That's hardly an overstatement. Since his late teens, DeFrancesco has led one of the most successful organ trios in the history of jazz. It's been 12 years since he joined forces with drummer Byron Landham and guitarist Paul Bollenback, creating a cohesive group sound that would be the envy of even the most famous of his predecessors. "I don't know too many people who've stayed together that long," the leader comments. "It just works, and I enjoy it. We all know what we're doing. I'm lucky to have a band stay together that long."

Defrancesco has fattened the trio format on recent recordings with some of the most potent voices in jazz, including the legendary jazz organist Jack McDuff. For Ballads and Blues, he welcomes four distinctive instrumental voices. Two are family; guitarist brother, John and Papa, John, the City of Brotherly Love's reigning Hammond B-3 monarch. on the funky "Jammin' In The Basement." Elsewhere, guitarist Pat Martino and alto saxophonist Gary Bartz enliven the session with their well-seasoned talent.

"I'd been working with Pat a little bit off and on over the past three years," Defrancesco explains. "We co-lead a trio together. He's one of the guys who played with all of the organ groups in the '60s, and he's really one of the baddest guys there is on the guitar. I also wanted to have a horn on the date, and I decided on alto sax. Gary was the first cat that came to mind. I love his playing." The choice of Bartz, a player not known for his involvement in the jazz organ format, is indicative of DeFrancesco's attitude when it comes to the choice of sidemen and repertoire. "I love everything- from the soulful stuff to a more modern sound," he explains. "I'm more of a modern player, but I can go either way. And, on this session, I wanted to give a little taste of all of that approach."

The organist's approach embodies a lineage of talent that extends back to the work of William Edward "Wild Bill" Davison. "He was one of the first guys to play the organ this way," DeFrancesco says of the style that eventually evolved into what became known as "soul jazz" in the 1960s. "He played very much like a big band. When Jimmy Smith got a hold of it, he started playing the organ like Charlie Parker - it was a very bebop oriented instrument in its early stages. But it was such a soulful instrument, the R&B stuff and the funky blues kind of stuff sounded so good on it, and it was probably more appealing to the masses, that what Smith and others like John Patton and Jimmy McGriff created in the '60s became a standard sound in modern jazz." It's a sound that's become one of the most readily identified-and loved-styles of jazz to emerge since the rise of bop over half a century ago, and one that came naturally to a youngster growing up in a household drenched in the organ tradition.

"There was always an organ in the home, as well as good records," DeFrancesco recalls of his childhood in Philadelphia. "That's how I basically learned how to play .My dad was working with local bands, but they were playing good stuff. He was influenced by Jimmy, Brother Jack, Big John - all those guys." He dabbled with piano lessons, but acknowledges that he was too advanced when the time came to begin a formal study of music. "It was too boring for me to learn how to read," he laughs today. "So, I never had much success with formal training. I had started playing when I was about four years old, and I'd started on my own. Once my father saw I was interested, he got involved, but never in a pushy way .He approached it in such a way that if he was pushin', I didn't notice it because I loved the instrument so much."

His natural affinity for the instrument quickly led to gigs with his father and other opportunities. By the age of 10, DeFrancesco was landing professional engagements, and as his fame on the Hammond B-3 spread, so did opportunities. When he was just 17, he caught the ear of Miles Davis, who brought the teenager into his band and two of the trumpeter's late 1980s albums, Amandla and Live Around The World feature DeFrancesco. Since then, he's worked with guitarists John McLaughlin and Jimmy Bruno and saxophonists Houston Person and Kenny Garrett, among many other jazz notables. All of these experiences have helped shape a talent that is perhaps more organically grounded in the sound of the Hammond B-3 than just about any other organist. "Most of the older guys played the piano first," he observes. "I'm one of the only ones to have started with the organ."

On Ballads and Blues, Defrancesco's full range of artistry is on display, from the funky riffs that speak of the soul circuit to the lightening single note articulations that spring naturally from roots of hard bop. "I love playing ballads," DeFrancesco readily admits. "The organ is a beautiful instrument for this style. It's so much like an orchestra. You have all these different sounds right there at your fingertips - a lot of expression and dynamics. You can be playing really soft and then bring in the full orchestra for the big sound. You can bring the volume up or down - there's so much you can do. It's a great instrument for ballads. And for the blues? There's nothing that tops it."

It's somewhat ironic that the glory days of the Hammond B-3 - the decade of the 1960s and the triumphs of Smith et al - had come and gone before he was born. Indeed, some of the tradition's greatest practitioners have already passed, among them Jack McDuff and John Patton. Such personal heroes as Smith, McGriff and Trudy Pitts are still around and swinging hard. But it's DeFrancesco that stands particularly tall today, a giant of the organ trio sound, still at a tender age, with the promise of much more to come. And when he croons sweetly on the old standard "That's All," what's evident is that for Joey DeFrancesco, it's really just beginning.