Jazz Times once hailed Joey DeFrancesco as "the best B3 player on the planet." For obvious reasons. DeFrancesco died Thursday. He was 51. His label Mack Avenue confirmed the news on its website and ...

Considering that the Hammond Organ Company built the last B-3 organ some four decades ago, the unwieldy-but-sweet-sounding instrument is enjoying something of a moment in the Bay Area’s jazz scene.

Few are the folks who could cast a literal shadow over the iconic Hammond B-3 organ, nicknamed "the Beast" by many of the jazz musicians who have helmed the hefty 425-pound instrument. But Reuben ...