*** Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers

TOUGH AND TENDER

(Tone-Cool)

Harmonica player Rod Piazza has walked atop bars from Belgium to Boston and Rome to his home in Riverside, California. But blues fans should look past the showmanship and listen closely to Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, one of the finest-tuned and most exciting blues machines running. For nearly 20 years the Mighty Flyers have been the standard bearers for a sound known as West Coast swing, which blends the light and jazzy touch of Texas shuffles and California jump blues with gritty Chicago stomp. Tough and Tender is a 100-proof shot of the influential Flyers' sound, where Piazza shares solo space with stinging guitarist Rick Holmstrom and the masterful boogie-woogie pianist Honey Piazza (né Alexander). Rod roars, whistles and swings like a bebopper on a variety of harps, including a low-tuned diatonic harmonica, cooking up a collection of original tunes as meaty and flavorful as a rack of ribs.

-- Bill Kisliuk