Big Band B-3: Joey DeFrancesco with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - New York City Article

Joey DeFrancesco with The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra:
"Big Band B3"
Rose Theater
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall
Broadway at 60th Street, 5th Floor, (212) 721 6500
Friday (May 17) & Saturday (May 18)

This is such a good idea that it's hard to believe that, in 30 years of Jazz at Lincoln Center, no one's thought of it - combining the world's mightiest jazz organist, the formidable Joey DeFrancesco (the current incumbent of a long line of great jazz organ men from Philadelphia, whose legacy began with the great Jimmy Smith) with the JALC Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis.  It's true that the Hammond B3, especially as Mr. DeFrancesco plays it, is an orchestra unto itself, and thus combining it with another big band may seem a tad redundant. However, creative orchestrators have found brilliant ways to bring the two together, as will be evidenced by a program that includes Duke Ellington's remarakble New Orleans Suite, the Maestro's major work for the combination of his orchestra plus the brilliant Wild Bill Davis, and Peter and the Wolf, the Prokofiev classic reconceived for Jimmy Smith himself by the resourceful Oliver Nelson.  A soulful evening for sure - expect the grits and the gravy to be flying on both nights.

for more info and tickets, click here.

photo by Tracy Ketcher