The whole trick of putting together a Hammond B3 trio is not too different from creating a great pasta sauce. It’s all a matter of what basic ingredients you put together, and then how you season and stir it up. Joey DeFrancesco creates a pomodoro of a disc that is as spicy, tasty and filling as anything you’d want to pour over your linguini. His basic mixture of his own Hammond and tried and true flavors of veterans Larry Coryell/g and Jimmy Cobb/dr is beautifully displayed on a mix of thick and rich standards, pop tunes and originals.
The selection of material like the title track or “Wagon Wheels” shows how attitude is everything. Taking the melodies of these ditties and throwing in sonic herbs like oregano and cayenne peppers, DeFrancesco lets his keys percolate and bubble, while Coryell picks, bends and twists his strings like fusilli. Cobb, the ever-steady teammate, keeps the music simmering with a relentless ride cymbal that sizzles like grilled onions, as on the Bunsen burner “Five Spot After Dark.” As an added dash of grated Romano, DeFrancesco switches to a Harmon muted trumpet on “Old Folks” that will make Wallace Roney fans shake their heads in bewilderment, making this disc a feast to savor over and over. Bravo regazzo!
High Note Records