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ROD
PIAZZA "FOR THE CHOSEN WHO"
Source: Real Blues
Magazine
Date: 04/2006
Writer: A. Grigg |
Where
do you start with a production like this? The
cover shot of Rod & Honey Piazza shows Rod
with his hands extended as if offering-up a gift
and that’s exactly what this CD/DVD package
is; a gift/present of the highest order, guaranteed
to satiate all of their fans with an overdose
of West Coast Groove. I, for one, LOVE West Coast
Blues and my appetite is huge. Let’s face
it; the L.A. school of Blues circa 1966-1980 produced
far more huge Blues talents than any other Region/genre
and Rod Piazza has been at the forefront since
at least the 1970s (starting in 1967?). Having
owned The Dirty Blues Band LPs in the 1970s (Rod’s
first recordings?) and having followed his recording
career for 36 years, I feel confidant enough to
make statements about the man. He’s lived
The Blues virtually his whole life and few artists
ever exhibit his drive, commitment and dogged
determination. He’s a total achiever, actually,
‘over-achiever’, is more appropriate
and few contemporary Blues Acts have been able
to maintain a steady work schedule since the ‘War
on Music’ began. Besides giving 110% effort,
Piazza also happens to be a killer Blues harmonica
Ace and he’s ranked consistently in the
Top 3 or 4 Blues Harp Blowers for over 30 years.
His bands have always been downright scary with
the Cream of West Coast guitarists, bassists and
drummers passing through The Mighty Flyers. But,
Piazza is actually a one-two punch as the ‘other’
Piazza in the band, Honey, is one of the World’s
top Boogie Blues pianists. Some of the best times
I’ve ever had have been on the dance-floor
in front of Rod & Honey and The Mighty Flyers
and in the chauvinistic World of Blues, Honey
Piazza seldom gets the attention and credit she
deserves for her genius-level prowess.
This
is a beautiful, LOVING package with a letter-to-the-listener
from Delta Groove owner Randy Chortkoff and
in it we get clued-in that Randy was tutored
(26 years ago) in The Blues and Blues Harmonica
by none other than Rod Piazza. Randy expresses
his gratitude to Rod for changing his life and
putting him in touch with all that was truly
important in the Realm of Blues. The booklet
accompanying the CD/DVD is also a wealth of
beauty and information giving you a history/biography
of everyone involved. Before I go any further
I’d like to say I’m grateful to
Rod Piazza for introducing me to 2 great Bluesmen;
The King of Blues Harmonica, Little George Smith,
and through him, the great Marshall Hooks. One
of the first LPs I owned as a fledgling Blues
lover was “No Time For Jive” by
Bacon Fat, Rod’s band after The Dirty
Blues Band, and Rod was clearly on a mission
to get his mentor and hero George Smith worldwide
fame. George and Rod would stay ‘Father-Son’
for the rest of George’s life and Rod
was responsible for turning-on tens of thousands
of naïve White kids to the Magic of Mr.
Smith. The line-up on this set is heart-stopping;
besides Mighty Flyers Henry Carvajal (a stunning
and classy guitarist who is revered by all West
Coast Blues players in-the-know), Bill Stuve
(a pure Blues bassist who gets that 1950s sound
out of his KAY relic) and Paul Fasulo (a fine
drummer who can do it all) we also have a guest
cast that’ll floor ‘ya…Kid
Ramos, the toughest picker around (2 tunes),
Phillip Guy (Chicago’s best-kept Blues
secret, who is finally, after 30 years of trying,
getting recognition that he’s a Blues
King in his-own-right (Phil picks lead on 4
tunes), James Gadson (the funkiest drummer alive,
4 tunes), Johnny Dyer (one of L.A.’s last
original Blues Kings, sings duet with Rod on
one tune), Randy Chortkoff (a fine harp man
himself on one track), David Woodford (who does
a wonderful job with various saxes and all horn
arrangements throughout), and finally, backup
vocalists extraordinaire; Cynthia Manley, Amy
Keys, Jessica Williams and Robbyn Kirmsee. By
the time you finish examining the perfect packaging
and reading the liner and session notes, you’re
pretty pumped for the music and track #1 “I’m
A Love You”, a classic Jimmy Reed shuffler,
is just what-the-doctor-ordered. Kid Ramos’s
chugging guitar line is like a locomotive, driving
the tune with that wonderful dirty retro-tone,
while Henry picks Pat Hare-like lead and Rod’s
harp blasts sweet-but-heavy Chicago choruses.
Kudos to the fun vocal chorus. You have the
tone set and #2, the old Vee Jay hit “You
Can Make It If You Try” (Gene Allison’s
claim to fame) takes us to Soul Church, retaining
the originals’ goose-bump inducing flavor/arrangements
while Henry C. burns out a stinging lead that’ll
have guitar freaks hitting the playback. Rod
really sings his butt off on this, one of his
all-time favourites (probably something he’s
wanted to do for a long time?) and a tune that’ll
always sound great. We then take a trip to Chicago
for Jimmy Roger’s killer “Left Me
With A Broken Heart” and everyone gets
DOWN! As they dig into one of the finest Chicago
Blues classics. Kid handles lead guitar and
his solo is a ranting screamer as he whips-off
nasty Ike Turner-like whammies amidst the sparks.
Whew! Rod’s harp is heavy: a Big Walter-ish
swooping sound that evokes memories of that
playful, sweet old Harp King.
Another
late 1950s R&B classic (at least with us
collectors) is Ike Turner’s “She
Made My Blood Run Cold” and again we’re
given a loving, classy treatment with Woodford
doing yeoman work on multi-tracked baritone
sax and the ladies coming through again with
their Shirelles-in-leather vocal work.
Then
it’s BLAST-OFF-TIME! Rod Piazza goes into
orbit on the old sax instrumental “Shoestring”
and it’s Jitterbug Heaven as everyone
goes for broke, Woodford honkin’ in unison
choruses, Henry Carvajal blasting and burnin’
that nasty distorto-tone guitar while Rod shows
the World he’ll out blow anybody on a
good day. (I know a lot of harpists will be
listening to this one and goin’ back to
the woodshed). “Ground Hog Blues”
is a stripped-down-to-the-basics classic Blues
with Rod going with the acoustic-style harp
and Honey rollin’ the Blues with some
2-fisted piano-pounding a la’ Mercy Dee.
Beautiful stuff!
We
then get ‘Modern’ with the funky
“Description Of A Fool”, a Piazza
original, with Phil Guy picking a ‘stinger’
lead (hats of to Randy & Rod for bringing
Phil on to this production as it’ll mean
Phil’s talents get to a few thousand more
new fans…). Once again David Woodford
provides meaty baritone sax (there’s no
such thing as ‘too much baritone’
in my books) and James Gadson drums up a unique/tough
beat. The remaining 5 tracks are all superb
but special mention goes to Johnny Dyer’s
and Rod’s delivery of “Got To Find
My Baby”. Johnny is a gem and his voice
is Blues Purity. Great swooping Little Walter-ish
harp from Rod and Henry’s got Chicago
1957 all wrapped-up with that Louis Myers-like
guitar.
Also,
“Blues Player” is a hoot with a
little bit of Nashville 1961, classic Chicago,
vintage Central Ave. and even that Houston guitar
all thrown-in together and the end result is
a tune that sums it all up beautifully and closes-out
this excellent disc in joyous style. No matter
what, however bad the Stateside climate has
been (Disco, Punk, Hip Hop and now just anti-music…),
Rod Piazza (and Honey) and The Mighty Flyers
keep the Flame burning, never faltering. Thank
God, for that. But, there’s more!!
The DVD is entertaining and illuminating for
a plethora of reasons: getting us an ‘inside’
view of album production/recording first and
foremost. For me, the treats include getting
to see Henry ‘Mr. Tasty’ Carvajal
and Bill Stuve doing their recording parts,
the Blues gentleman, Finis Tasby, the stunning
talents of James Gadson, the faces matched to
those beautiful backup voices (Amy, Cynthia,
Jessica and Robbyn) to name but a few, and Kid
Ramos unleashing his nasty, nasty (that’s
a double-nasty!) guitar solo.
Randy Chortkoff makes an appearance or two to
explain the purpose, meaning and importance
of the project and Randy, like us, hates it
when ‘concessions’ are made to The
Blues in order to attain or attempt to attain
commercial success.
The
current environment (we call it ‘The War
On Music’) is also discussed and it’s
sad to hear someone like Rod Piazza try and
figure-out what-the-Hell is going on that this
wonderful music has gone ‘underground’
whether it’s a temporary or long-term
thing really remains to be seen but, we’d
like to think that this wonderful CD/DVD package
gets the word (and music) out to a few thousand
more potential fans. This really is a priceless
gift to Blues fans everywhere and it’s
a Big reminder as to why this is The Best Music
In The World. 6 Bottles for a poignant masterpiece.
It’s all here folks! |
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