Blues Matters Magazine called Tommy Z one of western New York's best-kept secrets. I can see why. Blizzard of Blues is his fourth album, and he's won a mountain of regional, national and international awards for his first three. But when I listened to this one, my first thought was, Why have I never heard of this guy? How can somebody this gifted be working in relative obscurity?

Based in Buffalo, New York, his career to this day seems to have been regional -- if you don't count the tours for the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and other hot spots, which he has been conducting regularly since 2003.

If I had to catch the mood of this album in a single word, I'd say versatile. It opens with "Lovergirl," a Chicago-sounding blues number that takes its inspiration from the Muddy Waters band of the '50s, with Tommy Z playing Waters-type riffs and Jeremy Keys as Little Walter. The song is even engineered to catch that Chess Studios sound, using a very appropriate low-fi. Following that we get an Eddie Cochran inspired number, "Going to a Party," which is straight-ahead blues-based rock 'n' roll and drives like a Nascar entry. Then we get a blues ballad, a few jazz-inflected numbers and some chilling solo play.

Too often for my tastes, blues-rock soloists fall back on the standard blues riffs and cliches to build their solos, so that what starts off exciting winds up boring. That's not the case with Tommy Z; the man knows how to construct a solo. He'll introduce his theme, expound on it, improvise around it, hit a climactic moment and then, instead of ending the solo, he'll strike out improvising around what he's discovered in the first run-through of the solo. You listen to him and you feel you've just discovered genius.

As I said, I don't know why he's not big-time. Maybe he chooses not to be; maybe he's as successful as he wants and needs to be. If he wants more than he has right now, though, Blizzard of Blues ought to give it to him.