : http://youtu.be/NvZl0rreNtw

[Serial_Apologist]

I am surprised that more people in here are not fans of JdF but, along with Mike LeDonne, i would argue that this field is certainly a lot more musically rewarding nowdays than many of the records made during the heyday of this music in the 1960s.

I guess in my case it's because he along with a large number of "similar" (?) Hammond organ players has never been in my serious listening range - apart from Larry Young there aren't that many who don't unfortunately evoke old folks seaside entertainment and dodgy pentecostal preachers with that querulous organ timbre. An unfortunate association, yes, I know, but one too firmly lodged in my head. Used as a colour contrast among many, fine.

[Ian Thumwood]

I guess in my case it's because he along with a large number of "similar" (?) Hammond organ players has never been in my serious listening range - apart from Larry Young there aren't that many who don't unfortunately evoke old folks seaside entertainment and dodgy pentecostal preachers with that querulous organ timbre. An unfortunate association, yes, I know, but one too firmly lodged in my head. Used as a colour contrast among many, fine.

I would concede that a lot of organ playing comes from the church in America although I don't really see the connections of seaside entertainment which is another instrument entirely. The point of Larry Young was that he made players like JdF possible. Young pushed the B3 more into the jazz mainstream and away from the Soul Jazz thing. JdF covered so many bases in his career that I think it would be difficult to piegeon hole him. I like Larry Young too but the music has moved on in the last fifty years so that jazz organ is far more sophisticated now than it was in the 1960s. DeF was a terrific musician and pretty flexible regarding the settings he worked in. From a technical persepctive, the fact you are using your feet as well as hands to play the instrument has always impressed me. Difficult not to admire someone like JdF.