Rolling On

This is sorta kinda a continuation of my thought threads from yesterday, so I'm just rolling on. I was going to pull up the post and simply edit and add, but I do have enough swirling around the brain to just do the do again today.

I failed to mention that a few friends from my school days in Brazoria came into town expressly to watch our band play at the Brewery last Friday. My brother and his wife played host while we tried our best to entertain them. It made for a very special night for me. Word is that they'll return at some point down the road.

Let me add a link to David Barrett's marvelous website here. Lots of folks just aren't going to fork over the $17 a month for harmonica related stuff and search out similar free online offers. I balked at doing it for a long time until I decided that I wanted to see his reviews of the numerous small amplifiers and stayed a couple of months. And that's the deal. One can pay out for a year or month to month and cancel anytime. As I said in yesterday's post, I'm back to wandering around the site and finding plenty of value as I go, such as the aforementioned tube rolling vids on the Princeton. That in itself was worth a month's fee.

Barrett interviews a slew of harmonica pros and those are super. Since I re-signed up on the site to glean a bit more info to polish my tongue blocking a bit more, I went through the vid interviews just clicking on each player's responses to Barrett's question on tongue blocking and some on their preferred equipment. What I'm saying is that I haven't viewed each interview in their entirety, so I'm looking forward to watching them. At the time, I just wanted to hear what master blasters like Gary Primich, Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza, Gary Smith, etc...had to say about TBing the harmonica.

Now, and I mentioned somewhere in the history of this blog, that I curl my tongue (or UBlock) to get a single hole. Just the way I found it easier. For many years, I really thought I was an odd duck out of water, because I knew of no one else that did such. Everyone puckered or tongue blocked. UNTIL I bought an instructional video from Norton Buffalo who played harp for Steve Miller. Right off the bat he mentioned that he curled his tongue. Anyway, I felt validated. Soon, from online discussion groups such as Harp-L, I found others mentioning they did the same thing. We were rare, but there and maybe even Little Walter did a bit of it.

CUTTING to the chase as to why I'm rehashing all this is the Barrett interviews. One of my favorite present day harmonica players is John Nemeth. Immaculate vocals and his harp tone is wonderful and he said he strictly UBlocks his notes, of course except for playing octaves (which of course, takes tongue blocking to get the split notes). Said it was the way he learned and has never seen a reason to do otherwise and ain't gonna try and change now. Epiphany for me. From there, another one of my favorites, Mark Ford, said he did the same thing and can even manage slapped notes with the embouchure. Steve Guyger even said that he's trying it out, because he was told by a reliable source that Little Walter did employ the method from time to time. SO I was surprised and felt additionally validated and not quite so hell bent to perfect tongue blocking.

BACK to discussing Shoji Naito. I first became aware of Shoji during a trip to Chicago (it's documented in the archives here) and he was playing guitar with harp man Morry Sochat and the Special 20s at the seafood restaurant. They were fabulous, by the way. I later learned that he was also a great harmonica player and I had heard good things about the backing tracks he offered on his website for us harp players. I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I did download a few of those and they are wonderful. Anyway, he has been putting out a few videos on youtube during the pandemic stay at home time period and I caught quite  few of those. He plays both tasty guitar and harmonica. His tribute to Eddy 'The Chief' Clearwater, who he played with for fourteen or so years until Eddy passed in 2014, caught my eye and then my ears after I downloaded it.

Westmont to Chicago is a solid unadulterated Chi-town blues release with guest performances by several musicians well known on the Chicago blues scene. Not going to get into an extensive review (mentioned that I've moved away from doing so), but this recording is certainly notable for some of Eddy Clearwater's last recordings and reveal a veteran bluesman that hasn't lost a step, vocally or on guitar. Shoji shines on slide guitar on Ogden Avenue and lays down some tuneful harp on a few cuts, his best while conjuring the memory of James Cotton on Like The Creeper. Great release honoring one of Chicago's great bluesmen. If you lack yourself some of The Chief's stuff, go grab something from his catalogue. Anyway--'Nuff For Now.

For The Harp Players In Us

Here's a few goodies beginning from the top with Bob Corritore's Harmonica Blues. Blogger has made it a PITA (for me anyway) to get pictures to format where I'd like them to land, so I'm making do with where they ended up. Corritore's release has been out on Delta Groove Productions since last year and features him backing a slew of heavyweights at his famous Rhythm Room club in Phoenix. Feature tunes from Little Milton, Louisiana Red, Koko Taylor, Robert Lockwood Jr., Pinetop Perkins and many more.

Chicago Downhome Harmonica Vol. 1 features a great collection from a variety of Chi-town blowers from back in the day. Big Walter, Little Walter, Big John Wrencher, Little Mack Simmons, Little Sonny, and several others display their talents at blowing the nasty ol' blues the way it's supposed to be be blown, either in support of other Chicago stalwarts like John Brim or showcasing their own stuff.

Ditto for Juicy Harmonica Vol. 2, except the range is not Chi-town centric. Big and Little Walter are present (mainly in supporting roles, which sometimes represents them at their best), along with a couple of nice '60s era James Cotton, and some folks you may not know as well, such as Birmingham Junior, Little Willie Foster, Papa Lightfoot, Little Sam Davis, and others.

Last, but certainly not least is a June release from one of the current bosses of the blues, Rod Piazza and his Mighty Flyers. Delta Groove Productions has scheduled a release of Almighty Dollar on 6/21/11, so I haven't much of a clue as to what to say about it. Well, that's wrong. I do have a clue. This is Piazza, and he rarely puts out anything that doesn't represent the best of what bluesharp blues is all about.

That's it. Just wanted to share what I think will turn your crank if your looking for something to satisfy your bluesharp habit. The two collections can be had at http://www.bluebeatmusic.com/

Hot Rod

Rod Piazza
& The Mighty Flyers
Soul Monster
Delta Groove Music

There are only a handful of harpmen working the circuit today that have risen to the professional level of Rod Piazza. He's in the company of Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, and perhaps Mark Hummel as far as paying his dues,demanding respect for the instrument, and commanding decent pay for his talents. Piazza began playing and recording the blues way back in the '60s and he's still on top of his game and his twenty fourth album, Soul Monster, stands as a testament to that fact.

The challenge for a blues harp veteran such as Piazza is to avoid recycling what he's blown before in order to keep things fresh. He's always acknowledged this challenge and met it head on by employing different techniques. He's used low keyed harps on some albums, added a little funk to spice up blues covers, varied the amount of amplified nastiness, or he's messed with the meter or tempo of a classic. Regardless, though, Piazza's style shows through and is instantly recognizable. You know what you're getting with him, even though you don't really know what you're gonna get--other than top notch musicianship. What you know that you're gonna get is an album chock full of variety and Soul Monster is no exception to his formula.

Big, fat, chromatic octave chords open the proceedings on the title cut and there just ain't no mistaking that it's Rod Piazza producing those deep tones on this funky instrumental. It represents one of the four originals on the thirteen cut disc. One of the other originals is also an instrumental called Expression Session, but he worries the hell out of a diatonic harp on this one, with a musical head similar to what I've heard Charlie Musselwhite play on Hard Times from his According To album. The vibe is light, but Piazza's throwing all manner of note bending and low end runs all over the tune. Piazza's albums always include such instrument numbers to highlight his harp chops, Honey Piazza's estimable piano skills, his guitarist's string bending prowess, or even his drummer's stick wizardry. Soul Monster's third instrumental comes from Rod's main mentor, George "Harmonica" Smith, and it's called Sunbird and has that ol' amped up nasty sound and some stupendous lick ideas from one of the best. I can't recall a Piazza album void of paying homage to this West Coast master blaster.

One of my favorite cuts from Piazza's Alphabet Blues album was the slow burner, Blues in '92. He reprises it here, but re-christens it Tell Me About It Sam and introduces the tune with an anecdote about the late, great Sam Myers. Seems that the Mighty Flyers were sharing a bill with Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets (Sam's band) and Sam requested that song from Piazza. He told Sam that he didn't think that he could remember the words. Sam told him, "Hell, I'll sing it." During the set, Sam was introduced to the crowd and when he got to the mic, he said, "You know, it's a shame when a man doesn't know the words to his own song." The song, about hard economic times, fits today's financial climate perfectly. Just goes to show that times were tough back in '92 too.

This disc certainly isn't challenging Piazza's lyrical ideas, since two of the originals are instrumentals and one is the aforementioned re-do and the fourth, called Cheap Wine, sounds down right silly to me. I think they were sitting around drinking the stuff when he came up with the words. It does make a darned good excuse to give everyone a chance to shine with their instruments,though, especially Dave Kida. He drums the song into submission and makes us forget the insipid lyrics. Actually, my favorite Piazza licks on the album make up for the song's short comings.

Honey's not granted the solo showcase that's standard on numerous Might Flyer's releases, but her talents sweep through the proceedings. The weaving of her notes throughout Jimmy Reed's Can't Stand To See You Go raise the song way above the standard shuffle and keeps it there. When Rod has her take it home, she lights into her keys intensely and does her own mentor, Otis Spann, proud. She also carries the bass line for the ensemble, because they have no bass player employed on this disc.

Speaking of Jimmy Reed. Piazza doesn't shy away from covering well worn chestnuts from the masters and he always does such justice to their memory. Little Walter is never far from the surface of what he's laying on us and Piazza has covered way more than many of Walter's tunes, but he throws in just enough Piazza style to keep it honest. So, I really don't mind hearing Key To The Highway again, particularly played with such feeling as Piazza gives it. You know, I'm quite sure that this Big Bill Broonzy song was worn out by everyone and their dog back when Little Walter chose to cover it, but he darned well made it his own. Piazza certainly doesn't make it his own as much as he's just paying a well played tribute. You Better Watch Yourself is pretty much a straight up LW cover, also, but hell, I like it. He does take Slim Harpo's Queen Bee out for a ride that has a significantly different vibe than the original Louisiana swamp groove.

Jimmy Liggins' That's What's Knocking Me Out has the West Coast style blues covered, along with Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So), which is sort of a duet with guitarist Henry Carvajal, who's also given a solo vocal turn on the '50s style do wop flavored Talk To Me, on which his voice fits appropriately--a bit like a middle aged Frankie Avalon. The song is replete with horns from Jonny Viau and Allen Ortiz. By the way, Carvajal's guitar slinging has grown on me since his first Mighty Flyer's outing. He just seems like a more comfortable fit for the group now than he was then. He also seems to shift styles a lot smoother than before and that is the bands forte.

They cover Hey, Mrs. Jones (a Jimmy Witherspoon hit), but they plant it firmly with a Cha Cha rhythm and Piazza employs a deep in the well echo to the vocal track. So, its a bit removed from the West Coast type of stuff that's associated with Witherspoon. That's the kind of stuff you gotta watch (or listen to) to understand how Piazza makes the old, new again, and keeps it fresh.

So, if you know Piazza, you know what to expect--plenty of variety, some old, some new, some West Coast, some Chicago, but all played well by one of he best blues bands in the country and of course, with harp blown by one of the best in the business. By the way, Delta Groove Music certainly seems like a great fit for Rod Piazza. The owner, Randy Chortoff lets Rod be Rod in the studio and we are rewarded with some great blues. Anyway--'nuff for now.

Ramble On

I didn't mention in the post below that I had plans to turn my pickup truck over to my son John, who gets his license on July 2, so I bought a new Ford F-150 crew cab for the trip to the canyons. Shame on me for buying a gas guzzler. Actually, I thought the 21 mpg that I got on the trip was darned good and the back seat area is way spacious for a road trip. Plus, the iPod connection allowed me to plug in as much Little Walter as my wife and son could possibly stand. I do have need for a truck bed for hauling something fairly often around my 5 acres. Enough excuses. I've driven pickups since college and I like 'em and this 'un is a good 'un if the 3,000 mile journey to the canyons indicates anything.

Oh and why is Rod Piazza pictured above? Well, since I need to count up just what this vacation trip might have tallied, I should hold off adding to my substantial stash of blues music. Shouldn't I? So, I thought that I would mention a few new releases that I ain't buying (yet), that may hold some promise for blues harp fans; and the new Piazza Soul Monster from Delta Groove Productions tops the list. He's one of the main men out there doing it today, so we've got to get his stuff. Right? Right.




Bobby Jones impressed me with his vocals on the last Mannish Boys CD (also on Delta Groove). Apparently, he happened by the studio, by invitation, and they talked him into singing a few and then a few more and a couple after that and before long he had his own release--backed by those Mannish Boys, who play the blues righteously. The man can sing. He goes from sounding like BB, to Muddy, to the Wolf, to himself, depending on the song selection.

I ran across a CD entitled Day To Day by Alabama Mike and featuring Steve Freund and RJ Mischo. Never heard of Alabama Mike, but those other two guys convince me to get this one. Can't go wrong when Mischo's on board.

Speaking of those unknowns to me. I purchased Severn Records Diamonds In The Rough a few years back featuring some Chi-Town harp players still doing the do around town. I knew not of anyone blowing the blues on that disc and some, like Russ Green, proved to be hugely talented. Others proved why they'll remain second or third tier level players. Enjoyable release, though. Severn repeats the process with a new release called Chicago Blues Harmonica Project--More Rare Gems. Russ Green is back and I know of Little Arthur Duncan (who sadly has passed away), but the rest of the blowers are new to me. Might be a good one.

Along the same lines comes Juicy Harmonica featuring blasts from the past by some folks I've certainly never heard blowing the blues. Ever hear of Leslie Lewis? How about Model T Slim? Or Little Daddy Walton? No? Okay, what about Tim Whisett or Harmonica Slim? No? Me neither. Never heard of the Sundown label, neither. Which makes it all the more intriguing.

How about Big Walter Horton? Okay, now we're talking. JSP plans to release a retrospective of sorts that might be of value to any of us that would like to have his scattered discography in one place. Just might turn out to be a MUST HAVE on the wish list. Anyway--'nuff for now.