The iconic jazz musician Joey DeFrancesco passed away on Aug. 25 at his residence, his wife and manager Gloria DeFrancesco announced via social media. He was 51.
"The love of my life is now in peace with the angels. Thank you for the outpouring of love and support coming in from everywhere. Joey loved you all," said the post.
Reports say that DeFrancesco suffered from overall health problems, but the exact cause of his death is yet to be disclosed by his family. According to Medico Topics, sources shared that DeFrancesco has been dealing with "fatal health issues for a while" now. As of this writing, this piece of information has been withheld from the public,
DeFrancesco was best known as a Hammond B3 organ genius, as well as a brilliant trumpeter and saxophonist, and occasional singer. He was named the best player of the Hammond organ, reportedly responsible for "reviving soulful jazz" of the instrument.
Roots In Jazz
Born and raised in Philadelphia, DeFrancesco started playing as early as the age of four, under the watchful eye of his father organist John DeFrancesco.
He came from a family of musicians that boasted three generations of jazz musicians. His grandfather and namesake was an organist who received the Living Legend Award in 2013 from the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.
He started playing alongside saxophonist Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones, well-known jazz musicians of the time, at the age of 10.
DeFrancesco's life was all about music. He got through high school with a scholarship offered by the Philadelphia Jazz Society and proceeded to the Philadelphia School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
According to reports, he was very successful in the field and won multiple awards. He was a finalist at the first Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.
By age 16, he already signed his first record deal under Columbia Records and started touring with his own band by age 18.
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Gone Too Soon
In his short life, DeFrancesco managed to put out over 30 albums, with his most recent album, "More Music," released just a year ago.
He is also a four-time Grammy Award-nominee, a nine-time winner of the Down Beat Critics Poll for the organ, and numerous awards from the JazzTimes Awards.
He was named a member of the Hammond Hall of Fame for his revolutionary and innovative contributions in 2013.
His passing is deeply mourned by musicians and fans: "There's just no way to wrap your head around this loss [...] "He was such a magnificent human being. He was just incomparable. But that's too mild a word," said Joel Goldenthal, executive director of the Nash in Phoenix, a venue DeFrancesco often performed at.
"There never was before and never will again be anybody as accomplished as he was on any instrument."
Despite his success, Goldenthal also noted that DeFrancesco was a down-to-earth person and very unassuming. DeFrancesco's passing is also a loss for the jazz world, he added.
"Few jazz artists in any era have ever dominated the musical language and popular image of an instrument the way DeFrancesco did with the organ," said NPR.
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