JOEY DeFRANCESCO - More Music
Mack Avenue Records : MAC1186
Joey DeFrancesco (organ, trumpet, tenor sax, keyboard/ piano, vocals) Michael Ode(drums) Lucas Brown (guitar, organ, keyboard) Recorded Tempe, AZ, January 16-18, 2021.
From the magisterial gaze of the rear cover portrait that graces his latest release Joey DeFrancesco looks like a man who means business and to prove it he builds on his reputation as the “baddest B3 burner” by demonstrating his competence as a multi -instrumentalist and vocalist. Do I detect a whiff of conceit? No matter, for with the possible exception of the latter, he acquits himself with great aplomb in all these roles making for a highly stimulating session of vividly variegated music.
Of the eleven tracks that comprise the playlist, five feature the conventional B3 trio format with the versatile Lucas Brown on either guitar or comping on keyboards behind the leader. Of the remaining tracks three have DeFrancesco playing his muted Miles Davis inflected trumpet with the remainder featuring his Stanley Turrentine flavoured tenor sax, one these also being an insipid vocal ballad with soupy greetings card lyrics. In these pieces Brown switches to either organ or keyboards in providing harmonic support, pedal bass lines and, on a couple of occasions, sharing solo honours in a distinctly less flamboyant style than that of the leader.
With the exception of the aforementioned ballad all the tunes are original DeFrancesco originals and whilst non are particularly memorable in themselves the music, in terms of delivery, dynamism and rhythmic drive, is never less than arresting, generating swathes of aural colouration and abstractions that summon up notions of a Jackson Pollok painting expressed in musical terms. Underpinning this multi coloured vibrancy is the drumming of Michael Ode, whom in other contexts might be deemed noisy but who provides a solid anchor whether laying down a firm backbeat, highlighting climaxes with spiky accents and splashy cymbals or executing torrid solo eruptions.
All in all, this is one of DeFrancesco’s strongest offerings of recent vintage in that he doesn’t get side tracked by quasi spiritual issues and World music allusions. There is, however plenty of soul and passion, as in the gospel flavoured `Angel Calling`, whilst elsewhere there is the occasional moment for reflective musing with some filigree piano and some bars of acoustic guitar from Brown but overall it is the groove that dominates in the best B3 tradition, albeit refurbished and re-defined by its greatest contemporary exponent.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Mack Avenue Records : MAC1186
Joey DeFrancesco (organ, trumpet, tenor sax, keyboard/ piano, vocals) Michael Ode(drums) Lucas Brown (guitar, organ, keyboard) Recorded Tempe, AZ, January 16-18, 2021.
From the magisterial gaze of the rear cover portrait that graces his latest release Joey DeFrancesco looks like a man who means business and to prove it he builds on his reputation as the “baddest B3 burner” by demonstrating his competence as a multi -instrumentalist and vocalist. Do I detect a whiff of conceit? No matter, for with the possible exception of the latter, he acquits himself with great aplomb in all these roles making for a highly stimulating session of vividly variegated music.
Of the eleven tracks that comprise the playlist, five feature the conventional B3 trio format with the versatile Lucas Brown on either guitar or comping on keyboards behind the leader. Of the remaining tracks three have DeFrancesco playing his muted Miles Davis inflected trumpet with the remainder featuring his Stanley Turrentine flavoured tenor sax, one these also being an insipid vocal ballad with soupy greetings card lyrics. In these pieces Brown switches to either organ or keyboards in providing harmonic support, pedal bass lines and, on a couple of occasions, sharing solo honours in a distinctly less flamboyant style than that of the leader.
With the exception of the aforementioned ballad all the tunes are original DeFrancesco originals and whilst non are particularly memorable in themselves the music, in terms of delivery, dynamism and rhythmic drive, is never less than arresting, generating swathes of aural colouration and abstractions that summon up notions of a Jackson Pollok painting expressed in musical terms. Underpinning this multi coloured vibrancy is the drumming of Michael Ode, whom in other contexts might be deemed noisy but who provides a solid anchor whether laying down a firm backbeat, highlighting climaxes with spiky accents and splashy cymbals or executing torrid solo eruptions.
All in all, this is one of DeFrancesco’s strongest offerings of recent vintage in that he doesn’t get side tracked by quasi spiritual issues and World music allusions. There is, however plenty of soul and passion, as in the gospel flavoured `Angel Calling`, whilst elsewhere there is the occasional moment for reflective musing with some filigree piano and some bars of acoustic guitar from Brown but overall it is the groove that dominates in the best B3 tradition, albeit refurbished and re-defined by its greatest contemporary exponent.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
