JAZZ OF FOUR CONTINENTS

JOEY DE FRANCESCO & THE PEOPLE (USA)

DeFrancesco has recorded and/or toured with his own groups as well as numerous renowned artists that include Ray Charles, Diana Krall, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, James Moody, John Scofield, Bobby Hutcherson, Jimmy Cobb, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, David Sanborn and many more. The three time Grammy® Award-nominee, with more than 30 recordings as a leader under his belt, has received countless Jazz Journalist Association awards and other accolades worldwide, including being inducted into the inaugural Hammond Organ Hall of Fame in 2014, the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame in 2016 as well as topping the Critics Polls in DownBeat Magazine eleven times over the past fifteen years and the Readers Polls every year since 2005.

DeFrancesco is adored for his buoyant, moody sense of swing and balladry as a composer and as a player. That’s a bluesy, blustery sensibility shared with the men in his family: saxophonist/grandfather Joseph DeFrancesco, and his father – organist “Papa” John DeFrancesco. Jazz lovers also dig DeFrancesco’s second instrument, the trumpet, and the inspiration gleaned from his first big boss, Miles Davis – with whom DeFrancesco gigged when the organist was in his late teens.

Quick to mention the influence of Philadelphia in every note that he plays–“that’s where all my initial inspiration comes from,” he explains–DeFrancescolooks beyond worshipping at the altar of Hammond B3 priests such as Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff on Project Freedom. “It was never JUST organ and it was never JUST jazz for me,” says DeFrancesco of a personal past that figures into new songs, such as the space­funk of the title track or what he calls the “free soul” of Sam Cooke’s emotional “A Change Is GonnaCome.”Stylistically, DeFrancesco has long believed that his approach to playing and composing comes from the saxophone. “It’s that sense of breathing that affects everything,” explains DeFrancesco.

2017 sees DeFrancesco touring with his "Freedom Band" billed Joey DeFrancesco + The People, in support of his upcoming release on Mack Avenue Records, Project Freedom. The new quartet, features Joey on the Hammond B-3—plus contributions on keyboards, trumpet and as a vocalist.

Joey DeFrancesco - Hammond organ, trumpet, voc

Dan Wilson - guitar

Jason Brown - drums

Troy Roberts -sax

Admission:

presale: seating CZK 850, standing CZK 400,

at the door: seating CZK 950, standing CZK 450.

No club discounts. Thank you for understanding.

Band website: www.joeydefrancesco.com