Joe DeFrancesco - Ineffable!

 © Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

The following appeared in the April 2, 2019 Jazz in Europe Blog. It is written by Scott H. Thompson, an internationally published Jazz writer.

I’m bringing it to you to provide a context for the full video of the concert that Joey references with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis which was recorded on May 17, 2019 which is also posted on this page.

“When I spoke with Joey, he had just returned that morning after a long plane ride from Japan where he performed and was getting ready for a gig that night in a New York City jazz club. “It’s always great to go to Japan. The appreciation for all of the arts is there at such a high level. It’s a pleasure to be there. I love it. I love touring. Sometimes you need a minute to take a breath, but the music part is easy. The music part is what it’s all about. The rest of it is all the travel and all those things, that’s the hard part. The music is just joy. I love playing all the venues… big, small, I try to find intimacy in the big rooms too because you can with the music and the vibe, especially playing at Jazz Lincoln Center! All of those rooms have such a good vibe.”

DeFrancesco makes his debut performing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at this special two-day run in Rose Theater with new arrangements by music director JLCO trombonist Vincent Gardner. 

“The music that we’re playing is two groups of music,” he explains. “One of them is the Jimmy Smith and Oliver Nelson arrangements of Peter and the Wolf, and also Duke Ellington’s New Orleans Suite. While Bill Davis played organ on the original recording, he played only on one cut, but we’re playing all of it and we’re going to open it up! It’s really cool because Peter and the Wolf record was never really talked about much. It wasn’t one of the biggest records for Jimmy Smith but it’s got some very interesting arrangements and Oliver Nelson is such a killer arranger. To play with that band was so great and tight. It was happenin’! It’s gonna be really great playing with the JLCO! So much fun and inspiration. I can’t wait. I’m excited about it.”

It’s not every day you see a Hammond B-3 organ immersed in a jazz orchestra, but that’s exactly what’s happening at Jazz at Lincoln Center May 17-18 in Rose Theater as living legend organist Joey DeFancesco joins forces with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

DeFrancesco is quick to correct me as I praised the Hammond B-3 for its strong, commanding sound in the jazz arena. “I’m an organist first,” he explains. “It was in my house. My father plays and as a kid hearing it for the first time, I was just drawn to it. I would listen to his records. It was just an attraction.”

Raised in Philadelphia, a city known for the incredible jazz musicians it produced, he began playing the organ at the age of four! It was a natural musical gift. His father played the organ and the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. “My dad was my first influence really. I loved all the main cats at the time, we had a nice collection of LPs…Jimmy Smith, of course, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, Groove Holmes, Shirley Scott, Trudy Pitts…all the people from that era. I still listen and love all that. That was the organ influence, but I was influenced by all the other instruments too. We had a few Oscar Peterson records and of course some Miles Davis records and Coltrane. All that stuff is the same thing to me. They’re just playing different instruments, but the music part hits me the same way.”

His father brought him to gigs in Philadelphia, exposing him to what would become his lifeline. There he sat in with Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones. 

His talents reach beyond the organ and he became proficient on the trumpet as well. “I’ve been playing trumpet for a long time. I started playing it when I was 18 and I played for some years, but there was a time I didn’t play it at all. I’ve been playing it fairly consistently for the past 20 years. I just love the sound of it, I always did and hearing Miles play set the ball rolling. It’s one thing to listen to records but when you have a sound right next to you, something said ‘Get a trumpet.’ So I did.”

Joey’s emergence in the 1980s came at a time that the organ had all but disappeared from the jazz circuit. “There’s actually quite a few organ players out on the scene today. You just have to look at the DownBeat polls now and there are two big rows of organists. There are just as many names in that category as there is with the other instruments. My approach has been a big influence on this generation of organ players.”

What does Joey have to say to young, upcoming musicians? “The advice is to listen and pay attention as much as possible. There’s so much music out there available nowadays. There’s no excuse to not listen. There are videos and releases and so much history. The best thing is to listen to all these things and to play with your peers and go out and hear as many people as you can and play with the best musicians that you can… and stay relaxed and groove.””