Listening to Joey DeFrancesco can be a thrill; although it can sometimes be a little trying as well. Trying because he sometimes gets so carried away with his own virtuosity that he tends to overplay his hand—his right hand, to be precise—with which he might tend to play one too many notes, almost undoing his own beautiful soli. On this album One for Rudy his virtuosity almost comes apart on the majestic Freddie Hubbard standard, “Up Jumped Spring,” a song on which he gets much too swept away and begins to play a series of florid arpeggios; and once he starts he just cannot stop himself and almost tears apart his own solo. Mr. DeFrancesco does set things right in the end by letting good sense prevail and does pull off a rather exquisite version of the song in the end. But it seems that he just cannot resist some over-the-top harmonising when he loses himself in the music. So why is Joey DeFrancesco still a thrill? Well, with his foibles on this album, he is still one of the finest Hammond B3 players on this planet. And here is why: Mr. DeFrancesco has impeccable taste. Consider the same “Up Jumped Spring”: His opening arpeggios separated by intervallic minors; or minor variations is breathtaking to listen to. The manner in which he paces himself in that opening, varying the pulse as he dallies over some notes and lets his hands rustle over others is also quite beautiful. Then there is the exquisite emotional element of the song: Few organists—indeed few pianists—can make the listener gasp and cry and jump for joy as Joey DeFrancesco can and he does so on this song. It is truly a pity that the excellent solo comes apart when he turns to the arpeggios in the middle section of the solo. However, by the time he comps softly behind the drum solo of Ramon Banda, all is forgotten.
All is forgotten also because of the spectacular version of “Stardust,” which Mr. DeFrancesco plays with some histrionics and voluminous and viscous notes, letting them slide off his Hammond B3. This is possibly the best chart on the album; it is slow, elementally melancholic and despite being somewhat sad, it induces a beautiful reverie in the listener, despite being awakened by the yell of the notes as Mr. DeFrancesco chops out his amazingly beautiful solo. “Goodbye” is also played in a similar vein, with beautiful and dense clusters of notes; making the emotion of the song so hard to take as some of those notes pierce the heart. Perhaps it is the slow sentimentality of some of his music drives Mr. DeFrancesco to distraction. But there is plenty of redemption on this album. “I Don’t Wanna Be Kissed” is beautifully played; the Miles Davis and Bud Powell chart, “Budo” is played with astounding flair. His take on “Monk’s Dream” is even better. Here Mr. DeFrancesco seems to have the essence of the song, a blues, which is played with wondrous slashing notes that imitate the angularity of Thelonious Monk’s original. He also performs exceptionally on “Way Out West,” but once again his penchant for too many notes almost makes the song come undone. But soon better sense prevails and this chart also comes out a winner.
With all its shortcomings and showboating, Joey DeFrancesco still manages to make this album swing and just as well. He is paying homage here to one of the finest engineers to grace the other side of a recording studio, Rudy Van Gelder. And Mr. DeFrancesco does do so in the grand manner with One For Rudy both the album and the chart as well.
Track List: I Don’t Wanna Be Kissed; Budo; Goodbye; Canadian Sunset; Up Jumped Spring; Way Out West; After You’ve Gone; Monk’s Dream; Stardust; One For Rudy.
Personnel: Joey DeFrancesco: Hammond B3; Steve Cotter: guitar; Ramon Banda: drums.
Label: HighNote Records | Release date: September 2013
Website: joeydefrancesco.com | Buy music on: amazon
About Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco comes from a musical family. His Grandfather Joseph DeFrancesco (his name sake) was a reed man. And of course his father “Papa” John DeFrancesco is a fine jazz organist in his own right. At the age of 4 Joey began taking a strong interest in the organ. By the time he was five, he was playing Jimmy Smith songs verbatim. As the years went on his interest and love for the organ and music grew stronger.
Thank you for the very perceptive and well-written review.