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Back To Oakland
''Back to Oakland'' is the fourth album by Bay Area based band Tower of Power, released in early 1974 on Warner Bros. Records. It was voted by ''Modern Drummer'' magazine as one of the most important recordings for drummers to listen to. The cover photography was by Bruce Steinberg at San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, San Francisco, California. Track listing #"Oakland Stroke..." (Emilio Castillo, David Garibaldi, Stephen Kupka) - 0:53 #"Don't Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream)" (Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Lenny Williams) - 4:28 #"Just When We Start Makin' It" (Castillo, Kupka, Lenny Williams) - 6:30 #"Can't You See (You Doin' Me Wrong)" (Castillo, Kupka, Williams) - 3:00 #"Squib Cakes" (Chester Thompson) - 7:49 #"Time Will Tell" (Castillo, Kupka) - 3:11 #"Man from the Past" (Castillo, Kupka, Williams) - 4:00 #"Love's Been Gone So Long" (Bruce Conte) - 4:47 #"I Got the Chop" (Castillo, Kupka) - 2:59 #"Below Us, All the City Lights" (Castillo, Kupka) - 4:20 #"...Oakland S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the band between early 1973 and late 1974, the period of their greatest commercial success. They have had eight songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100; their highest-charting songs include "You're Still a Young Man", " So Very Hard to Go", "What Is Hip?", and "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)". History In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, but Castillo's father told his son to "hire that guy" after a home audition. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, their soul sound appealing to both minority and counterculture listeners. Castillo wanted to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny "Guitar" Watson
John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned forty years, and encompassed rhythm and blues, funk and soul music. Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with "Ain't That a Bitch" and "Superman Lover". His highest charting single was 1977's "A Real Mother for Ya". Early life Watson was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But young Watson was immediately attracted to the sound of the guitar, in particular the electric guitar as played by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. His grandfather, a preacher, was also musical. "My grandfather used to sing while he'd play guitar in church, man," Watson reflec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alto Flute
The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is characterized by its rich, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range. Unlike the flute and piccolo, it is a transposing instrument in G (a perfect fourth below written C), although it uses the same fingerings as the C flute. The bore of the alto flute is considerably larger in diameter and longer than a C flute and requires more breath from the player. This gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range. It was the favourite flute variety of Theobald Boehm, who perfected its design, and is pitched in the key of G (sounding a perfect fourth lower than written). Its range is from G3 (the G below middle C) to G6 (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo registe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist or flutist. Flutes are the earliest known identifiable musical instruments, as paleolithic examples with hand-bored holes have been found. A number of flutes dating to about 53,000 to 45,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe.. Citation on p. 248. * While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia, too, has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Saxophone
The bass saxophone is one of the lowest-pitched members of the saxophone family—larger and lower than the more common baritone saxophone. It was likely the first type of saxophone built by Adolphe Sax, as first observed by Berlioz in 1842. It is a transposing instrument pitched in B, an octave below the tenor saxophone and a perfect fourth below the baritone saxophone. A bass saxophone in C, intended for orchestral use, was included in Adolphe Sax's patent, but few known examples were built. The bass saxophone is not a commonly used instrument, but it is heard on some 1920s jazz recordings, in free jazz, in saxophone choirs and sextets, and occasionally in concert bands and rock music. Music for bass saxophone is written in treble clef, just as for the other saxophones, with the pitches sounding two octaves and a major second lower than written. As with most other members of the saxophone family, the lowest written note is the B below the staff—in the bass's case, sounding a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lenny Pickett
Lenny Pickett (born April 10, 1954) is an American saxophonist and musical director of the ''Saturday Night Live'' band. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of Tower of Power. He is known for his skill in the altissimo register (executed by using a combination of voicing control, air stream control, and alternate fingerings), which can be heard during the opening credits of ''Saturday Night Live''. Music career Pickett grew up in Berkeley, California. He has no formal musical training, did not attend high school beyond the first year and did not attend college. After dropping out of high school, he took lessons from Bert Wilson, a jazz saxophonist known for his facility with the altissimo register. Other than those lessons, he is self-taught on saxophone. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he led the horn section for Tower of Power, an innovative and funk-focused East San Francisco Bay area band, and also a popular session band that backed many musicians in multiple genres, from Elt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). Congas were originally used in Afro-Cuban music genres such as conga (hence their name) and rumba, where each drummer would play a single drum. Following numerous innovations in conga drumming and construction during the mid-20th century, as well as its internationalization, it became increasingly common for drummers to play two or three drums. Congas have become a popular instrument in many forms of Latin music such as son (when played by conjuntos), descarga, Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa, songo, merengue and Latin rock. Although the exact origins of the conga drum are unknown, researchers agree that it was developed by Cuban people of African descent during the late 19th century or early 20th century. Its direct ancestors are thought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Garibaldi (musician)
John David Garibaldi (born November 4, 1946) is an American drummer best known for his work with the Oakland-based band Tower of Power. His playing style is considered a staple of funk music. Garibaldi’s drummer credits also include Natalie Cole, Jermaine Jackson, Boz Scaggs, Deniece Williams and Yellowjackets. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Garibaldi #46 on its list “100 Greatest Drummers of All Time”. Early life and education David Garibaldi was born in Oakland, California. His interest in music started at a young age by hearing his mother and her sister singing and playing piano. He took piano and violin lessons before switching to percussion by age 10. Garibaldi played a drum kit for the first time at age 15, after hearing an older student play rock n’ roll beats. He was able to reproduce the beat by ear and continued self-teaching himself how to play the drums by listening to records. He later joined the high school’s big band and practiced with the help of Eddie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Rocco Prestia
Francis Rocco Prestia Jr. (March 7, 1951 – September 29, 2020) was an American bassist, best known for his work with the funk band Tower of Power. Biography Born in Sonora, California, Prestia started playing electric guitar as an adolescent. When he auditioned for Emilio Castillo's band, Tower of Power, Castillo persuaded him to switch to electric bass. Prestia worked with the band for the next three decades, before he became seriously ill in 2001. His fans and friends created a foundation in order to help pay the artist's medical costs. On December 5, 2014, Prestia underwent successful liver transplant surgery. Rocco is survived by the loves of his life, Julian Francis Rocco Prestia and Alicia-Lyn JoAnn Prestia. Technique and influences Prestia was a master of ''fingerstyle funk'', a technique in which he lightly muted the strings with his left hand to get a percussive sound, with the pitch remaining clear and accurate. That characteristic sound, in combination with a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Conte
Bruce Anthony Conte (March 3, 1950 – August 8, 2021) was an American R&B and jazz fusion guitarist, known primarily for his work with the band Tower of Power, of which he was a member from 1972 to 1979. He performed on seven albums, and rejoined the band for live work briefly in 2006-2007. Biography Bruce Conte was born in Sanger, and grew up in Fresno, California USA. Conte and his cousin Victor Conte began playing in a 'family' rhythm and blues band as junior high school students in the early 1960s. Throughout high school they performed in the rhythm sections of several local bands, including Common Ground, playing the local club scene in 1967–69. In 1969 Conte moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and joined The Loading Zone, who shared rehearsal halls with, and regularly opened shows for, Tower of Power. Conte became close to Tower of Power's founder and leader, Emilio Castillo, and to Stephen Kupka—the primary songwriters for the group—and began co-writing songs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Pedals
Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with a foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged together as a unit. The bass pedals are plugged into a bass amplifier or PA system so that their sound can be heard. Since the 1990s, bass pedals are usually MIDI controllers, which have to be connected to a MIDI-compatible computer, electronic synthesizer keyboard, or synth module to produce musical tones. Some 2010s-era bass pedals have both an onboard synth module and a MIDI output. Bass pedals serve the same function as the pedalboard on a pipe organ or an electric organ, and usually produce sounds in the bass range, which, in organ terminology is the 16′ stop. Some bass pedals have an 8′ stop (an octave higher) which can be used by itself or combined with the 16' stop. Bass pedals are used by keyboard players as an adjunc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Organ
An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the pump organ, harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed into several types of instruments: * #Tonewheel organs, Hammond-style organs used in pop music, pop, Rock music, rock and jazz; * #Digital church organs, digital church organs, which imitate pipe organs and are used primarily in churches; * other types including #Combo organs, combo organs, #Home organs, home organs, and #Software organs, software organs. History Predecessors ;Harmonium The immediate predecessor of the electronic organ was the pump organ, harmonium, or reed organ, an instrument that was common in homes and small churches in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In a fashion not totally unlike that of pipe organs, reed organs generate sound by forcing air over a set of reeds by means of a bellows, usually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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