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Joey DeFrancesco: Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson

By Glenn Astarita
October 10, 2010
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Track review of "Never Can Say Goodbye"

Joey DeFrancesco: Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson

Cross-pollinating jazz and pop does not always yield fruitful residuals—in many instances, it equates to an unbalanced succession of musical events. Here, however, Hammond-B3 titan

Joey DeFrancesco

organ, Hammond B3
1971 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Joey DeFrancesco renders a happy medium by jazzing up the songbook from the late pop icon

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Jackson, with jazz, funk and rock stylizations, while retaining its inherent components. DeFrancesco and his band morph grooving jazz improvisation with Jackson's melodic hooks, yet neither genre dominates.

DeFrancesco carves the classic soul-pop ballad, "Never Can Say Goodbye," with sleek undertones abetted by guitarist

Paul Bollenback

guitar
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Bollenback's slippery funk voicings. The organist succeeds at instilling a soulful element, even when embarking on free-flight and climactic solo jaunts. DeFranceso and Bollenback trade torrid fours during the bridge, while gradually lifting the pitch towards the finale. The leader closes out the piece with silvery chord clusters, consummating one of many nicely orchestrated highlights evidenced throughout this tunefully upbeat program.

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Track Listing

Thriller; Never Can Say Goodbye; Beat It; Humane Nature; Rock With You; She's Out Of My Life; The Way You Make Me Feel; Lady In My Life; Billie Jean;

Personnel

Joey DeFrancesco

organ, Hammond B3

Joey DeFrancesco: Numa organ, Keyb Duo organ, Numa piano, Hammond organ, trumpet; Paul Bollenback: electric guitar, nylon guitar; Byron Landham: drums; Pat Bianchi: keyboards; Carmen Intorre: percussion.

Album information

Title: Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: HighNote Records

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