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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!


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Showing posts with label Honey Piazza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honey Piazza. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Delta Groove Music artist: Igor Prado Band - Way Down South - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (February 17, 2015), Way Down South, from Igor Prado Band and Delta Groove All Stars and it's smokin! Opening with Ike Turner's, Matchbox, Sugaray Rayford leads the way on vocal and Prado really romps the guitar. A heavy slung blues, Prado throws stiff riffs and wild trem work making this a terrific opener! John Hunter's, Ride With Me Baby has an easy rock beat with deep blues roots. Kim Wilson has the lead on vocal and Prado shows his fleet fingered guitar work. Yuri Prado on drums and Rodrigo Mantovani on bass keep it tight. Muddy Water's She's Got It, featuring Mud Morganfield on lead vocal sounds like it's right out of 60's Chicago with Ivan Marcio on harp and Donny Nichilo doing a great Otis Spann. Morganfield, Marcio, Nichilo and Prado really do capture Muddy's band sound with a lot of authenticity. Very cool! Lowell Fulsom's Baby Won't You Jump With Me features Ari Borger on piano and Lynwood Slim on vocal with cool jazzy guitar work from Prado and Junior Watson and tight sax work from Denilson Martins. James Lane's, What Have I Done, has a smooth groove led by Mitch Kashmar on vocal and harp. Kashmar really takes a nice romp on his solo as does Ari Borger on piano and Prado shows again that he's got great guitar chops. Jr. Walker and the Allstars' Shake & Fingerpop keep all of the R&B groove of the original with super stinging guitar riffs and lead vocals from Prado, a super bass run by Mantovani. Raphael Wressnig does a super job on B3. On Elmore James' Talk To Me Baby, Rod Piazza takes the mic for lead vocal and harp. Honey Piazza joins in on piano with Prado on lead guitar super charging this track. Excellent! Jerry West's If You Ever Need Me, keeps the original feel of the 60's R&B lead by Kim Wilson on vocal and harp. Very Nice! Joe Tex's You Got What It Takes has a nice twist on the original with Prado and JJ Jackson sharing the vocal lead. Keeping the guitar work tame on this number, Prado's finesse on the fretboard isn't hindered with quiet but cool riffs. Sugaray Rayford's Big Mama Blues has the girth of a Muddy Waters track with Prado and Monster Mike Welch doing the guitar Muddy style. Rayford leading the vocal charge and Borger tickling the keys, this track is right off the Chicago stage. Sweet! Paul Gayten's R&B swing tune You Better Believe It, led by Lynwood Slim on vocal and chased by Borger on piano and Martins on sax make this one really hot number. Prado jumps up and stiff arms the crowd with a flaming guitar solo keeping with the pace of the release. On Jerry West's, Rooster Blues, Wallace Coleman takes the vocal and harp lead and gets right into the Chicago groove. Yuri Prado (drums) keeps this track on a tight leash and Borger lays down a great piano solo. Prado really lets it out on this track proving once again that he can hold his own with just about anyone on the blues circuit. Excellent! Wrapping the release is Omar Coleman's Trying To Do Right with Coleman on vocal and harp. Prado takes the acoustic guitar and shows how powerful the simple instrument can be in the right hands. This is a powerful acoustic track and a great conclusion to a terrific release!

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! ”LIKE”

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Sunbird - Rod Piazza And Mighty Flyers Blues Quartet


Honey Piazza was born on April 24, 1951 in Fairfield, CA. Actually, she was born at Travis Air Force Base, very close by, as her father, a master sergeant, was stationed there. She was named Debra Denise Solum and they called her Debbie. She would be an only child for 16 years, until 1967, when her brother, Mark, would be born. As always happens in the service, her father was stationed in various states and countries during his more than 20 years in the Air Force. After a short time in Kansas, the family moved to England, near London, in 1954. They would live there for 3 years and England would be where Honey started her piano lessons at age 4. These classical lessons continued throughout her teens until she left home at age 17. Her family had eventually moved back to Fairfield after returning from England in 1957 and never left.

After leaving home with her beautiful newborn daughter, Maya, in 1968, Honey headed to Southern California. It was there that she met and married a boy who would share her life for the next 8 years. It was an ill-fated relationship but two wonderful things came out of it. He introduced her to the world of blues and playing in a band, and they had a son, Zoe, in 1971. His name was Robert and he was a guitar player who was constantly forming bands. They moved from town to town up and down the state of California, at one point there were 20 moves in a 5 year period, following the musical opportunities.

It was in Redway, CA in 1970 that Robert suggested that Honey join in with the band who was rehearsing in their living room. There just happened to be an old upright piano included in the house they had rented. Up until this time she ran the house and looked after the two young children. Hesitantly, she attempted, with just classical training, to play along with the band. To go from reading music to improvising was incomprehensible to her at first. She joined in the rehearsals half-heartedly until one night she heard the magical sounds of a piano player coming out of the record player. The album was called Fleetwood Mac in Chicago and the piano player was Otis Spann. This would be the turning point that would shape the course of her life from here on out. Her heart lit up with the sounds of his piano and, with a big smile, she simply said, "I want to play JUST like that." After a quick visit to a Berkeley record store, and 12 albums by Otis Spann under her arm, she began a daily practicing regimen that still is hard to imagine. After getting up in the morning with the two children of 1 and 3 ½ and getting them fed, dressed, and out to play, she would practice with records until lunch. Then there would be a practice session in the afternoon until dinnertime. Once the kids were in bed, the couple would play late into the night. The practicing would go on for 10 hours a day for the next two years.

Wanting to meet their heroes and hopefully get to play with them, the couple packed up an old 1957 station wagon, and together with their two young children, headed for Chicago. There they met and played with The Aces, which included Louis & Dave Meyers, and Fred Below. They also played with Lucille Spann, Willie Cobb, and countless others (it was all an exciting blur) in Chicago, then traveled further east to meet and play with Robert Jr. Lockwood in Cleveland. This was an adventure and an opportunity that would never be forgotten. It was an experience that would prepare her for what was soon to come.

In early 1973, Rod was playing at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium with his Bacon Fat Band, including Pee Wee Crayton, on a show with Big Joe Turner and John Lee Hooker. Honey, her husband, and a friend were sitting right up front and were so impressed by Rod and his band that they asked their friend to go backstage and talk to Rod. He found out where Rod was playing that very next weekend and that was the first time Honey met Rod. He was playing at a party and since she didn’t have her piano with her, he asked her to sit in and sing. After that, they met at a local Riverside, CA club, The Red Baron, where Rod was playing two nights a week, Sunday and Monday. She told Rod that she loved Otis Spann’s playing more than anything in the world and was practicing with his records every day. He told her that all his band was missing was a piano player that played like Otis Spann. So after an audition and three months of practicing with the songs Rod gave her, she joined his band in 1973.

Eventually, Rod and Honey’s separate marriages would end and they became a couple in 1977. They married in 1989. Their daughter, Maya, now 39, is an animal groomer who owns her own shop in Murrieta, CA. Their 37 year-old son, Zoe, is a musician in Monterey, CA. Rod and Honey have been together in love and in music for the past 31 years.
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