February 12th, 2008
Venue: The Blue Wisp
Group: Joey DeFrancesco - Hammond B3 Organ
Paul Bollenback – Guitar
Byron "Wookie" Landham – Drums
Joey DeFrancesco plays the Blue Wisp Jazz Club February 12, providing a perfect beat-the-Valentines-Day-rush-by-going-out-a-day-or-two-earlier-or-later night out for jazz aficionados and music lovers of any genre. DeFrancesco’s visceral expressions on the Hammond B3 (or sound-alike, noting his Diversi brand organ with SpectraSound rotary simulation) so physically move his audience that even a person who doesn’t “get” jazz, “gets it” when Joey’s serving it up.
Flanked by longtime counterparts and jazz journeymen, drummer Byron “Wookie” Landham and guitarist and sometimes band leader, Paul Bollenback, enough can’t be said for the sheer density of talent in this highly sought-out trio. In fact, a fitting review for this show and any DeFrancesco show might be something along the lines of, “if you have to ask, you’ll never know.” Or maybe, “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Or how about, “you really had to be there.”
This is because DeFrancesco’s performance and approach to jazz is so uniquely developed, it is without precedent, his only peers being a small handful of artists including the late, great Jimmy Smith, pioneer of the Hammond B3 organ in jazz. Mind bending, mind-blowing and mind-expanding. All apply, yet all fail to truly capture in words the essence of what makes this group so special. Of course we won’t let that stop us from trying.
The Jazz Half catches up with the group in time for their second set which leads off with On a Clear Day. The guys step up in usual fashion, pocket-tight in a way that comes not only from being road veterans for decades, but by playing together for much of that time.
Number two is the Preston Fuller blues tune made famous by Muddy Waters in the late 50’s, Got My Mojo Working, and indeed Joey does. Greasily funky, this version of the tune, which creates an added measure of swagger in his physical movements behind the keys, is one that Joey has a lot of fun with. Getting the crowd involved, he asks us to sing back, in call-and-response style, a la Cab Callaway, his organ licks.
Of course in the beginning its all fun and games and the audience, a large percent of which is made up of musicians, has no trouble following along. However, Joey quickly makes the lines we’re supposed to sing back increasingly difficult, culminating in a classic DeFrancesco high-speed, premeditatedly dissonant glissando, the odds of which are infinity-to-zero that not one person present, musician or otherwise, would have a chance of replicating. Mojo, indeed.
Next is an abstract version of Fly Me to the Moon complete with synthesized air blasts and other effects which create an opening through which the tune is born. This incredibly artistic, if largely unrecognizable, version of the standard eventually gears completely down into a beautiful, unaccompanied solo by Bollenback which he improvises for a minute or two before finding the melodic line again. Joey’s immediately on it, then Landham, and the group sees the tune out.
For Old Folks, Byron takes a break from the stage and Joey takes a break from the organ, picking up his trumpet. His and Bollenback’s treatment of this sentimental classic is inspired and very moving.
The fifth and final number welcomes Byron back to the stage and is an off-time, syncopated number in which the trio continues its super-smooth high-wire acts to the delight of the crowd. Your reviewer is not familiar with the tune and the name of it isn’t given.
A stout ovation in gratitude for the previous, amazing hour-plus of music prompts the group for an encore, and they offer up All About a Girl, finishing the night with a bang.
Always a delight, the Joey DeFrancesco trio is a show not to be missed. Because they make jazz so immediately accessible to jazz listener and non-listener alike, they come very highly recommended at the Jazz Half. So much so, we’re happy when they come within 2 hours of Cincinnati and very happy indeed when they play the queen city itself.
Be aware, they’re playing the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis on May 10, so whether you did or didn’t make the show this night in Cincinnati, you’ll want to catch them on the flip side in Indy. Take it from us; they’ll be well worth your drive.
ac
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