Jazz Articles about Papa John DeFrancesco

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Papa John DeFrancesco: It's All In The Name!

by Mikayla Gilbreath
April 15, 2008

A performer's public persona can sometimes be quite different from reality. So when I meet somebody for the first time, there's always the possibility that I'll come away from the meeting feeling surprised, or even disappointed. Well, I needn't have worried about meeting renowned jazz organist Papa John DeFrancesco. The only surprises were pleasant ones.

John DeFrancesco became Papa John probably as a means of distinguishing him from his son, Johnny. But something tells me that ...

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Papa John DeFrancesco: Desert Heat

by Michael P. Gladstone
February 7, 2007

From the perspective of family history, there wouldn't have been a Joey DeFrancesco, arguably the most famous of the contemporary interpreters of the Hammond B-3 organ, without the style that he learned from his father. John DeFrancesco moved to Philadelphia in 1967 and became part of the jazz scene there when his wife presented the former trumpet player with a gift of an organ. His five previous recordings for the Muse, HighNote and Savant labels emerged in tandem with the ...