Rod Piazza
This is the one I've been waiting for!
I just finished watching your great interview with Rod. I don't think I've actually seen an interview with him ever, and you really got a lot out of him.
While it seems most players reach for Little Walter when they want to learn, I have always found myself grabbing a Rod Piazza CD. I catch his shows whenever he's in town, and during his last show in Annapolis, Maryland, I got him to sign one of my Special 20 harps. Larry David was in the audience that night, and Rod took the time to sign my harp, and even chit-chat a bit, keeping Larry waiting at his table until he finished with me. Rod never seems to short change his fans.
I was a bit surprised with his interview here. I was surprised to discover that he's obviously not a formally trained musician, and that he seems to know very little about music theory (he even stumbled a bit when talking about position play). Everything he has is in his head, and he plays from his own internal vocabulary - and from his heart. His prolific writing and skillful arrangements had me a bit fooled.
His advise at the end was something most players should take to heart. We struggled through the 80s in our band to "make it," and while we got close, we never really got over that hump. We were so bent on making it that by the end, we couldn't even get along. We slept in cars, cheap motels, on the floors and couches of friends and fans. Some nights we made a lot of money, some nights we made next to nothing (or got robbed entirely by the club owner). Rod's advise to play as a hobby is the best approach to take - especially if you are middle-aged or beyond. If you make it, you make it. Otherwise, have fun. When you take it too seriously, you can lose your soul. Fact is, most people DON'T make it. You might as well enjoy the ride and plan for your real life.
Lastly, the mini-jam session at the end was AWESOME - by far the best of the interview series thus far.
Oh, and by the way, I guess you couldn't get the glasses to come off?!? I think he's had them surgically implanted by now.
Every day I'm on this site I'm blown away by the content. I can't wait to see where you're taking things next. Thanks for everything and keep it up!
Harp has been so obscure on the music scene for so many years that we have lost many greats without even getting to know them at all. Take a look at Little Walter. He's the top of the heap - an icon - and the one man everyone wants to sound like, but in the end, there's very little out there. There's very few photographs, sparse snippets of interviews, and literally only one video of him performing (backing Hound Dog Taylor and Koko Taylor in Denmark in 1967 the year before he died). This is amazing considering he's not a player from the early part of the century - but the 50's and 60's!
Somehow I think if this site had been around back then - you would have snagged him.
Keep it up, there's some others out there you need to get down for posterity before they slip from our hands.
Glad you liked the interview! Although I've worked with all of these guys for almost 20 years I personally get a lot out of these interviews as well... it's priceless to hear how these players, whom we all respect, think about things.
It's also about having a harp player (me) sit down with an artist, asking questions that harmonica players want to know... not just a "so, what got you playing harmonica."... and prosperity... I hate the idea of GREAT harmonica players passing without us getting to really know them on a personal and deep musical way.
My first interview was with Gary Primich. I just bought the cameras and didn't really know much about them, but I was going to Austin for a workshop and hired Gary to be there and help... actually Gary played guitar and I played Bass behind the students... our jamming wasn't even on the harp! ;-)... he passed away a month after that. After being shocked and sad about his death... I was so happy that I could capture him on tape for everyone to appreciate for the rest of time.