Jazz Articles about Joey DeFrancesco

About Joey DeFrancesco

Album Review

Temple University Jazz Band: Without You, No Me

Read "Without You, No Me" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 28, 2021

When his friend, colleague, mentor and confidante Jimmy Heath died in January 2020, trumpeter Terell Stafford's first impulse was to find a way to honor and remember the renowned Philadelphia-born saxophonist. As Stafford is director of the Temple University Jazz Band, also in Philadelphia, an obvious way would be to record a tribute album, which Stafford set about preparing. And then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, scuttling those plans and most others on the drawing board. The band ...

Album Review

MONK'estra: MONK'estra Plays John Beasley

Read "MONK'estra Plays John Beasley" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 6, 2021

The MONK'estra is actually a number of groups of various shapes and sizes, from duo to big band, assembled under the guiding hand of composer, arranger & pianist John Beasley to—wait for it!—"play John Beasley," an artist whose admiration for Thelonious Sphere Monk is clear throughout this buoyant and resourceful album, as it was on Volumes 1 and 2 of the series, in which the MONK'estra “played Monk." Beasley wrote eight of the album's fourteen genial numbers ...

Live Review

Joey DeFrancesco Quartet at Van Gelder Studio

by Victor L. Schermer
May 21, 2021

Joey DeFrancesco Quartet Live from Van Gelder Studio Englewood Cliffs, NJ May 15, 2021 Rudy Van Gelder (1924-2016) was a rarity among sound engineers in that his name was highlighted on many album covers and he achieved legendary status in the jazz world. He initially held recording sessions in the living room of his parents' home in Teaneck, New Jersey. In 1959, he moved to a recording studio built according to ...

Album Review

John Beasley: MONK'estra Plays John Beasley

Read "MONK'estra Plays John Beasley" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
December 17, 2020

In 2016 John Beasley gifted us with John Beasley Presents Monk'estra Volume 1 (Mack Avenue). The buzz of that superb record led to John Beasley Presents Monk'estra Volume 2 (Mack Avenue, 2017). Both records were Grammy nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. They were both more than Grammy worthy, but alas the competition is fierce. Beasley has been more than a Thelonious Monk fan throughout his life, including his now over forty years in the music industry. ...

Year in Review

Most Read Album Reviews: 2019

by Michael Ricci
January 1, 2020

All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is read, and the reviews listed below represent our most popular in 2019. The number to the right of the date published represents the article's read count as of December 30th. In The Key Of The Universe Joey DeFrancesco by Chris Mosey Published: February 10, 2019 Epistrophy Bill Frisell | Thomas Morgan by John Kelman ...

Live Review

Joey DeFrancesco at Chris’ Jazz Café

by Victor L. Schermer
December 6, 2019

Joey DeFrancesco Trio & Quartet Chris' Jazz Café Philadelphia, PA November 30, 2019 In the 1970s, before he became a famed performer, Joey DeFrancesco was already at the prodigious age of 10 (!) playing gigs with the likes of Philly Joe Jones, Shirley Scott, and Hank Mobley at local jazz clubs in Philadelphia. Fast forward a few decades, and there comes a rare chance to hear the now international icon in a ...

Album Review

Troy Roberts: Days Like These

Read "Days Like These" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 28, 2019

Days like these, when you have the opportunity to hear Troy Roberts fronting an all-star organ group, are pretty nice. Roberts--one of the most underappreciated tenor saxophonists on the scene, a mainstay in organ kingpin Joey DeFrancesco's band and an erstwhile sideman for drummer Jeff Tain" Watts--shows a particular affinity for this format. A complete artist with a muscular yet fluid sound, soulful bearing and unerringly sensitive ears, it's like he was made for this music. Bringing ...