"Have keyboards will travel", that's Joe ( "Joey D " ) De Fio's slogan these days when he travels the central mid-west making music. Piano, Organ, Keyboards he plays them all covering many different styles and genres of music.
Joe has been a professional musician for a half century and has played in more venues big and small that he can remember. December 31, 2011 marked his 50th New Years Eve engagement, that year he fronted the stage band at the beautiful Camelot Ballroom in Overland Park Kansas where 400+ people enjoyed the 6500 sq. ft. dance floor. Playing at the famous Majestic in KC in 2019 was number 58 !!
A native of Syracuse, New York, De Fio moved to Kansas City in 1991 to work with a chain of piano and organ stores where one of his duties was both hosting and performing on the weekly Pop Organ Radio Show sponsored by the stores.
The show was taped in front of a live audience at the renowned Country Club Plaza and aired on many stations in the central mid-west. Many well known pop organists of the 60's and 70's played on that show. Sadly , it's demise marked the end of an era for the played live , organ music variety shows of that genre.
Soon after this time Joe became more involved with the distribution end of the piano and organ industry , but stayed active on the performance side doing pop organ concerts for dealers around the country. During this period he worked with the Hammond Organ Company helping to introduce their then new XK-3 organ.
Joe got involved in playing piano and organ in the KC area when a friend asked him to full in for him on two dates backing a local vocalist. he enjoyed it and soon after was working with some great KC area musicians. It wasn't long after that he decided to go gig on his own as a solo act, and forming his own group with some road seasoned local musicians, adding his flair and sense of humor to the mix.
Joe started playing the accordion when he was 7 years old. " Hey, what can I tell you? My dad was real Italian old school , he says with a laugh. it was that or the violin " De Fio turned pro when he was 14, joining an 11 year -old drummer and a 16 year - old sax player to perform at parties, weddings, and Italian restaurants.
After a stint in the Army, he returned to N.Y. put aside the accordion and switched to the piano and the B-3 organ. He played with popular groups on the Northeast show club circuit and was for a time house lounge organist at Three Rivers Inn in central N.Y.where on the big stage, the headliners included Italian crooners Tony Bennett, Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, Al Martino and other stars from that era.
In the many years since then, De Fio has worked with every type of group you can imagine, he can even do a mean James Brown! No kidding. Just request it.
Hey,----- he feels good. De Fio's idea of retirement is to be playing old Rat Pack tunes at a piano bar in a little lounge in Vegas at 2 o'clock in the morning and just keeling over with a big smile on his face. De Fio really is a true musician.
Many thanks to Joe Henderson, the Kansas City Star, Kansas City MO. and, Lynn Anderson of the Best Times Magazine, Johnson County Kansas for most of the content of this article.
