After a year of pandemic lockdown – with stages dark and nightclubs shuttered, friends and families kept at a social distance, and political and social tensions raging – the one thing we could all use right now is More Music. And who better to supply that demand than Joey DeFrancesco?

More Music is “more” in every conceivable way. It offers up ten new DeFrancesco originals, brought to life by a scintillating new trio. And the master organist, who has long supplemented his keyboard virtuoso with his skilled trumpet playing, here brings out his full arsenal: organ, keyboard, piano, trumpet, and, for the first time on record, tenor saxophone. He also steps to the microphone to croon Mario Romano’s yearning “And If You Please.”

Joey D isn’t the only one wearing several hats on the album. A fellow torchbearer of the Philadelphia organ jazz tradition, Lucas Brown takes on the unenviable task of sharing organ duties with his generation’s most influential practitioner. Not only does he fulfill those duties admirably, freeing DeFrancesco to juggle his other talents, but he also showcases his six-string wizardry on several traditional organ-guitar trio tracks. Michael Ode sticks to the drums throughout, anchoring the trio’s multiple configurations with muscular swing and electrifying grooves.

REVIEWS:

On Joey DeFrancesco’s latest release from Mack Avenue Records (More Music), it is clear that he is bringing all of his considerable talents into focus. In addition to his signature organ and trumpet expertise, he plays assorted keyboards, piano, and has added tenor saxophone to his instrumental repertoire. The eleven original compositions offer a positive vibe and enriched musical tapestry. Lucas Brown has been added to fill in on organ, keyboards, and guitar, while Michael Ode is on drums. More Music is a great jazz album.

-- Audiophile Audition (Robbie Gerson)

All in all, this is one of Joey DeFrancesco’s strongest offerings of recent vintage. There is plenty of soul and passion, as in the gospel flavored `Angel Calling`, whilst elsewhere there is the occasional moment for reflective musing with some filigree piano and some bars of acoustic guitar, but overall it is the groove that dominates in the best B3 tradition, albeit refurbished and re-defined by its greatest contemporary exponent.

-- Jazz Views (Euan Dixon)