As early as the age of 17, when his eye-catching debut was issued on Columbia Records, few jazz musicians in any era have ever dominated the musical vocabulary and a well-known representation of an instrument, as DeFrancesco did with the organ.

At the keyboard, he displayed unmatched technical mastery as his right hand reeled off notes in long ribbons. He also made the most of the aural possibilities offered by an organ console, with its drawbars, switches, and pedal board; his organ could abruptly shift timbres and textures in the middle of a phrase or lurch from an ambient hum to a sanctified holler.