JOEY DEFRANCESCO Snapshot

Joey DeFrancesco has come a long way from “All of Me,” his recording debut as a leader made in 1989 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old. From the get-go, the Philadelphia native established his credentials with virtuoso technique and an innate soulfulness that he developed under the tutelage of his father, Papa John DeFrancesco, a B-3 burner in his own right. Combining monstrous chops with a flair for showmanship and an unquenchable urge to burn, DeFrancesco almost single-handedly put the B-3 back in the public eye. Today DeFrancesco is regarded by organ aficionados as the baddest B-3 burner in the business, a claim supported by his seven consecutive DownBeat Critics Polls. “Snapshot,” Joey’s latest featuring his Original Trio of PAUL BOLLENBACK and BYRON LANDHAM, manages to look both ahead and back – back to the trio’s roots which extend back 15 years – and ahead to musical triumphs to come. At the same time, the live recording is very much “of the moment” and captures a true snapshot of these great musicians, in the heat of the creative process and preserves it in the ones and zeros of this CD.