Rod Piazza Albums (13)
What The Critics Say
Rod Piazza has been leading the Mighty Flyers since the early '80s, and on this, his fourth album, he's still doing what he does best, making down-and-dirty music that pays tribute to the bluesmen of the past while delivering choice originals that may one day be considered as highly as the standards they tackle. Case in point, "Cheap Wine," by Rod and his wife, pianist Honey, is a second-line stomp that pays tribute to low-rent thrills. Honey's strutting piano and Rod's harp complement the polyrhythmic groove of drummer Dave Kida, while Rod turns in a loose, boozy vocal. "Tell Me About It Sam" is a remake of a tune called "Blues in 92" played as a tribute to Rod's pal Sam Meyers who passed in 2006. Its lyric about the inevitability of hard times and tight money sounds even more timely in 2009; Rod's harp solo is big, bold, and blue, and his singing's full of anger and anguish. Honey's piano work is just as dazzling, with fast right-hand runs tossing of sparks to highlight her husband's deep blue tone. Two instrumentals let the band show off their considerable chops: "Expression Session" is a shuffle that displays Rod's playful side, with Henry Carvajal's guitar trading phrases with Rod as the tune closes, while the title track is a slow, grinding, gritty blues marked by Rod's gruff harp and Carvajal's clanging, chattering guitar. The covers span the entire history of the blues starting with Big Bill Broonzy's "Key to the Highway," a secular spiritual that's played here as a slow shuffle marked by Rod's weary vocal, Honey's late-night piano arpeggios, and Carvajal's measured rhythm work. Jimmy Liggins' "That's What's Knockin' Me Out" is given a gentle swing treatment while the Piazzas duet on the early rock & roll standard "Ko Ko Mo." Carvajal sings lead on "Talk to Me," a hit for Little Willie John in 1958, bringing the same soulful, tear-drenched tone to his performance that made the original so affecting. ~ j. poet, All Music Guide
'For the Chosen Who'
Release Date 7/19/2005
Tracks 25
Label Delta Groove
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What The Critics Say
Keepin' It Real is an aptly titled disc by Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers. Among the 13 tracks are edgy performances of such blues standards as "Good Morning Little School Girl," "Baby Please Don't Go," and "Pretty Thing," but it's the six originals that really ignite this set. Since the band had been working out these songs during live shows, the tracks were usually captured in one take when they finally played them in the studio. The potent combination of Piazza's rough modernized blues harp, the boogie-woogie keyboard runs by Honey Piazza, and the blistering guitar attack of new Mighty Flyer Henry Carvajal effortlessly clicks, as proved on the shuffle "Moving in a West Coast Way" and the burning instrumental "West Coast Midnight Blues," two tracks that taken together make the CD worth its price of admission. Longtime bassist Bill Stuve and new drummer Paul Fasulo hold down a rock-solid bottom throughout. With growing numbers of blues artists encouraged to tone down emotional fervor for a piece of an extremely small radio-friendly pie, it's uplifting when a band like Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers play this music simply because it feels good. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Here and Now is as about as near to perfect as a modern-day blues album should get. Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers shine collectively like a well-polished diamond on this outing, produced by Piazza and guitarist extraordinaire Rick Holmstrom. The production is real live-on-the-floor stuff, expertly put into nice, retro-flavored mixes that make the quintet sound enormous. Piazza blows powerful harp free of clichés (particularly potent on his showcase piece "Strat-O-Spheric") while writing or co-writing nine of the 11 tunes aboard here. Holmstrom's distorted Willie Johnson-like guitar sprays expert licks all over the place on top of the rock-solid support of string bassist Bill Stuve and drummer Steve Mugalian. But the real secret weapon on this album is Honey Piazza. Her piano work -- always prominent in the mix -- absolutely shines on "Brought Together By the Blues" and "First Love," two of the six tunes she co-wrote with husband Rod on here. Pushing himself and his band in new directions, this album makes a marvelous antidote to modern-day, paint-by-numbers cookie-cutter blues-rock fare. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
'Vintage Live: 1975'
Release Date 8/18/1998
Tracks 10
Label Tone-Cool
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What The Critics Say
This medium to lo-fi live club recording (location and exact date unspecified) finds Piazza and a young, enthusiastic band playing it by the record collection as they mine their way through ten Chicago blues classics. With Hollywood Fats on guitar and former Canned Heat bassman Larry Taylor, the licks are suitably retro and blues-approved, as Piazza devotes over half the set to letter-perfect re-creations of Little Walter staples like "My Babe," "Oh Baby," "Key to the Highway," "Mellow Down Easy," "I Had My Fun," and "Mean Old World." Piazza extends the Walter approach to include like-minded versions of Muddy's "Standing Around Crying," "Take a Walk With Me," Eddie Boyd's "Third Degree," and Howlin' Wolf's "Rocking Daddy." What sounds still sounds pretty impressive (if somewhat derivative) some 20 years later must have seemed absolutely revelatory at the time. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Tough and Tender was the first new studio for Piazza and the Mighty Flyers since 1992's Alphabet Blues. The kickoff track, "Power of the Blues," announces their triumphant return with a clarion call from Rod that "we've got the power of the blues." Piazza's harmonica is locked in sync with guitarist Rick "L.A. Holmes" Holmstrom's on the intro before Holmstrom whips off a slashing solo in the middle that recalls the phrasing of both T-Bone Walker and Pee Wee Crayton. Rod's solo on this opener is also textbook playing, full of taste, control and the deepest of tones. The title track is a new Piazza classic that illustrates the empathy between every player in the band with Honey Piazza's boogie-woogie piano soloing making an apt foil for Rod's chromatic harp work. "She Can't Say No" and "Sea of Fools" brings Jonny Viau's and Allen Ortiz's horn to the party for New Orleans style R&B and a blues rhumba. Piazza's harp is highlighted again on the instrumental "The Teaser." Other highlights include the loping West Coast swing of "Blues and Trouble," the jazzy instrumental "Under the Big Top," Honey's showcase on "Hang Ten Boogie" and the set-closing "Searching for a Fortune." This album clearly shows why Piazza and his band have been favorites on the blues circuit for quite some time and why that fan base shows no signs of getting smaller. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
'Live at B.B. King's Blues Club'
Release Date 1/1/1994
Tracks 12
Label Big Mo
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What The Critics Say
This harp master really turns out the discs; boogies and blues. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
