Look, I try to live a life pleasing to God. I try to obey the Ten Commandments. But with a guy like Joey DeFrancesco, it’s hard to keep the tenth, namely “Thou shall not covet”.
I had no problem with Joey D when he was just playing the Hammond B3. OK, maybe a little bit when he was with Miles Davis. But I could live with that.
But then, he starts pulling out his trumpet and sounds more Milesy than Miles himself on a bunch of albums. He does it here as well, muted to perfection with drummer Michael Ode and organist Lucas Brown as he also plays keyboards on the Larry Young-ish “Free” or on the Blue Noted “In Times Of Reflection” with Brown on guitar”, while open as all get out on a soulful strut of where to go.
To add further insult to my underachieving musical skills, he now pulls out a tenor sax and sounds like Ben Webster as he blows smoke rings on a slinky “Lady G” and a bel canto “Angel Calling”. To top it off, he croons like Vic Damone along with this tenor sax work on “And If You Please”. NOW CUT THAT OUT!!! Oh, he still plays the organ, funky as all get out on “This Time Around”, boogalooing on the title track and getting down on a Don Cornelius inflected “Soul Dancing”. This guy is driving me crazy! A don’t forget he did a bunch of sessions with Van Morrison.
I used to justify my jealousy of Joey D by thinking “Well, at least I’m in better shape than he is”, but judging by the back cover, he’s even dropped a few pounds and looks like he could take me on? What category do I vote him in for in Downbeat’s “Best Of”? Right now, he could be written in for at least 4-5. This guy excels at more positions than Shohei Ohtani.