I must admit, I was a little sceptical about Piazza from the vague impressions I had of him, but this is fairly rousing stuff. What say ye, men?
Last Edited by on Feb 08, 2010 11:03 AM
I bought the CD 'Rod Piazza - Vintage Live 1975' back in 1998 and this was one of my favourite tracks. The guy really swings. ---------- "You will never get every possible thing out of an instrument, but the instrument will get every possible thing out of you" - Ray Charles.
This tune was released on the HarpBurn album and is the single reason I play amped harp today. Rod has huge tone, monster chops and his band are as tight as hell.
The Kinder HarpKing amp and the Kinder AFB+ were all designed and built by John Kinder at Rods request. He is famous also for the "Rod Mod", which is a tweak to the volume pot of a JT30 with a Crystal element.
Rod Piazza is one of the legends of blues harmonica. He learnt his craft at the feet of George "Harmonica" Smith. He's a great guy with a deep knowledge of all things blues.
His list of band members reads like a who's who of the Californian blues scene. Junior Watson, Alex Schultz, Rick Holmstrom, Bill Stuve, Jimi Bott, Henry Carjaval, Honey Piazza (his wife). The list goes on and on.
Onstage he has guests like Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, Dennis Gruenling and many, many more!
Every harmonica player who plays blues needs to have some Rod Piazza in his collection.
Last Edited by on Feb 08, 2010 11:24 AM
I really like Rod's style and his band just flat-out gets it, even if his talking accent is a bit of a put-on. Those HarpKings are a kick to play thru, too. Didn't he endorse or play thru those Crystall Balls mics back in the 90s? ---------- Todd L. Greene, V.P.
'Thrillville' is, I think, an earlyish cd of him and the MF's after he left Bacon Fat, it's got an edge to it which is missing in the later cd's but I love 'em all
The Crystal Balls mics were made by Kevin's Harps basically using Rods design. I seem to recall that they altered it very slightly.
He used to sell Rod Mod JT30's and advertised them on his albums. I don't think he ever used Kevin's Mics though (of course I could be wrong about that).
Nick- Thrillville is quite a late CD from Rod. It was released in 2007. Rod has been recording with the Mighty Flyers since 1980 and for many years before that with other line ups. His first album was released in 1967.
Last Edited by on Feb 08, 2010 11:42 AM
Ya,I'm surprised he isn't mentioned much on this forum. As good as his recorded stuff is,his live shows are a must see. Really tight band and Rod is quite the showman.
Kingley: I'm now wearing my shame face. There was just something about a leathery old dude heading a bassistless band in a Vegas lounge that put me off.
But he certainly does swing, and I'm making amends.
Elwood check out the albums: Harpburn, Live at BB Kings, California Blues and Beyond the Source. Those are in my opinion among Rod's best recordings.
His Bass player of many years was the great Bill Stuve. It was a sad day when they parted company. However I saw Rod and the Mighty Flyers at Burnley Blues festival last year and to be honest they are that tight that you don't even really notice that the bass isn't there.
Rod has been around since the mid to late 60's and along with Paul Oscher, he was one of the very first white players to truly get the Chicago blues sound mastered. He had tremendous help by probably the greatest blues chromatic player ever, and that was George Harmonica Smith, who also mentored William Clarke and Kim Wilson as well.
Kevin's crystal balls mics were copies that used the 5mg pot on them, but they left out a very important part of the mod and that was the low value capacitor that Rod would put in so that when the volume pot got rolled down, it would boost the mids and highs so that it would be more like the way the mic is with the volume pot all the way up (most volume pots tend to kill the mids big time when turned down, and even more so if the pot is not the correct value for the mic).
At one time Rod was selling them thru Kevin's, but because the demand was so high for them, Kevin an a guy who called himself Dr. Harpo at the time came up with those copies of the mic that were clearly inferior. (I know, because I got one straight from Rod and a friend of mine got one from Kevin's, and when I saw it on the inside, I could quickly see the difference, plus when the pot was rolled dowen, it became pretty obvious).
Rod's bands have certainly been tight and the first time I saw them was in 1984 and Junior Watson was in the band and he sounded like a classic old black blues guitarist stuck in a freaking time warp (he was freaking HEAVY). ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
He plays the Tampa Bay Blues Fest quite often. He sounds great. I saw him and Kim Wilson do a Little Walter tribute. Their bands played back to back and then they took the stage together for the tribute.
Awesome great player who knows what it means to enchant and excite the audience with some high powered amplified harp playing.
His wife Honey is someone to look out for if you like blues on the piano.
Kingley, thanks for posting Southern Lady. I would've done it if you didn't. That's the song I like to show people who haven't heard of the Rod too! :)
I agree with Zhin. Rods wife Honey is a great piano player. She was heavily influenced by Otis Spann. She's a great woman, really friendly and easy going too. I have to say she is still stunning in the looks department as well. She's now 58 and looks better than many women half her age.
I remember the second or third time I saw them here in the L.A. area around 1985, they were loading their stuff into the venue from the front parking lot. I went up to Piazza and said something like "Man, you sure are a great harp player!" He mumbled "Thanks" or something. Honey looked at me and gave me one of her beautiful smiles and said "Don't tell him that! He's going to get a big head!"
That "Southern Lady" video still gives me an orgasm. And I bought one of his mikes from him. And a Soulful and a HK from J.K. And adore Honey's generous smile. I don't think there was one time that I saw him in NYC (when we had national act blues clubs such as Manny's and Chicago Blues and Tramps) out of the myriad times I saw him that Dennis Gruenling wasn't in the audience. Check out Dennis G's stage mannerisms/shoulder movements. Pure R.P. I brought my girlfriends, my friends, my wife: everyone dug (I speak in past-tense because he rarely hits NY these days) Rod- and Alex and Rick smoked on guitar. Can you tell I'm infatuated. Rod has always had the verve. d ---------- http://www.myspace.com/blowintheblues
I saw Rod play @ Anthology here in San Diego last Friday with Kim Wilson and Mark Hummell opening... it was absolutely awesome! At one point, Kim and Mark came up and played with Rod & Honey for 3 or so songs and I got to meet all of them right after they played.
Rod's live stuff is much better than his studio recordings IMO, but those are great as well. Rod is a really nice dude and pretty humble considering his talents!
I bought his newest CD/DVD "For the Chosen Who" directly from his hands and it's a great album. You should all check it out if you haven't already.
Last Edited by on Feb 08, 2010 3:07 PM