Joey De Francesco 40 – HighNote Records

Joey De Francesco 40 – HighNote Records HCD 7226, 59:14 ****:
(Joey De Francesco – Organ; Ramon Banda – Drums, percussion; Rick Zunigar – Guitar)
One of the major personalities in the world of the Hammond B-3 organ is Joey De Francesco. Born into a musical family, he started to play piano at the age of four and ultimately switched into organ following in his father’s footsteps. Now forty years old, this current release is a birthday celebration of sorts, and is a testament to his continuing virtuosity.
Stylistically, De Francesco has developed a strong right hand, carving out rock-steady bass lines, thereby swinging at all tempos. So with this readily identifiable sound he launches into the first three cuts of this album “Donny’s Tune”, “Ashley Blue” and “Gloria” all of which were written by Joey for members of the family. Each of these gives him the opportunity to display his dexterity, and from within, tell a musical story fitting the occasion. On “Gloria” however he also delivers a vocal paean to his wife much in the style of the late singer and organist Joe Mooney. Digging into Soul Train mode, De Francesco and the group give the James Ingram musical trinket “One Hundred Ways” a workout that has guitarist Zunigar on fire and Joey delivering a hip shaking solo.
The Ray Charles sizzler “I’ve Got A Woman” provides the structure for Joey to pay his respects to one of his most important mentors, Jimmy Mc Griff. As one of the pioneers of soul-jazz, Mc Griff’s style gave impetus to De Francesco’s no-nonsense approach to his down- home adaptation on which he delivers this tune. Joey had always had an interest in technology and he uses his own model of a Numa Organ by Studiologic to move digital organ know-how forward on his own composition “V&G”. Sounding a lot like an early Milt Buckner with block chords, Joey offers a tender view, splendidly rendered. There is no fall off with the other tunes on the disc all of which easily reveal a combination of his liveliness and intrinsic swing make-up.
Joey De Francesco continues to develop his ideas and find new ways to take advantage of the organ’s seemingly endless capacity to create multiple attractive voices.
TrackList: Donny’s Tune; Ashley Blue; Gloria; One Hundred Ways; I’ve Got A Woman; V&G; Life Is Good; Bluz ‘n’3; Caruso.
—Pierre Giroux