Homage

Greg Piccolo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 13, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Emit Doog Music
• ASIN: B000056MTT
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,605 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Illinois Blows the Blues

2. Soft

3. Night and Day

4. You Left Me All Alone

5. You're Not the Kind

6. Red's Blues

7. Lester Smooths It Out

8. Blow Joe Blow

9. Handclappin'

10. Ram-Bunk-Shush

11. Port of Rico

12. Over the Rainbow

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's only good music and bad music, September 21, 2003

By 

George R. Dreher (West Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homage (Audio CD)

Greg Piccolo's repertoire is fascinating, like a never ending bag of tricks. For this CD he pulls out 12 amazing covers of his idols from yesteryear.

Now in his early 50s, Greg Piccolo has lived a 35 year working career of playing blues oriented sax, much of it with the 10 piece Roomful of Blues and the last ten years on his own with either a quintet or a trio. This CD features a quartet.

He sailed though high school doing covers of the late 60s rock at Misquamicut State Beach in Rhode Island where is band nailed the house gig during the summer. In the winter he would play more blues oriented music at the "Como" (Community Center). He later left college to join Roomful of Blues in 1971 where he played until going solo in 1994. He then did two CDs on Fantasy they called Acid Blues, but he wanted to release the magic of this CD, "Homage", independently. It was interesting that Greg chose to do this material since he had more than enough original songs (Pic music) to fill 2 CDs and would sometimes even say he was going to do a country recording. Perhaps it's because of his roots, perhaps to satisfy the critics of his Acid Blues, but probably it's just because he always plays what he wants, whatever it is.

It's nice that he includes Red Prysock's "Handclappin" because Greg has always had the driving energy exemplified in this cut. On the other end of the scale, he slows it down as much as he ever has with a song he still does in his live performances, a heart wrenching cover of Ben Webster's rendition of "Over The Rainbow". Bill Doggett's easy swing is caught by Piccolo in "Ram-Bunk-Shus" (an easy swing reminescent of Piccolo's 1982 original tune "Yes Indeed!").

Gene Ammons and Piccolo are a cosmic fit and Greg chose "You're Not The Kind" for this CD and catches the playful lilt of Ammon's happy go lucky I've got the blues phrasing. Then an intense drama that just might even give you goose bumps is Illinois Jacquet's "You Left Me All Alone" with it's chilling arpeggio crescendos. Joe Houston is brought to life when Piccolo blows "Blow Joe Blow" in a stomping romp that leaves blood.

"Lester Smooths It Out" is an expanded version of Piccolo's improv on his earlier Acid Blue CD, this time more similarly phrased to Lester Young's '40s cut. Piccolo spreads his wings and flies through an Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis arrangement of "Night and Day".

Piccolo has been performing songs by these sax greats for over 32 years but credit should also be given to manager/producer Bonnie Tallman, and the superb session players Marty Ballou on bass, Reese Wynans on piano and organ, and Bobby Ruggiero on drums.

As genres go, in the lofty big tent of jazz sax including Sonny Rollins, The Bird, Coltrane, et al, this may seem down to earth to some. To blues purists this may be too jazzy. To fans of Piccolo's Acid Blues this may seem like tunnel vision. But I give it 5 stars as viewed from Duke Ellington's aura of black and white, good music and bad music.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have, February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Homage (Audio CD)

This CD is a must have for all lovers of tradtional jazz instrumental music. Piccolo is a one of the best sax players I have ever heard although relatively unknown at this time I'm sure will hear much more of him in the future.