Born into a family of musicians, Joey DeFrancesco began playing organ at age four and was playing Jimmy Smith tunes a year later. By the time he was ten he was joined a band in Philadelphia that included saxophonist Hank Mobley and drummer “Philly Joe” Jones. In his teens Joey was a regular at Philadelphia area jazz clubs and opened for Wynton Marsalis and B.B. King. Joey DeFrancesco was born on April 10, 1971.

When DeFrancesco was 16 years old he signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and released his first album a year later. He would record five albums for Columbia. At 17, DeFrancesco toured Europe playing keyboards for Miles Davis’ group and formed his own quartet when he was 18. By the time he was in his early 20s, Joey DeFrancesco was collaborating with guitarist John McLaughlin and became a member of the group The Free Spirits.

Jazz Times magazine referred to DeFrancesco’s musical style as “a swinging Philly sound which he embellished with his own ferocity and improvisation.” DeFrancesco was a four-time Grammy Award-nominee with more than 30 recordings as a leader. In addition to Grammy nominations in 2004, 2010 and 2020, he was a nine-time winner of the DownBeat Critics' Poll for organ and was the champ in that category DownBeat Readers Poll every from 2005 until his death in 2022.

Here is a link to Joey DeFrancesco playing with Frank Vignola in Bern, Switzerland:

"FLY ME TO THE MOON"