De Francesco, Joey
De Francesco, Joey
De Francesco, Joey , jazz organist, keyboard player, trumpeter; b. Springfield, Pa., April 10, 1971. His father, Papa John De Francesco, is also an organist; his brother Johnny De Francesco is a guitarist. He began playing when he was just four years old. Miles Davis, in the course of being interviewed on Bill Boggs’s “Time Out” (Philadelphia TV) in 1986, heard the keyboard player in the house trio and asked for his name on the air. Davis later recommended De Francesco to Columbia Records. He worked with the Davis band in the mid-1980s, recording with them on the album Amandla. He won the Philadelphia Jazz Society’s McCoy Tyner Scholarship and was a finalist in the first Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition in 1987. Since the late 1980s, he has led various small groups, and also continues to record as a sideman. Although primarily a keyboard player, he also plays trumpet, although not to the same level of capability. His brother, Johnny, works in the jazz, funk, and blues genres. Johnny has had numerous concert and club performances with artists including George Benson, Ike Turner, his father and brother, John Lee Hooker, and others. He is Assistant Professor of Guitar (part time), at Berklee Coll. of Music.
Discography
All of Me (1989); Where Were You? (1990); Port III (1991); Reboppin’ (1992); Live at the 5 Spot (1993); All About My Girl (1994); Street of Dreams (1995).
—Lewis Porter