Subscribe and receive monthly updates on new releases.
Thanks for helping to support Mack Avenue Artists!
Never miss a Sale or New Release! Sign up for our Newsletter
Thanks for helping to support Mack Avenue Artists!
The first track on the latest recording from Joey DeFrancesco is what you might expect from the organ expert and swinging veteran. "Inner Being" is a graceful, upbeat tune that layers DeFrancesco's organ colors with both Sammy Figueroa's percussion and the organic drumming of veteran Billy Hart. The passages of the composition in which the organ plays in melodic sync with the soprano saxophone of Troy Roberts (the native of Perth, Australia who has made New York his home in recent years) are lovely, launching an engaging set of solos...
No one alive does it better than Joey DeFrancesco, and he takes you to Sunday Morning Revivals here with a team of Jason Brown/dr, Troy Roberts/ts-ss and Dan Wilson.
Here is what magically happens when you cross spiritual soul-jazz with bluesy soul-jazz.
For his latest album, Joey DeFrancesco chose to name it In the Key of the Universe, which is a very Pharoah Sanders type of title. Perhaps that’s because the iconic saxophonist himself is on this record: the de facto heir to the legacy of Jimmy Smith features the de facto heir to late-period John Coltrane mysticism.
Joey DeFrancesco has stretched himself regularly throughout the course of thirty-plus albums. Just since Project Freedom(Mack Avenue, 2017) he's collaborated very productively for two albums with the Irish soulman Van Morrison—You're Driving Me Crazy (Sony Legacy, 2018) and The Prophet Speaks(Caroline, 2018). And, on In The Key of the Universe, the organist/trumpeter reaffirms his connection with jazz history through fruitful work with estimable musicians including saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and drummer Billy Hart.
DeFrancesco himself sounds effortless as he applies a light touch in play on "Inner Being," but that approach extends to the collective, incorporating the solid rhythmic presence of percussionist Sammy Figueroa. "Vibrations in Blue" is suitably atmospheric, but the ensemble swings nonetheless: on this record, metaphysics are no less important than the earthy side of life. Accordingly, the droning of sitar for the intro and outro of that latter cut resides right next to the high-stepping excursion that is "Awake and Blissed; " as with its surrounding tracks, the musicians are so fully engaged the visceral impact of this music equals the cerebral.
With his signature Hammond B3 organ at the foundation of each arrangement, Joey DeFrancesco and his band The People stretch out across genres. Pulling from the tried and true spirituals of the church, the freedom songs of American folk, the abiding sorrow of the blues and the swing of straight ahead jazz.
Live Q&A with Joey DeFrancesco Hosted by Alonzo Bodden
Dan Wilson - DTC Organ Trio Live at AVClub (9/29/20)
Emmet Cohen - Live From Emmet's Place Vol.26 Ft. Godwin Louis
Warren Wolf Reincarnation CD Release Livestream
Though there’s plenty of bounce and swing in play throughout the 10-track program, DeFrancesco’s self-professed embrace of spiritual jazz employs the kind of contemplative aura that gave so many of yesteryear’s exploratory efforts their personality. Functionally, it can come from the use of dreamy long tones and pensive phrasings. At several points here, a simmering heat, rather than a roiling squall, shapes the record’s temperament.
The word “freedom” clearly resonates for Joey DeFrancesco, the Hammond B-3 organ kingpin and veteran hard-bop messenger.