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/
