To say that Rod Piazza is a seasoned musician would be putting it mildly. Piazza has a music career that spans over four decades with over 25 recordings under his belt. Piazza added the Might Flyers part of his music puzzle in the early 80’s.
Rod Piazza & The All Mighty Flyers’ music is described as a blend of West Coast Swing, Boogie-Woogie, R&B and Chicago Blues.
Before I listened to, ‘Almighty Dollar,’ I thought that it would be pretty music straight up harmonica filled music (which wouldn’t have bothered me since I’m a big fan of the instrument) instead though what I heard was a well thought out blending of music styles filled with a wide array of instrumentation and vocals.
While you’ll find 2-instrumental track, “That’s It,” and “Con-Vo-Looted,” where Piazza’s harmonica playing is left to run wild, for the most part though it’s content to share the songs with The All Mighty Flyers ( Honey Piazza – piano & organ, Henry Carvajal- guitar, vocals, background vocals, & hand claps and Dave Kida- drums) and special guest (Johnny Dyer, Rusty Zinn, Norm Gonzales, Hank Van Sickle and Jonny Viau) found on the ‘Almighty Dollar.’
Highlight tracks include the opening blues number, “Move Out Baby,” the piano led track, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” the title track the, “Almighty Dollar,” the 50’s sock-hop slow dance sounding track, “We Belong Together,” and the closing track, “Con-Vo-Looted.”
Out of all the tracks mentioned above, “Con-Vo-Looted,” was my favorite with its fast paced harmonica playing that sounded like a sleek Ferrari speeding down the German autobahn at speeds of 150 mph plus.