Once hailed as “the greatest jazz organist on the planet” by JazzTimes, Joey DeFranceso died Aug. 25, 2022 at age 51.
Signed to Columbia Records at 16, DeFrancesco released his first album, “All of Me,” and joined Miles Davis on a five-week European tour at 17. That tour with Davis led to playing keyboards for Davis on the 1989 release, “Amandla.”
DeFrancesco was a native of Philadelphia, and later made Phoenix his home.
Read the full story from Ed Masley of the Arizona Republic.
Listen to Joey perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from the 2017 album Project Freedom. Troy Roberts on tenor sax.