Rod Piazza

**Rod Piazza** (born December 18, 1947, Riverside, California) is a blues harmonica player and singer from the United States. His sound combines the styles of jump blues, West Coast blues and Chicago blues.

## Life

He started playing at the age of seven. His first instrument was a guitar. He played blues because his much older brothers bought records of this style. In 1963 he started playing the harp.

Around 1965 he formed his first band (The Mystics) where he should play the guitar but it came out that someone else played this instrument much better. So he became harp player and singer of the band. They had their first gigs at parties. Later they went to Los Angeles and played in little clubs. At that time they signed a contract with ABC Bluesway  and renamed the band. They were now called „The Dirty Blues Band". Because some of the members had to go to Vietnam the band broke up. He formed a new band called Bacon Fat. In this band his mentor  George "Harmonica" Smith played the second harp and so they had a "dual harp" sound.

After leaving Bacon Fat he played solo. Later he formed the Chicago Flying Saucer Band which was renamed "The Mighty Flyers". This is the band which is till today backing up Piazza. On of the founding members of the Mighty Flyers was the pianist Debra „Honey“ Solum, who later became Piazzas wife.

## The Mighty Flyers 2011

- _Rod Piazza:_ harp, vocals
- _Honey Piazza_:keyboards
- _David Kida_:drums
- _Henry Carvajal_:guitar

### Pre-Mighty Flyers Era

- 1967 _Dirty Blues Band / Dirty Blues Band_ (ABC-Bluesway)
- 1969 _Dirty Blues Band / Stone Dirt_ (ABC-Bluesway)
- 1970 _Bacon Fat / Grease One for Me_ (Blue Horizon)
- 1971 _Bacon Fat / Tough Dude_ (Blue Horizon)
- 1973 _Rod Piazza / Blues Man_ (LMI)
- 1979 _Chicago Flying Saucer Band /	Flying Saucer Band_ (Gangster)

### The Mighty Flyers

- 1980 _Radioactive Material_ (Right Hemisphere)
- 1981 _The Mighty Flyers_ (Right Hemisphere)
- 1982 _Robot Woman II_ (Shanghai)
- 1984 _From the Start to the Finnish_ (Right Hemisphere)
- 1985 _File Under Rock_ (Takoma)
- 1985 _Harp Burn_ (Murray Brothers; Rod Piazza solo)
- 1988 _So Glad to Have the Blues_ (Murray Brothers; Rod Piazza solo)
- 1991 _Blues in the Dark_ (Black Top)
- 1992 _Alphabet Blues_ (Black Top)
- 1994 _Live at B.B. King's Club_ (Big Mo)
- 1997 _Tough and Tender_ (Tone-Cool)
- 1999 _Here and Now_ (Tone-Cool)
- 2001 _Beyond The Source_ (Tone-Cool)
- 2004 _Keepin' It Real_ (Blind Pig)
- 2005 _For The Chosen Who_ (Delta Groove)
- 2007 _Thrillville_ (Delta Groove)
- 2009 _Soul Monster_ (Delta Groove)
- 2011 _Almighty Dollar_ (Delta Groove)

### As guest artist

- 1968 George 'Harmonica' Smith- Of the Blues
- 1969 Charlie Musselwhite- Tennessee Woman
- 1970 Revolutionary Blues Band- Revolutionary Blues Band
- 1978 Shakey Jake- Make It Good To You
- 1981 Gary Wright- Right Place
- 1981 Mother Gong- Robot Woman
- 1983 Shakey Jake- The Key Won't Fit
- 1983 Pee Wee Crayton- Make Way for Pee Wee
- 1983 Smokey Wilson- 88th Street Blues
- 1985 Jimmy Rogers -Feelin' Good
- 1988 Michelle Shocked -Short Sharp Shocked
- 1990 Tommy Conwell -Guitar Trouble
- 1991 Doug MacLeod -Ain't the Blues Evil
- 1994 Big Joe Turner -Big Bad & Blue
- 1995 Johnny Dyer- Jukin'
- 1995 Smokey Wilson- 88th Street Blues
- 1998 George 'Harmonica' Smith- Now You Can Talk About Me
- 1999 Pee Wee Crayton -Early Hour Blues
- 2000 Rick Holmstrom -Gonna Get Wild
- 2000 Charlie Musselwhite- Best of the Vanguard Years
- 2001 Kid Ramos -Greasy Kid Stuff