Joey DeFrancesco hits Hammond, trumpet and vocal highs at Ronnie Scott’s

“You’re gonna have to do a little better than that,” quipped Joey deFrancesco on being greeted by rather sparse applause as he arrived on stage. Sparse because the place was only two-thirds full, due to that day’s rail strike. So his job was to warm them up, and by golly that’s what he did.

DeFrancesco is a true multi-instrumentalist, switching constantly between keyboards (mostly Hammond, some piano), trumpet and tenor saxophone. His bandmate Lucas Brown likewise switched between keyboards and guitar. As the bandleader pointed out, “You’re getting three bands in one!” The third member of this august trio was drummer Vince Ector, who sensibly stayed behind his kit all night.

All except one of the tunes were drawn from last year’s More Music album (hey, give the guy a break – by the time you get to your 30th, the titles must get harder to think up). The sound is cool and swingy in the classic East Coast manner, and effortlessly hip, as on ‘Lady G’, which Joey dedicated to his wife Gloria.

There was no hint of rock or hip-hop or even Latin: the man is a bebopper through and through. He introduced ‘Roll with It’ as a hybrid of Charlie Parker’s ‘Confirmation’ and Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’, quoting ‘A Foggy Day’ for good measure during his Hammond solo. The tune ended with Ector’s drum solo, which was interspersed throughout by the tune’s central riff. ‘In Times of Reflection’ was a sweet jazzy waltz reminiscent of Bobby Hutcherson’s ‘Little B’s Poem’.

DeFrancesco and Brown are intensely melodic players. Their music is uplifting and evocative of wandering around Manhattan on a sunny day. There are dynamics, too, with loud crescendos and soft, reflective passages. At one point the bandleader announced he would be singing the next number (‘And If You Please’), and proved to be possessed of a fine, craggy voice rather like Tony Bennett’s.