[Harp-L] RE: Real creativity / Rod Piazza

[Ansel Barnum <Ansel.Barnum@xxxxxxx>]

There's no need to defend the greatness of Piazza to someone who has his CDs, learned his solos, and
attended his concerts. Yes, he's created innovative music with his own patented sound (and mic, and
amp....) to boot. But every song I've heard him play live has essentially been a reproduction of the
song from the CD. (The fact that I know this is testimony to how close I listen to him!) So the
disillusionment was the realization that his music/solos are entirely composed like a classical 
piece, rather than (or in addition to) being improvised as is done in jazz.


Ansel

-------- Original Message  --------
From: harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] RE: Real creativity / Rod Piazza
Date: Tuesday, May 08, 2007 10:16:20 AM

> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 8 May 2007 13:21:23 +0300
> From: "Haka Harri" <harri.haka@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] RE: Real creativity / Rod Piazza
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>, <icemanle@xxxxxxx>
> Message-ID:
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> The Iceman wrote:
>  
> "I had the same reaction to Rod, hearing him 2 nights in a row. After
> the second night, hearing even the "Yeah Baby" vocal inserts in the
> exact same places, he was diminished in my opinion of what I look for in
> a performer."
> -----
> I saw Rod Piazza twice at the Lucerne Blues Festival in 2004. The sets
> were quite different from one another. The first one was late at night
> and was centered on his then most recent album. The second set was a
> "Blues brunch" with lots of older stuff. In this set the band was joined
> by ex-Mighty Flyers guitarist Alex Schultz. They played for more than
> three hours on that early afternoon and the place was rocking. On both
> sets Rod and the band seemed to be enjoying themselves and so was the
> crowd. I couldn't care less if the solos repeated something played
> elsewhere. Improvisation can be really good but it can also be terrible.
> I'm happy to witness excellent technique and inspired playing even if it
> contains less improvisation.
>
> As to creativity, Rod has released more than twenty albums through the
> years. All of them contain new material, a lot of it self penned. From
> the earliest Dirty Blues Band releases Piazza has had a distinctive
> vocal and harp sound. The albums don't repeat themselves except in the
> ears of those who claim that all blues sounds alike. Some of the
> recordings are excellent and some are just very good (IMO). Rod Piazza
> has also been guest or featured harp player on several artists' albums
> inluding Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Rogers, John Lee Hooker and Pee Wee
> Crayton. Looking back at his 40 year long career as recording artist and
> live performer I would say that Rod Piazza is creative and an icon of
> the blues harp.
>
> Harri