Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Organist Joey DeFrancesco recently earned a Grammy nomination for his album In The Key Of The Universe.
(Photo: Jay Gilbert)In the wake of his recent Grammy nomination, Joey DeFrancesco has released a live music video for his composition “It Swung Wide Open,” the studio version of which appears on his latest album, In The Key Of The Universe. (Mack Avenue).
Filmed at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, the video, which premieres below, features DeFrancesco—winner of the Organ category in the 2019 DownBeat Readers Poll—in a blazing performance alongside veteran drummer Billy Hart and saxophonist Troy Roberts, both of whom appear on the album.
In The Key Of The Universe is among the nominees in the Grammy category Best Instrumental Jazz Album, alongside the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul (OKeh/Sony Masterworks), Brad Mehldau’s Finding Gabriel (Nonesuch), Joshua Redman’s Come What May (Nonesuch) and the quartet album Christian McBride’s New Jawn (Mack Avenue).
“I was thrilled to hear about the nomination,” DeFrancesco wrote in an email. “As artists, we put our heart and soul into our music, and recognition from your peers on such a grand level as the Recording Academy is truly an honor I sincerely appreciate. It’s not about winning for me—this is my fifth nomination—but I’m grateful to be able to get my music to the people and appreciate every person who plays a role in making that happen.”
The album includes an 11-minute rendition of Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan,” featuring a guest appearance by the legendary saxophonist. Hart plays drums on the track, nearly 50 years after contributing to Sanders’ original recording of the song on the 1969 album Karma. Sanders appears on two other tracks from the album: “And So It Is” and the title tune.
Regarding his work with DeFrancesco on In The Key Of The Universe, Hart said, “Besides his talent and the fact that he’s kept up with the current evolution of the music, he’s doing something that no one else is doing on the organ ... .”
In a four-star review in the April issue of DownBeat, Jim Macnie wrote, “Though there’s plenty of bounce and swing in play throughout the 10-track program, DeFrancesco’s self-professed embrace of spiritual jazz employs the kind of contemplative aura that gave so many of yesteryear’s exploratory efforts their personality.”
The Grammy Awards will be presented on Jan. 26, 2020, and a portion of the ceremony will be broadcast live by CBS.
For a complete list of nominations, visit the Recording Academy’s Grammy website. DB
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
