Never-the-less you are determined and focused, and find yourself in a band full of grownups “playing lead” guitar and you get gigs opening for the very players you so admire. Suddenly, you’re hanging backstage with Johnny Winter, Joe Perry, and Elliot Easton. Your band releases a regional hit and local radio WBCN invites you in to talk about your music… sounds like a fairy tale, something that only happens in the movies, right? Yet, that is exactly what happened to San Diego guitarist, Jimmy Zollo.

Although he is rarely thrown out of clubs anymore, Zollo’s resolve and ‘never say die’ attitude is still apparent. He continues to play with different musicians in multiple bands and actively generates new music and original material. So, when we finally had a chance to sit down and talk, we started with those early years.

Was your family musical? “My dad played saxophone a little bit.” Jimmy says. “And my mom was an artist and she’s responsible for all my musical influences. She was actually a graduate of UC Berkeley and was double promoted from high school. She went to college really early and was up there during the Monterey Pop festival. Her main thing was abstract art but she did all of it and then became an art teacher in the school system. Once we were old enough to go to school, she went back to work and became an art teacher in the high school that I attended. She used charcoal and paint and she sold a lot of her pieces in La Jolla.

She took me to my first concert; Boz Scaggs, the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac back in Foxboro. Thanks to her I got to see Queen six times, Thin Lizzy and there were many concerts I missed because by that age I had already been playing and had a band. She tried to get me to go see the last tour that Bon Scott did through Boston and I said, ‘Mom, I’m playin’ a party.’ Even though I wanted to go… I missed that, and then he was gone. She took me to go see Prince on his first tour, and then she told me about this guitar player from Texas that you need to see… Stevie Ray Vaughan! She was a major influence on my direction and my biggest supporter.”

How about siblings? “My younger brother Drew is a great bass player. We’ve played together in the past. When growing up he would snatch my guitar away from me.” (laughing) “I would beat him.” (laughing) “I finally got hip one day and said, ‘if you’re going to keep doing this, then you’re going to play bass.’ I gave him my guitar and showed him some bass lines and got him going on that. And I have a sister, too. She never played professionally, but she can play the drums.”

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“That’s the thing about blues music, it’s all based on the love of the music
and the people we revere the most.”

– Jimmy Zollo

 ************************

Originally from the East Coast, you must have known early it would be music? “I grew up in Boston and left when I was twenty. When I left that area, I was already a veteran of that scene. I played professionally from the age of fourteen and I opened up for Johnny Winter, Gregg Allman, Frank Marino, Metallica… Hanoi Rocks and a lot of others I can’t remember. I was in a little band and playing with some guys from high school; ‘Scorcher’ and we had our own little regional hit song, ‘Dreamers’ and ‘Let the Nation’s Burn.’ It was kind of hard rock stuff and we got airplay on WBCN-Boston and did interviews on that station.”

WBCN is nation-wide exposure… who else were you running into around Boston at that time? “When I was young, around 1978, I got to meet the Aerosmith crew, the Cars… I met Elliot Easton, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler. Where I grew up, there was a super high bar for guitar players. Even as a kid, you knew there were kids that were already pro players.”

The Northeast is known for its outstanding guitarists. Did you ever run into Duke Robillard? “Yeah…Roomful of Blues! They used to play within walking distance of my home so I would go over and stand outside and listen and then sometimes sneak in and get thrown out… Ronnie Earl, too!”

So you leave the East Coast in 1985… “I went right to Hollywood! It was a great time to be in your twenties and be in Los Angeles. I had just turned 21 and was just kicking around in a couple of bands with some of the guys that I moved out there with, and then eventually my brother and I stumbled into some other guys that came from the Pittsburgh area and we formed the group called ‘the Betrayed’ and we got picked up by EMI. It was a rock band and we were really into the Stones and blues stuff. Basically what happened, we got signed to a big record deal with all these plans and ‘Nirvana’ came out and everything changed!” (laughing) “That was the story for a lot of bands during that time, everything shifted towards that. The people that signed us… they were gone! The next thing you know, we just have a deal on a label with people that don’t know us or have any background with us… and that’s how that went.”

You started playing professionally so early, it sounds like you really didn’t play in that many garage bands. “Well, at 14 I started playing and about six months in, I was in a band with grown-ups… playing lead. It was pretty wild because I didn’t know keys or chords, I just played by ear and nobody could understand how I could learn and play. When I tried to go back and figure out what I was doing, it just ruined it!” (laughing) “You know what I mean? It stopped me from growing, because I started thinking about it instead of just playing intuitively. I could watch friends play… I had some neighbors and their dad was a Bluegrass and Dixieland Jazz musician, so they had instruments. And his son was my age and the drummer. We would play and I’d get tips on how to tune it up, how to make bar chords and cowboy chords and stuff. So that was kind of how I started.”

Your music is so diverse, all the bands you play in… styles and genres, you literally play a little of everything? How did that come about? “Well, I’m glad you noticed that!”(laughing) “It basically goes back to my mom, because she had her record collection and I learned all the stuff in it. From Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin… I mean everything that everybody had out in the late 60s and early 70s, Creedence Clearwater. And then my things; I was listening to Sabbath and Zeppelin, and Queen, you know? The Beatles, Rolling Stones.”

Who were some of your blues influences? “Oddly enough, it would have been the second generation of players, Jimi Hendrix, the rock stuff. Some people might not associate that with a blues thing, but then I worked backwards.”

Bet mom had something to do with it? Jimmy smiles. “She was the one who told me to go back and listen to Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and all that stuff, Chuck Berry. I’m like, ‘who are these people you’re talking about?’ And she would get me the records and that’s how I got into it.”

I think most musicians have been influenced in some way by Wolf and Robert Johnson… Muddy. “Clapton is a good example, he plays everything. He plays hard rock, pop and deep blues and all that stuff and she (mom) literally told me ‘if you can emulate Clapton’s career as far as the range of music…’ I was 14 but it didn’t take long until I realized what she meant and just how much Clapton and the Stones did for the blues and for all those people.”

Sounds like you followed her advice? “You realize everything came from that (blues). All the roots of everything rock & roll was laid in that era. Take Johnny Shines who traveled with Robert Johnson and Johnny could emulate Robert’s playing and singing and the next thing you know it’s virtually like Robert Johnson had a band because there’s a drummer and a piano player and now there’s a back beat… and it’s rock and roll!”

The first band I remember seeing you play in was the Red Lotus Review with Karl Cabbage, Pete Fazzini and Kurt Kalker. How did that band come together? “I had been out of the music scene for a little bit because I had recently been married and had a child coming, so I kind of dropped out to concentrate on that for a minute. And then my wife at the time told me, ‘you know you can go back and start playing music again if you want.’ After my daughter was a year or two old, I started playing with Chillboy (Raffesberger) and he had a little cast of revolving musicians who were available and always great. A woman Charmaine Tam, a bass player was playing with Karl in another band and she mentioned that I should meet him because he would love my playing. In Chill’s band we were playing blues and I was playing a little more traditional style. He was great at what he did but I had a different style, maybe more primitive compared to what he was doing. Charmaine thought that would fit in with what Karl was doing. The first thing I played for him was a Robert Johnson song and he was hooked.”

After Red Lotus Review you started another band with Karl, ‘Holla Pointe.’ “When Red Lotus was like six or seven years in, we actually had a record deal with the Rip Cat label. I was putting together material and we were getting ready to record and a couple of the guys didn’t want to continue in that direction, unfortunately. It was a great lineup and very unique: two guitars, no bass, drums, harmonica and vocals. We wanted to inject original material into that format. I decided to still do these songs and I asked Karl, ‘I’m going to do this band, ‘Holla Pointe’ if you want to be a part of it and he was like ‘Yeah, I’m in!’

Musically, how was it different from the RLR? “It was similar but what happened, we added a bass player and a few different rhythms and I tried to incorporate a hill country and more of a Delta feel, amped up a little bit. Trying to save that traditional vocabulary but adding a twist to it.”

You’re playing with so many people and in so many bands currently… Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones…”It’s basically the same lineup as ‘Change Today.’ It’s Joe’s nightclub act, his working band. I wasn’t really interested in doing more night club acts. I’ve been in maybe 20 bands over the past 10 years and worked hundreds of days a year. But I said I was really interested in getting in to his (Joe Wood’s) back catalogue and maybe writing some new stuff, so we agreed on that and that’s where we are…with ‘Change Today.’

You also played with vocal dynamo, Casey Hensley. “At that time I was playing in the Six-String Outlaws and that’s where I met Evan Yearsley. He and I clicked musically and we had the same interests… so let’s do something together, you know? He said, ‘Well, I’ve got this girl singer, Casey.’ At the time I didn’t realize, but I had met Casey four or five years before when she was like… 14! She sang on a concert that I was playing with Chill (Raffesberger) for ‘the Best of San Diego’ or something. She came in and sang an Aretha Franklin song and I was all, ‘this girl’s good!’ So, I ended up being in the first rendition of her band.”

Are you spending any time in the studio? “Yeah, I’m making this ‘Change Today’ record right now which is really great. It’s a pretty wide-ranging sound, Joe’s a great songwriter and I got to contribute. It was a chance for me to collaborate with someone who’s a proven, great songwriter.”

How did you meet Joe? “Well, it’s funny I met him in ’89 and he says he remembers… but I know he doesn’t.” (laughing) “But I’d been working for different record producers as an assistant in the studios. When they make recordings, I would go in and basically take care of all the guitars; insure they’re strung up and intonated, tuned up and working properly. I would go to the studio at nine in the morning and stay till midnight. I worked on a lot of sessions while I was pursuing my own career. I worked in every studio in L.A… Capitol, MCA. Everything from Rod Stewart, Robert Palmer, hard rock records, I was very busy and made a lot of money. Most musicians don’t make a lot of money when they’re struggling. What was nice is that it didn’t interfere with what I was doing. After doing that for a couple of years, I ended up being in those same studios recording my own stuff. Most of the people working there said, ‘Wow! It’s great to see you here and now you’re working on your own thing.’ And that’s how I met Joe. One of the producers working on one of Joe’s last records with his band TSOL, caught wind of me and was interested in hearing me play. So, when he did and I introduced myself to Joe and he said, ‘You can join my band, anytime!’ We did a couple of gigs together and I pushed the ‘Change Today’ thing and that’s really taken off.”

I remember seeing you play with Rod Piazza at one of his birthday bashes in Riverside. “Rod Piazza” Jimmy says. “I look at him with the same amount of reverence that I do with all the blues originators because of his dedication and the purity of what he does. He recognized something and took me aside and gave me this heart-to-heart about what I was doing. I just gained so much respect for him because he encouraged me… who am I, to him? But he heard something in me and gave me some wind in my sails to believe in myself. It’s hard to explain to people who don’t know who he is or the genre and express the feeling and the depth of what that meant to me. That’s the thing about blues music, it’s all based on the love of the music and the people we revere the most.”

It seems blues is more personal; the music and stories handed down generation-to-generation. “I was just watching a Muddy Waters interview and the man interviewing him was Pete Welding. He was a record producer and blues/jazz historian and was very close with Muddy.” Jimmy says, and as to prove a point. “I was taught Robert Johnson songs by Pete Welding, who learned from Muddy, who learned directly from Robert.”  

Details! This was in your studio years in L.A.? “Yes, I was very young when I met Pete, he heard I was into the blues and took me into his office at Capitol and gave me a music and history lesson that day. That was huge in my life at that time. I also had a chance to meet Les Paul there and had my picture taken with him. He was a very nice man and made me feel like I was his friend, even though we only talked for a few minutes.”

Let’s talk about ‘Change Today’ and collaborating with Joe Wood. “Joe isn’t a kid anymore and he’s fully aware of that. And the songwriting that he’s doing now is very deep and he’s really gifted at it. When you hear this record… there’s a couple of edgier tunes on it that will make his fan’s of earlier material feel good and there’s some darker stuff that they’re gonna’ love too. But there’s also some stuff that can stand next to Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, its real songwriting. Roots-y, pure soul music, and it’s all originals. I just add my texture and color to it. I get credit for arranging some songs but for the most part all the stuff was there. I did contribute two tracks and Joe put it in his blender. Anytime you write something, it’s always a better result when there’s other minds involved that are creative and add to it.”

Sounds like a fun environment. “These bands with Joe Wood and Mark Campbell and Chris Ogard… we all get along so well, it’s almost comical. I’ve never been travelling with a band ever, where it was so light and easy. It’s so much fun because we just laugh all the time and we can’t wait to play. Everywhere we play people are just like, ‘Wow!’ they feel the energy because we’re so excited. We’re finishing up this record, we’ve got all the basic tracks but I have to put my stuff on it and the vocals and we’re trying to put May 30^th as the release.”

Any reflections about life or the road you travel, to this point? “I just go where the music tells me to go.” Zollo says. “I’ve never pursued or pushed myself; I just do my part and make sure I’m ready when that intersection comes. I’ve had the opportunity to play with so many people; I got to play with Jimmy Bain before he died. A bass player and songwriter, he wrote ‘Man on the Silver Mountain’ he was in Ritchie Blackmore’s band with Ronnie James Dio and he wrote all the Dio stuff for ‘Holy Diver.’ I got a call to do a session and I’m standing in the control room with him… didn’t know that was gonna’ happen!” He smiles and shakes his head. “What am I doing there?”

So your message is be prepared and try not to freak out? “I met Cash McCall last time I went to Memphis and he actually performed two songs with me and shook my hand and goes, ‘I really like your playing.’ I was like, ‘That’s enough for me!'”

The post Jimmy Zollo: How Bad Do You Want It? appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Alex Woodson comes from a family of musicians, so it only seemed natural for him to become…an athlete? “I grew up playing sports.” Woodson says. “But I was surrounded by music.” And that would make a lasting difference. Alex was initially drawn to the drums, but a ‘live blues’ experience in a small West Hollywood club altered his musical path. A performance from a local blues harp player had a momentous effect. An epiphany that would lead him down a rabbit hole of record collecting and that makes Alex grin when he remembers, “I started buying everything that said blues on it.” That step through the looking glass exposed Woodson to a world of harmonica blues and the masters that created them. After that, there was no turning back!

When we sat down to talk on a beautiful sunny Southern California day, Woodson responded instantly when asked to describe the music he plays. “Blues!” He says…then elaborates. “A form of roots blues. West Coast Blues. To me, it’s Chicago-based with an up tempo swing. It’s got a lot of jazz chords from guitar players…and a little different energy with a swing vibe and an uptown feel.”

What pulled you toward blues? “I come from a long family of musicians and I wanted to play drums. I was around twenty when I bought my first drum set and it was my introduction into playing an instrument. My uncle is a phenomenal drummer and I went to see him play at a couple of clubs. I had a fake I.D. to get in and his band had a lead singer and harmonica player who played some blues. And instead of me watching my uncle play drums, I got fixated on this guy playing harmonica. It was like, ‘what the hell is that?’ I didn’t know really what a harmonica was and certainly not at that level. They were playing blues in this little club in West Hollywood and that’s where I was introduced to the blues. It got me into buying albums and it was there that I stumbled upon Rod Piazza. And that’s what got me into the West Coast Blues.”

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“When I heard blues the first time I just remember being
overwhelmed by this feeling of joy.” 

– Alex Woodson

 ************************

Anyone else in the family musical? “Mom’s an opera singer; my father was a trombone player and led his high school band and played in his college band but right out of college hooked up with Elvis. He toured with Elvis and then Don Ellis and then Percy Faith and then Henry Manicni. There was a lot of swing music in the house. My brother, rest-in-peace, was the prodigy in the family. He had the gift. He had perfect pitch and could pretty much pick up any instrument and play it. He was mainly a guitar player/piano player. We always had instruments; drums, guitars, pianos, basses and trombones and stuff always around the house. So, I grew up playing sports but I was surrounded by music and loved music, all kinds of music. All through elementary, Jr. High and High School I had it all, from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson to all the Rock and Roll but I wasn’t hip to Blues until I got into college. Then seeing my uncle play in that club and it really struck a chord in my heart.”

Do you remember the first record you bought? “The first album I ever bought was Led Zeppelin II and I was probably eight at the time. And I didn’t know it was blues or blues-based. You hear Zeppelin 1 and there’s a ton of blues on there. I didn’t realize it was blues until I heard blues. There wasn’t a lot of blues played in my house. There was big band, swing, and rock and roll and opera. Nobody was playing B.B. King or John Lee Hooker, so those were the first albums I got. But that night in the club when I heard blues the first time I just remember being overwhelmed by this feeling of joy. A lot of people confuse blues with being sad or suffering…I don’t feel that at all. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that. I’ve always said, ‘If you can’t feel the blues, you’ve got a hole in your soul.’ And I feel sorry for people who can’t feel the blues.”

That early exposure to such diversity in music and style, and out of all the directions you could have chosen, you chose blues. “And I don’t think I’m going anywhere else. I’m sticking with the blues. It’s a feeling. I’ve recorded other music with friends, and it just doesn’t reach me like the blues does.”

Did you play in any garage bands during those early years? “When I first caught on to the blues, I wasn’t even a musician…I had bought a drum set. About an $800 dollar drum kit and it was a nice set. I pounded away with my college roommates and whatnot. But when I saw this guy play harmonica, I went out and bought a $15 harmonica. And that was the guy that gave me the John Lee Hooker album and said, ‘go listen to this.’ Then I took a couple of (harp) lessons with him, you know, to learn some technique. But I found it’s really up to you to figure out how to play that thing. I started buying everything that said blues on it. I didn’t know what I was buying. I had a stack of CD’s; Muddy, Buddy, B.B. and John Lee…”

What was the parental response to that? “They loved it, man!”

You said one of those albums was Alphabet Blues from Rod Piazza. “I had no idea who Rod Piazza was; it just said blues on it. And that was one that I had a couple of keys in. I had a C harmonica and B flat and I could play along with a couple of tunes on there. Long story short, I went to see him play live at a Little Walter Tribute show up on Sherman Way at ‘The Country Club.’ It was great; it was Johnny Dyer, James Cotton and Junior Wells. I was just about to leave before Rod came on, but I said, ‘no, I’ve got this guys CD, so maybe I’ll just catch a song or two,’ because he was headlining. That was a night that changed my life forever! About a week or two later they were playing at Jack’s Sugar Shack on Pico. I thought the guy was from the South, I didn’t know but I saw a flyer and found out the guy was from Riverside and he was playing four nights in a row the following week. So I was there every night sitting about three feet from the stage and after the second night we started talking.”

What other harp players jumped out to you? “William Clarke was a big influence. Lester Butler from the Red Devils, an L.A. guy I used to go check out. He still blows my mind, great player. I try to take a little bit from all of them and blend it. Junior Wells, James Cotton, even Chester…Chester Burnett. He was a simple player but it was cool stuff. Rick Estrin is another one, he’s so much fun to watch. Kim Wilson and George ‘Harmonica’ Smith; he was a monster. “

You’re an L.A. guy? “I went to North Hollywood High.” He smiles. “And was born and raised in Studio City. Just the proximity of where we lived, I grew up with a ton of celebrities and musicians. My best friend is Shauna Morrison, Van Morrison’s daughter. I grew up with Dweezil and Moon Zappa and Glen Campbell’s kids. Not to mention all the cats that would drop by my dad’s house. Billy May, Quincy Jones…people would just come by.”

You really didn’t have a choice, you had to play music. “I had no choice, man!” (laughing)

Let’s talk a little about your latest project. “So the title track from the album is a blues song that I wrote called, ‘Hip Ya.’ We have three guitarist’s sharing tracks: Mark Amparan, Billy Bates, and Geoff Gurrola. Johnny Minguez plays drums and Brion Munsey is on bass. Our former bass player, Art Kraatz just recently left the band and it didn’t work out to get him on the session. We recorded at Kenny Huff’s house in Brea, (CA). We did 10 tracks at Kenny’s house, he’s got a nice little studio and we like to record live. We didn’t do that many takes. On our first CD, ‘Special Project’ we did almost all the tracks in one take. Kenny took over the master bedroom and turned it into a studio.’ (laughing) It’s a pretty unique setup but he’s getting a darn good sound out of there.”

Who’s producing? “Kenny Huff is mixing it and Kenny, Art Martel and I are producing it together.”

This will be your 2^nd CD, why now? “It was a long-time coming. It’s been eight years since ‘Special Project’ and people that come to the show keep asking, ‘when are you putting out another CD?’ My downfall is I don’t have the time and I’m not a songwriter. Things pop into my head and yeah that’s a good idea for a song but our band is so spread out, and I’m juggling so much with work and kids…livin’ life.”

You say you’re not a songwriter, but I’ve heard you improvise and create on the fly. “I think it’s more of the how? How do you do it? The process…I probably could take a few writing classes. There are definitely a few riffs I come up with and say ‘that’d be a great intro.’” 

How do you feel about the new CD so far? “I’m actually pretty darn proud of it. Again, I wish I had more time. I wanted to do four originals, we were shooting for 10 or 12 songs and we ended up with 10.”  

What does the road look like for the future? “We’ve got a lot of things coming up and another part of the reason for the CD; we’ve become real good friends with B.B. and the Blues Shacks out of Germany. They’ve just released a new album and they’re going to bring it to the States. They’re playing at the festival in Doheny and Lil’ A and the Allnighters are playing the Doheny pre-party. The Blues Shacks have hosted me on three or four different trips to Germany and we’ve hosted them a few years back and did the Russian River Blues Festival and other things. So we wanted to have something new to hit the streets with and tag-team it together.”

You’re doing a show in Temecula at the Old Town Blues Club with them as well. “Yep, we’re opening for B.B. and the Blues Shacks and they’re bringing some of their German friends, Till Seidel. Till backed me when I went there last time, so this time we’re going to back him…Till’s a phenomenal guitar player, singer and songwriter.”

Playing ‘live’ seems to be your comfort zone. “Yeah! I don’t really get nervous. The second that first note hits, you’re home. It’s give and take. You’re giving it to the people and they’re giving it back. You’re making music, you’re getting this good, soulful feeling out of your system, surprising yourself, humiliating yourself at times, but you can’t take yourself too seriously.”

What is it about the blues that continues to motivate you? “It’s a feeling, it’s a release. It’s great to make people feel good and in return the fans make you feel good. The blues is alive and well. It’s never gonna’ leave me and I don’t think it’s ever gonna’ leave us. It’s camaraderie; positive energy, good feelings, good vibes and the people you meet. It’s a great community of people.”

Amen.

The post Alex Woodson: Lil’ A and the Allnighters appeared first on Traveling Archive.

‘MOZ LIVE’

The lineup is a veritable who’s who in the Southern California blues community. “The musicians,” Fast says. “Include Steve Wilcox and Dana Duplan on guitar; Don Skelton and Troy Sandow on bass; drummers Al Schneider and Marcus Bashore and Jonny Viau on saxophone.” And of course, Chris Fast on harp and vocals.

Although the band is widely known for their live shows, when we spoke about the project, I was curious if releasing something ‘live’ made the recording more…or less stressful? “What was especially nice,” Chris told me. “Was that we paid no attention to the fact that we were ‘recording’, we played with our total focus on the performances and connecting with the audience. In that way, the songs on ‘Moz Live’ are a completely honest representation of, and a clear snapshot of what the Chris Fast Band was doing at this particular point in time…complete with the mistakes and audience chatter that you hear at a gig. The music is allowed to breathe, and I find it refreshing! You don’t get that when you do a studio album.”

And of course it’s a Chicago style blues “…real Chicago Blues.” Chris says. “The songs are all covers with the exception of “Seven Steps to Heaven.”

A couple of Little Walter Jacobs tracks stand out… “Chicago blues has always been a love of mine. We’re playing a lot of Little Walter material just because it’s challenging. When I was younger, everybody was playing Little Walter stuff and it doesn’t seem to be that way now. People my age started playing music in the ‘60s when the blues invasion rolled through. When I was in high school we heard the Stones playing some blues and then we started investigating and found out about the guys that originated the music. There was a huge wave of people that were blues enthusiasts at that time.”

Social media has changed some of that… “It’s all over YouTube.” Chris agrees. “Back in the day when I was starting, I had to borrow records. Rod (Piazza) gave me my first Little Walter record and said, ‘Hey, Listen to this!’ And I listened to it and it was weird to me, because it was a whole different style of playing. Of course, Rod was totally off into it and then I started learning it.”

Growing up near and getting to know Rod Piazza was a very fortunate happenstance in your musical direction, was it not? “Yeah, I was lucky he lived in town and talk about a great model to have, you know, as an aspiring harmonica player. Rod has always welcomed guest players; if he thinks you’re halfway decent he doesn’t have a problem getting you up there. In fact, he welcomes it because for one thing, he can take a break. And then when you’re done he can say, ‘Okay, I’ll show you how it’s really done.’” (laughing) “It’s a good little foil for him. Rod, of course has played with everybody. He played with the real guys. We’re just trying to get a good sound and all that stuff, but he was really there with all the guys that were out in L.A.”

Where did your love of blues originate? “My father gave me a harmonica when I was a young boy. I was a little kid and I’d walk around playing this silly harmonica so I was always oriented toward the harmonica. In Junior High school I think the folk music thing was going pretty good and some of my friends decided to put together a little band and I was going to play the harmonica, we had a couple of folk guitars and we played at a talent assembly and that’s where it kind of started.

I got into some rock bands early on, but we’d play some blues tunes as well and it just sort of evolved from there. I remember we had some jam sessions in the summertime and Rod Piazza was involved in those and there was a core group of musicians that would meet every week and I would go down there and play. I started hearing what he was doing and we developed a friendship and as I got older I was playing in blues bands around town. I used to play in a band with Bob Newham and Willie Brinlee and the guys that went on to back Bill Clarke and growing up in Riverside we were always playing Chicago blues. Later, because I knew all the harmonica songs, Rod needed a guitar player and I could play some guitar, I never considered myself a very good guitar player…and I proved it every night.” Chris laughs. “I could play okay, just enough to back him. I learned a lot, night after night sitting there behind Rod. He would pick me up at my house and take me into L.A. where he was playing in these black clubs. It was a great education for me.”

Who were some of the people you saw and played with in those early days? “We backed up Big Joe Turner and Pee Wee Crayton was playing with us at one time. We opened shows for John Lee Hooker and later on I was able to work with Percy Mayfield and Big Mama Thornton.”

Talk a little about Percy Mayfield? “He was just a real sweet guy. Talk about a songwriter, he was the best. Nobody wrote a song like Percy Mayfield. I don’t think anybody was better. Nobody!”

What is it about harp players? Not to frighten you, but most seem to have a very short life span? (laughing) “Little Walter was crazy.” Chris laughs. “Rod told me Walter would seek out the worst people he could find, and that’s who he would hang with. You’ve probably known people like that. They just can’t resist and that’s the people they seek, the lowest common denominator and that’s what they enjoy. I don’t know, there’s a physical quality to the playing, it takes strength to play the harp, it takes a little energy, I think.”

Outside of the Chicago sound, or blues in general what other music appeals to you? “I listen to a lot of jazz. If I’m listening to music, I’ll be listening to jazz. I appreciate that, I imagine if I was a better musician or more educated in music, maybe I would be a jazz musician perhaps, I don’t know. I like the sax players like Coltrane and all those guys.”

I’ve heard people make the comparison with Walter’s amplified harp and saxophone lines. “Right, to get the instrument to sound bigger, to sound like a saxophone, Walter was playing…of course swing music was big at that time in the early ‘50s, Louis Jordan was having a lot of hits as an alto player and people would learn his lines and play it in their music. It really had more of a swing to it.”

Now that the new album is out, what’s next for the Chris Fast band? “Since they recorded every night that we played (at the Mozambique), there’s a lot more material in the can. Can you say, ‘Son of Moz Live’?”

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