The whole trick of putting together a Hammond B-3 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 with a mixture of his own Hammond and the tried and true flavors of his regular bandmates Steve Cotter and Ramon Banda. This swinging threesome references everybody from saxophonist Sonny Rollins ("Way Out West") and former boss Miles Davis ("I Don't Wanna Be Kissed") to Thelonious Monk ("Monk's Dream"), putting its own stamp on this format in straightforward fashion. This date is essentially a blowing session with solos aplenty, but the musicians never phone it in. They clearly delight in exploring the material, playing off one another and, in the case of DeFrancesco and Cotter, letting their envious chops off the leash. The Rudy of the title is, of course, the legendary Rudy Van Gelder, who engineered, mixed and mastered the disc.

JOEY DeFRANCESCO, Hammond B-3 • Steve Cotter, guitar • Ramon Banda, drums

TRACKS: 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

 Budo

 Way Out West

 After You've Gone

 Monk's Dream