Honoring Joey DeFrancesco: A Celebration of Life & Music 

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.   

Proceeds from this event will go towards The Philadelphia Clef Club Summer Jazz Camp.

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Lineup includes:

Terell  Stafford – Trumpet 

Lucas Brown – Organ & Guitar 

Anwar Marshall – Drums 

Jerry Weldon – Saxophone  

Temple University Jazz Band  

Doors at 6pm.  

Performance at 7pm 

 Terell Staford 

 Terell Stafford, acclaimed trumpet player based in New York, has been hailed as “one of the great players of our time, a fabulous trumpet player” by piano legend McCoy Tyner. Stafford is recognized as an incredibly gifted and versatile player, he combines a deep love of melody with his own brand of spirited and adventurous lyricism. Stafford’s exceptionally expressive and well defined musical talent allows him to dance in and around the rich trumpet tradition of his predecessors while making his own inroads. 

Since the mid-1990’s, Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golson’s Sextet, McCoy Tyner’s Sextet, Kenny Barron Quintet, Frank Wess Quintet, Jimmy Heath Quintet and Big Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band. Stafford with the Hamilton- Clayton Jazz Orchestra, performed on Diana Krall’s GRAMMY nominated From this Moment On (2006). John Clayton invited Stafford to perform with the Clayton Brothers Quintet and Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Stafford is a member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and they were awarded a GRAMMY in 2009 for Best Large Ensemble, Live at the Village Vanguard. Stafford can be heard on over 130 albums including his own, BrotherLee Love, Celebrating Lee Morgan, which received a 47th Annual NAACP Image Award nomination. His most recent album, Family Feeling, is a BCM&D release. 

Stafford is the Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Temple University, founder and band leader of the Terell Stafford Quintet, and Managing and Artistic Director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia (JOP). Stafford is renowned in the jazz world as an educator, performer and leader and has received countless award nominations and accolades.  

 Lucas Brown 

Lucas Brown is a performing artist, composer and educator. He actively performs both Jazz and classical music and has performed around the US and Canada at such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, the Jazz Standard and the Blue Note, as well as in Europe and Asia. His compositions have been presented throughout the US and Europe. A member of the faculty at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music, Lucas holds a BM in Jazz Performance from Temple University and a MM in Organ Performance from Westminster Choir College.  

Known to many throughout the Jazz world as an organist, Lucas has been a member of saxophone legend Bootsie Barnes’ organ trio since the age of 21. Since that time, he has performed with such Jazz artists as Pat Martino, Eric Alexander, Terell Stafford, and Gerald Veasley, and is one of Joey DeFrancesco’s last touring band members.  He was awarded the Clef Club Jazz Award in 2014 in recognition of his contributions as an organist in Philadelphia. Lucas was a member of the Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (PennPAT) artist roster as a member of the group Three Blind Mice, with Victor North and Wayne Smith Jr. Lucas has also performed with Opera Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  

 Anwar Marshall 

 Drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, music lover, and producer, Anwar’s ears and skill have been cultivated through exposure, experience, practice, and the academy. His roots in Black music were planted in Philadelphia, where he was born. Always eager to create, Anwar began playing drums at an early age. With a culture as vibrant as Philadelphia’s, there’s a multitude of musical directions to travel. As it were, Anwar branches from the tree of great musicians and producers from Philadelphia’s iconic Soul, Jazz, and R&B sounds. His work as a sideman has earned him 2 Grammy nominations as well as the opportunity to travel across the world. Anwar is one of Joey DeFrancesco’s last touring band members. Currently performing with his own band and touring internationally with Marcus Miller. 

 Jerry Weldon  

 Internationally renowned veteran sax man Jerry Weldon, has been a player on the jazz scene for more than 45 years. With eight CD’s as a leader and more sideman sides than even he can count…or remember, this native New Yorker’s performance/recording résumé reflects his venerable tenor tenure and reads like a virtual “Who’s Who of Jazz.”

After graduating from Rutgers University Jazz Studies Program in 1981, Jerry joined the legendary Lionel Hampton Orchestra and continued his association with Hamp into the new millennium. Next came a long, rewarding stint with master organist Jack McDuff & his “Heatin’ System.” Additionally Jerry has worked with organists Jimmy McGriff, Joey DeFrancesco, Bobby Forrester, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Mel Rhyne, trombone great Al Grey, piano giants George Cables and Cedar Walton, drum legends Roy Haynes and Jimmy Cobb as well as guitarist/singer George Benson, guitarist Earl Klugh, bassist Keter Betts, singer Mel Tormé and a host of other legendary musicians.

In 1990, Jerry became a charter member and featured soloist with Harry Connick Jr.’s newly formed big band. Since then Jerry has toured the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia with Harry and was also part of Connick’s Broadway musical production, “Thou Shalt Not” and appeared on stage as well as in the orchestra.  Thanks to his talent, and long association with Connick, Jerry was part of the “house band” on Harry, Connick’s daytime television variety show for its two year run.   

 Temple University Jazz Band 

Led by Director of Jazz Studies and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Jazz Terell Stafford, the Temple University Jazz Band (TUJB) performs on Temple’s main campus and throughout the greater Philadelphia region, and hosts the annual Essentially Ellington Eastern Regional High School Jazz Band Festival. Other festival appearances include the Mellon/PSFS Jazz Festival, International Association of Jazz Educators Conferences, the East Coast Jazz Festival, the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conferences, and the Detroit International Jazz Festival. The TUJB is also a frequent award winner at the annual Villanova Jazz Festival. 

In addition to numerous on-campus performances, the TUJB has performed many times at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and performs each spring at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In March 2003, the TUJB toured Germany, which included five performances with the Phoenix Foundation Jazz Band. In May 2008, they traveled to Amsterdam where they performed with the Amsterdam Conservatory Jazz Band and at The Hague Jazz Festival. The band has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the Terell Stafford Quartet and Carla Cook in a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. Other performances in recent seasons have included appearances with John Faddis, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Joe Wilder, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Karrin Allyson, and Freddy Cole. 

Among the many respected jazz artists who have played with the TUJB on stage, in master classes and in clinics are Wynton Marsalis, The Vanguard Orchestra, Slide Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Dr. Billy Taylor, Max Roach, Frank Wess, Phil Woods, Jon Faddis, Mel Lewis, Dick Oatts, Byron Stripling, Conrad Herwig, Claudio Roditi, Antonio Hart, Carl Allen, JoAnne Brackeen, Regina Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Joey DeFrancesco, McCoy Tyner, Norman Simmons, Benny Golson, Savion Glover, Joshua Redman, Huston Person,  John Clayton, Rene Marie, Wycliffe Gordon, and Marshall Gilkes.