Honoring Joey DeFrancesco: A Celebration of Life and Music Featuring Ronnie Foster, Lewis Nash, Dan Wilson, and Troy Roberts

Members who give $500+ annually receive 10% off concert tickets.

2023 Concert Series sponsored by

A special event celebrating the incomparably talented jazz musician Joey DeFrancesco, in which friends and former band members celebrate the life, music, and legacy of the five-time Grammy nominee, multi-instrumentalist, innovator, producer, and radio personality.

Before the show, between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m., ticket holders will be able to access the Artist Gallery to see MIM’s Joey DeFrancesco exhibit.

Ronnie Foster made his debut as a sideman on jazz guitar legend Grant Green’s searingly funky Blue Note LP Alive! in 1970. He signed to Blue Note a few months later, placing him in the label’s illustrious lineage of Hammond B-3 organists, which includes the legendary Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, and Dr. Lonnie Smith.

Lewis Nash is one of jazz’s most recorded musicians. The drummer has appeared on more than 500 recordings, including 10 Grammy winners and numerous Grammy nominees. He is the only musician in jazz history to be featured on Best Jazz Vocal and Best Jazz Instrumental winners in two separate years: with Nancy Wilson and McCoy Tyner in 2004, and with Dee Dee Bridgewater and James Moody in 2010.

Dan Wilson’s career has taken him on an exploratory journey into the foundations of the guitar-and-organ tradition. The guitarist performed with DeFrancesco’s trio and quartet and played on DeFrancesco’s Grammy-nominated Project Freedom. Wilson met bassist, composer, and arranger Christian McBride while playing with DeFrancesco and toured with McBride’s trio Tip City.

Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Troy Roberts has received numerous accolades, including three DownBeat Student Music Jazz Soloist Awards and two Grammy nominations. He has performed around Europe and the United States with artists such as Jeff “Tain” Watts, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Christian McBride, Sammy Figueroa, Billy Hart, Dave Douglas, and Orrin Evans, to name a few.