Winter Ends With a Flurry—of Live Music | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

On Tuesday and Wednesday, March 21st and 22nd, Hammond B-3 organ master (and trumpeter and vocalist) Joey DeFrancesco brings the week to a close with his The People band at 6 and 8 p.m. on both nights.

Organ master Joey DeFrancesco is also someone who can get you asking for more. The wunderkind of the organ signed with Columbia when he was all of 16 and was out on tour and recording with Miles Davis at an age when many people are still learning how to drive. By the time he was 18, Joey D was touring with his own band; and before long, he began collaborations with guitarist John McLaughlin that included the band Free Spirits. Simply put, DeFrancesco played a considerable role in generated the renewed interest in the Hammond B-3 that has continues through today. He is here just weeks before he turns 46. At Dazzle on Tuesday and Wednesday, Joey D + The People (with guitarist Dan Wilson, saxophonist Troy Roberts and drummer Jason Brown) play at 6 and 8 p.m. 

I mentioned that DeFrancesco was a member of the Free Spirits, a band frequently labeled as the first jazz-rock group. The drummer with Free Spirits was Dennis Chambers who will be in Colorado next week as part of bassist Victor Wooten’s trio that will be playing at the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, the Boulder Theater in Boulder and Cervantes in Denver on March 23-25 respectively. There will be more details in next week’s column.

Some other items for the week include saxophonist Mark Fox and his trio (with Tom Tilton on drums) appearing at La Cour Bistro and Art Bar, 1643 S. Broadway (303-777-5000) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Colorado Jazz Workshop at Dazzle on Monday at 7 p.m. Dazzle also has a night of Women in Jazz on Saturday. That evening features saxophonist Laura Newman’s group (with singer Wendy Fopeano, pianist Vlad Girshevich and drummer Jill Fredericksen) at 6 p.m. followed by pianist Ellen Rucker’s trio (with Fredericksen and bassist Bill McCrossen) at 8:30 p.m. And on Sunday, Dazzle has a night of The Great Denver Ladies of Song with Julie Monley, Jan Cleveland, Myra Warren and Kristi Stice at 6 p.m. 

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