Rod Piazza Kept It Real

Another older review of a Rod Piazza album that dates from 2004. Piazza has such a strong catalog that you should be aware of.

Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers have a new disc on Blind Pig, Keepin' It Real. Its the first disc to feature guitarist Henry Carvajal and drummer Paul Vincent Fasulo. Long-time bassist Bill Stuve remains along with Piazza and his wife, pianist Honey Piazza.


The album attempts to recreate the feel of their live performances with Piazza even introducing the band on the opening track, Big Blues Party. As might be expected, the group is tight and swings with the rhythm section being real fine. Drummer Fasulo is a fine replacement for Jimi Bott while guitarist Carvajal is another fine guitarist to play with Piazza, and takes a credible vocal on Ain't Nothing Happening.


There is a nice mix of material with the reworking of Baby Please Don't Go strongly evoking Muddy waters' classic recording. While I find Piazza an inconsistent singer, he is strong on the rocking Baby Please Don't Go, patterned after Muddy Waters' classic recording. Of course he is a brilliant harp player as the evocative West Coast Midnight Blues displays as does his consistently swinging, and inventive, playing that also displays his marvelous full-tone. Piazza is a master of the Mississippi Saxophone indeed.


Like his live performances, this set contains a boogie feature for Honey Piazza, Buzzin', which unfortunately goes on too long as doesthe closing Devil's Foot. One problem with an album like this, the attempt to recreate a live performance leads to the failure to edit one's performances which mar what is otherwise an enjoyable album.


Unfortunately, Piazza has a back catalog that this competes with and for those new to him, I would recommend the exceptional two-cd survey of his career that appeared on Tone-Cool a couple years ago.

This review was written in 2004 and likely appeared in the DC Blues Calendar, then the DC Blues Society’s newsletter which I edited at the time. I received my review copy from the record label.

Rod Piazza Cautions About The Almighty Dollar

There is a certain predictability with a new recording by Rod Piazza. One can expect crisp, excellent musicianship, wonderful ensemble playing, full-bodied , rollicking boogie-laced piano and steady vocals. The new Delta Groove release by Piazza and the Al Mighty Flyers, Almighty Dollar, is no exception.

Its the stability of Piazza and Flyers that plays a major factor in the consistent strong swinging sounds Piazza produces. Honey Piazza has been pounding the ivories for several decades with Rod, and while drummer Dave Kida and guitarist Henry Carvajal have been with Piazza for a number years now. Johnny Dyer adds vocals to a couple tracks, while Rusty Zinn adds his guitar to a number of selections and Johnny Viau plays saxophone on several selections as well.

The songs are mostly interpretations of older songs with an original blues and instrumental contributed by Piazza. The covers are thankfully not of songs that have been done to death. The set opens with a hot Jimmy Liggins jump blues, Move Out Baby with terrific solos from Ms. Honey and Piazza followed by What Makes You So Tough, originally waxed by Teddy Humphries for King with fine sax and a terrific harp solo set against a stop-time groove. Then there is rendition of Jimmy Binkley's swinging cocktail blues, Wine, Wine, Wine, with a terrific harp solo. There is a terrific cover of a lesser known Muddy Waters tune, Loving Man, with a fine Johnny Dyer vocal and the band wailing behind him like the classic Waters Band and some great harp. Piazza contributes a nice original topical blues, Almighty Dollar.

Of the better known covers, Blue Shadows, has one of Piazza's best vocals here while Rusty Zinn conjures up Johnny 'Guitar' Watson with his fiery guitar solo. Dyer handles the vocal on a solid rendition of Confessin' the Blues, based on little Walter's recording. For some reason Walter is wrongly credited on the CD as having written this Jay McShann and Walter Brown classic. Honey Alexander sits out two Harmonica features for Rod, That's It, a Little Walter instrumental and stellar harmonica romp, Con-Vo-Looted. Rusty Zinn shares Carvajal on guitar to recreate the feel of the classic Little Walter recordings.

There is plenty of exceptional music here. Even when Rod is not out front, the musicianship is first-rate. Almighty Dollar is another marvelous addition to Rod Piazza's substantial body of recordings.
My review copy was provided by a publicist for the label.

Rod Piazza's For The Chosen Who

Rod Piazza is one of the major players of the West Coast Blues Scene. I have been listening to his records since the days of the Dirty Dozen Blues Band on ABC Bluesway in the 1960s. With the Mighty Flyers, he has had one of the tightest, swinging bands of the past several decades. A solid singer and a terrific harmonica player, I have reviewed a number of his recordings over the years, but have noticed that I have not posted any reviews on this blog, so to make up for this omission, I am pleased to post this review of a 2005 Delta Groove release.


Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers have a terrific new disc, For the Chosen Who (Delta Groove), a combined cd-dvd package that may be amongst the best recordings of Piazza’s lengthy recording career. One reason to the Mighty Flyers success as among the blues top touring bands is the band’s stability reflected by the long tenure of pianist Honey Piazza and bassist Bill Stuve. Guitarist Henry Carvajal and drummer Paul Fasulo are relative newcomers to the Flyers and fit in like they have been their for a decade.


This new disc includes a number of choice covers, none of which have been over-recorded from Jimmy Reed’s I’m a Love You, Ted Garrett’s You Can Make It If You Try, John Lee Williamson’s Ground Hog Blues, Ike Turner’s She Made My Blood Run Cold, and a pair from Jimmy Rogers Broken Hearted Blues and Trace of You. On several tracks Phil Guy plays lead guitar, Finis Tasby plays bass and James Gadson plays drums.


Piazza sings as good as I ever heard him and the group as a whole sounds terrific. There are too many highlights to mention as everything is first-rate but Kid Ramos adds some nice lead guitar for Broken Hearted Blues while guitarist Carvajal evokes Turner’s tremelo-laced guitar style on She Made My Blood Run Cold. Ground Hog Blues is a wonderful duet between Honey’s piano and Rod Piazza’s vocal and harp while Shoestring, a Red Prystock number I believe, serves as a showpiece for Rod Piazza’s superb harpwork as is the slow Honey’s Blues, with Piazza playing some brooding chromatic harp while Honey Piazza comes across like Otis Spann with Phil Guy adding some strong fills. Johnny Dyer joins for a vocal duet on Little Walter’s Gotta Find My Baby, while label head Randy Chortkoff wrote and plays harp on Call Me Dangerous.


This disc has a dvd bonus that includes a 23 minute documentary overview of the recording of the cd along with the performers views on this recording and the blues. Two of the performances are also captured on video along with a gallery of photos complete this absolutely terrific blues recording.

This review appeared in the February 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 279). I received my review copy either from Delta Groove or a publicist for the label. It is still readily available.

Smokey Wilson's Blues For Big Town Still Rocks

Ace Records (UK) put out a reissue of some early Smokey Wilson recordings which in my blog I listed as among the best blues of 2006 and this review was carried in the January-February 2007 Jazz & Blues Report and accessible on the web site if you do a search of the reviews. Anyway, Smokey had some health issues, (I remember a stroke) and believe he never has fully resumed playing music, which is a shame because his gritty delta rooted blues is certainly missed today. Anyway, here is my review

Until the early 1990s when he was signed by Bullseye Blues, Smokey Wilson was one of the best blues secrets out on the West Coast. The albums recorded for the Bihari Brothers for Big Town that have been culled for the Ace (UK) CD, Round Like an Apple, The Big Town Recordings 1977-1978 along with recordings made with Rod Piazza and William Clarke indicated what a talent this gentleman who operated the Pioneer Club in Watts was. A Mississippi native, he moved to Los Angeles and established himself on the West Coast. The Big Town Recordings display his powerful straight no-holds barred style that would have been at home at a Little Rock juke as it would a West Side Chicago guitar as Wilson sang with a gritty, gravelly voice that suggested Wolf, as well as played strong guitar whether driving modern single style or slide. Few can match his ability to handle Howlin Wolf’s material like How Many More Years, or remake Night Time is The Right Time into a scorching rocker. The way he tears into a vocal like Johnny Copeland’s I Wish I Was Single, or Low Rider (Deuce & A Quarter) similarly shines. His reworking of Lowell Fulson’s Tramp is marvelous as is the title track with its relentless boogie groove, and the driving Blues For Big Town. These recordings have been unavailable for so long and their reissue is very welcome. One might hope that this sells enough so that Wilson’s other Big Town sides are also made available.