For those who love jazz and tune into stations such as Jazz FM 91.1, you’ve likely heard the incredible Hammond B3 jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco. He passed away last week, just 51. Joey played some of the Toronto Jazz Festivals in the past, and toured around the world, generally regarded as a superb artist who was simply a master of this magnificent beast, the B3. Over the years Toronto music greats such as Doug Riley and Mike Fonfara among many others, were also wonderful artists on the instrument. The B3 is paired with a Leslie speaker which has rotating horns in the top, and a 15 inch speaker facing downwards into the lower rotor. The player controls the speed of the horns and rotor with a switch on the organ. Many people consider the Hammond B3 to be a major component of the heart of R & B, rock, soul, blues, gospel and  jazz. It’s worth a search to check out the B3 and some of the musicians who made their mark in music on this double keyboard. Joey certainly was one of the greats.