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Jazz comes to Garth Newel
 | | Joey DeFrancesco |
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HOT SPRINGS - Jazz returns to Garth Newel Music Center on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. with organist Joey DeFrancesco. Regarded by organ aficionados as one of the best, DeFrancesco has almost single-handedly put the Hammond B-3 organ back into the public eye. A great showman, Joey combines monstrous chops with a flair that creates excitement during his performances. He will be joined by Paul Bollenback on guitar and Byron Landham on drums.
DeFrancesco was born in Springfield, Pa., where his grandfather, Joe DeFrancesco, played various instruments and his father was the Hammond B-3 player "Papa" John DeFrancesco. Joey began playing piano at the age of four and switched to the B-3 soon after. By age six he was sitting in on his father's gigs, going to jazz clubs from the age of seven and by 10, he was playing out on his own. When DeFrancesco was only 17, Miles Davis asked him to join his band and he toured Europe and recorded with Davis.
DeFrancesco's own recordings as a leader on the B3 organ established what Chris Parker has referred to as "his importance as one of the most unfussily virtuosic torch-bearers of contemporary organ jazz."
"Joey DeFrancesco is one of the most impressive musicians I've heard in the last two years," says Garth Newel's executive director Jacob Yarrow. "He plays music that is visceral and involving, but also very sophisticated. Joey is extremely talented and he's also likely to sing and play the trumpet. We are thrilled and extremely lucky to present him here in Bath County."
For more information or to reserve tickets, call Garth Newel at 877-558-1689, e-mail office@garthnewel.org, or visit www.garthnewel.org.
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