Jazz organ master as well as trumpet and sax player has passed. What a loss at 51 years old. Just today jamming with my sax player I was teaching him a little jazz riff I wrote. I joked that I heard Joey do a tune almost identical so he must of got the idea from me. So sad what a great player.

How very said, he left us way too sone but his legacy will remain. RIP

So sad and what a shock. Sympathies to his family and especially his father, "Papa John" Defrancesco who most of us (musicians) from the Philly/South Jersey area knew pretty well. RIP.

chas

So sad! Was only a few months ago at NAMM 2022 that I caught him performing on the Legends stage, such a talent and sweet gentleman.

Saw him many times at NAMM. Nice guy. Passable singer, too.

I've been concerned about his weight for years.

He certainly deserved all the appreciation he got.


Russ

Joseph DeFrancesco was named after his grandfather, a jazz musician who also played clarinet and saxophone. As a child, he began playing the music of Jimmy Smith at the age of four, and by the age of five, he could play them perfectly.

Wow!

Such a loss… 51 is way too short. 🥲

Al least Jimmy’s got someone to spell him while he takes a leak in the Big Band in the Sky now.