Customer Reviews

Keepin It Real

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers are quite simply one of the greatest blues bands in the world. After several successful years on the Tone-Cool label--and some outstanding CDs--Rod and his band have "moved" to Blind Pig. The music is as super as ever.

There are some excellent harp players on the blues scene today, but none are better than Mr. Piazza--his range and technique are astonishing. Like a fine wine, he seems to just keep getting better with the passing years. At the same time, Rod's virtuosity is fully matched by his partner, Miss Honey Piazza, who--in this writer's humble opinion, based on their appearances at Ottawa's annual Bluesfest--is the best "boogie woogie" piano player in music--period. Rod and Miss Honey always seem to have top-notch musicians in their "Mighty Flyers" line-up--currently, there is Henry Carvajal on guitar, Bill Stuve on bass and Paul Vincent Fasulo on drums--all are solid and inventive.

I understand that the tracks on this CD were recorded in one take, to keep them as fresh and spontaneous as possible. As a result, even blues standards such as "Good Morning Little School Girl", "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Pretty Thing" come across with a renewed vigour. Several tracks were written by Rod himself--excellent numbers like "Moving in a West Coast Way" and "West Coast Midnight Blues" give away his California roots, by way of Chicago of course !

In 1991, Rod and the Flyers released a fine CD on Black Top
( Blues in the Dark ), which featured an amazing "boogie woogie" instrumental, "Buzzin'", to showcase Miss Honey's extraordinary talent. It has been a mainstay of the Flyers' concerts ever since--here in Ottawa, the only sound you could hear apart from Miss Honey's piano was thousands of jaws dropping ! On "Keepin' It Real", she updates "Buzzin'" into a more extended version, in keeping with her concert performances. I can tell you--it still blows me away !

Bottom line--one of the best blues CDs of 2004, from the band that never, ever disappoints. Highly recommended !

Just picked it up today from Best Buy, and it smokes. It's bluesy with an up tempo beat that rocks. A great addition to my CD collection!

Piazza is consistantly a good player year after year. His backup band continues to grow but I don't think the same can be said for Rod. I think many Piazza fans would love to see recorded more adventerous harmonica such as in the song "Devil Foot". This CD is well recorded (except for two of the songs being out of pitch, which may nag those of us who like to play along)and an honest reflection of what Piazza sounds like live.