Back in the late '8os, early 90's I lived in Chicago and spent many evenings watching and listening to live blues by many of that city's big and not-so-big-name blues artists. One of my favorite acts to go see was Lefty Diz.He was hardly a household name, even among blues fans, but he was an absolutely mesmerizing performer and one of the nicest human beings you'd ever want to meet. I saw Lefty perform several times while living in Chicago and was always really knocked out by his playing and his showmanship.
At one particularly memorable show at the Checkerboard Lounge he had a particularly tight rhythm section and was working the crowd pretty well. Lots of hoots and hollers, heads bobbing, toes tapping and so forth. For many performers that would be fine, but not Lefty. Early in the second set, while the band was really cooking, he unclipped his guitar at the body allowing it to swing from his right hand like a pendulum. As the band continued the groove, Lefty cranked up the volume knob on his guitar and began playing lead without his left hand -- it sounded great!
Midway through the solo, Lefty tosses his guitar up into the air with a flick of his wrist, catches it further up the kneck and continues playing lead, never missing a beat and never playing out of key! The crowd absolutely fell out! Jaws dropped, wigs went crooked, knees buckled, backbones slipped and Diz never missed a beat, but continued to work the crowd into an absolute frenzy that left them exhausted and crying for more.
The picture of Lefty Diz was taken by Kevin Reynolds. http://www.route-online.com/kevinreynolds/
5 comments:
Lefty Diz was the Hendrix of Chicago blues. When Snapper Mitchum & his Blues Invaders were based in Dayton, OH, Lefty and other blues greats came for a Blues Festival in Island Park. Hound Dog Taylor, Hip Link Chain, Muddy Waters Jr. and Lefty all played with Snapper and his band all day, and later that night magic happened in a downtown club. Lefty, in his red suit, dazzled the crowd.
Lefty came back to play a club in Centerville, OH a few years later. There was a blizzard that night, and only about 10 people were able to get there and he still did his entire amazing show. He played that guitar behind his back, like a pendalum, and spanked it with a hanky. The next week he played to a crowd of 10,000 in Paris, France.
See a clip of Lefty playing with the Rolling Stones on You Tube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=89GJUlCgKr8
My Man Kevin Donnelly played rhythm guitar during the late '70s with the Diz Band. The drummer was named Woody and he was as good as Lefty. I forget the bass player's name, but he was a monster too.
Kevin figured he was learning at the knee of a master craftsman, so he could stand a certain amount of abuse. When either he or Woody would throw in an extra padiddle, Diz would deliver his patented "get back on rhythm" glare. Kevin and Woody would accordingly get back to basics.
I only caught Lefty's act twice. The first time he was dogging it on a weeknight at a scrofulous Northside dive called The Kingston Mines (known to players as "The Salt Mines"). He phoned in his performance and I wondered what my pal Kevin was on about, this guy being so darn good. The next time I saw him it was at another Northside club, "Blues" at Clark and Belmont. It was Lefty's birthday. He was dressed to the nines and in a mood to blow a few minds. His performance was, not to put too fine a point on it, luminous. The Northside crowd didn't know quite how to handle it, but they knew it was good. Had he been working the Checkerboard or Theresa’s he’d have caused a riot.
I heard from a Chicago pal that Diz died of throat cancer back in the 1990s. Sad, but the gentleman didn't waste much of his allotted time on this planet.
Around 1970 I went to see Junior Wells & his band at Unganos, a club in Manhattan. It started fine, then the great harp man said; "I don't feel it & when Junior don't feel it..." He stormed off the stage & out of the club. His left handed guitarist stepped up to the mic, joked a bit about the star, then tore the place apart. He was great & we forgot who we had come to see. That was Lefty Diz
I am the Kevin Donnelly who Boots Dorfman refered to in his comment. I can be reached at Kvondonnelly@gmail.com
Diz had a theme song - he used to open his first or second set with it. in 67 or 68 Jimmie Page and his gang were in Chicago getting music and borrowing on the riffs noteably, after he sued the band - Willie Dixon still gets creditited on some of the Zepplin songs. The Brits went to see Diz. Leftys theme song went - "Do Da do Da Daaahh" - less than a year later Whole Lot A Love - came out. Diz dropped the tune from his show evermore.
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