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Direct (Tower Of Power Album)
''Direct'' is a 1981 live in-studio album by Tower of Power. It was their only album for the direct-to-disc record label Sheffield Lab. It also marked the return of original guitarist Willie James Fulton, not heard from since 1972's '' Bump City'', and the last album to feature saxophonist Lenny Pickett. Mark Sanders plays drums on this album. Between this album and their 1987 comeback album ''Power'', they would record the sessions that later became the ''Dinosaur Tracks'' CD. Besides that, save for the original single release of "Simple as That" (from the same ''Dinosaur Tracks'' sessions), this would be their last new release until 1987. It contained mostly songs from their previous albums, but included new material as well. ''Direct'' would later be re-released with alternate takes on CD as ''Direct Plus!'' in 1997. Track listing Side One # "Fanfare/And You Know It" (Greg Adams/Emilio Castillo, Stephen Kupka) originally recorded for '' Back on the Streets'' - 2:44 # "You' ... [...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. The band has had 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, and hired Kupka after a home audition on the advice of his father. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, attracting audiences from minority and counterculture communities. In order to play Bill Graham's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Feldman
Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers. Early life Feldman was born in Edgware on 7 April 1934. He caused a sensation as a musical prodigy when he was "discovered", aged seven. His family were all musical and his father founded the Feldman Swing Club in London in 1942 to showcase his talented sons. Feldman performed from a young age: "from 1941 to 1947 he played drums in a trio with his brothers; when he was nine he took up piano and when he was 14 started playing vibraphone". He featured in the films '' King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' (1942) and '' Theatre Royal'' (1943). In 1944, he was featured at a co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spencer Proffer
Spencer Proffer (born Salek Profesorski, December 25, 1948) is an American media and record producer. He is the CEO of Meteor 17, a convergence media production company based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Proffer produced the first heavy metal record, Quiet Riot's ''Metal Health'', to reach the top of the pop charts, selling six million albums. His '' Children of the Sun'' collaboration with Billy Thorpe spawned an animated laser choreography of an album in planetariums across North America. Proffer has produced and arranged over 200 albums, many of which have achieved gold and platinum-selling status, produced or executive-produced 17 films as well as supervised and produced music for 135 films and television. Proffer co-produced a charitable concert and media event with Doc McGhee and Quincy Jones in 2005, for over 44,000 Marines and their families, headlined by Beyoncé Knowles, Destiny's Child and Kiss, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer. In 2012, he donated 25 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lincoln Mayorga
Lincoln Mayorga (March 28, 1937 – July 3, 2023) was an American pianist, arranger, conductor and composer who worked in rock and roll, pop, jazz and classical music. Life and career Pop music in the 1950s and 1960s Mayorga was born in Los Angeles, California, attended Hollywood High School, and trained as a classical pianist. He began working as arranger and accompanist to his high-school friends in the Four Preps, contributing one of the two piano parts on their 1958 hit " Big Man" and being known as "the fifth Prep". The group's producer, Lou Busch, helped Mayorga get a ragtime album issued in 1958, which was released under the pseudonym "Brooke Pemberton".Lou Busch ''PerfessorBill.com''. Accessed January 26, 2010. With Ed Cobb of the Four Preps, Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doug Sax
Doug Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six Pink Floyd's albums, including '' The Wall''; Ray Charles' multiple-Grammy winner '' Genius Loves Company'' in 2004, and Bob Dylan's 36th studio album '' Shadows in the Night'' in 2015. Early life Sax was born in Los Angeles on April 26, 1936, to Mildred and Remy Sax. While attending Fairfax High School in West Los Angeles, Sax played the trumpet alongside trumpeter Herb Alpert. Upon graduation, Sax attended University of California, Los Angeles and then was drafted into the Army where he played trumpet in the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra from 1959 to 1961. Career From an early age, Sax was interested in recorded sound, and although he had established a career as a symphonic trumpeter, on December 27, 1967, along with Lincoln Mayorga, a friend from junior high who had become a music arranger and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oren Waters
Oren Waters is an American vocalist best known for his work with the backup singing group The Waters, his siblings: Luther, Maxine and Julia. As an ensemble, Waters has been a part of 260 gold and over 100 platinum albums with artists including Johnny Rivers, Dan Fogelberg, Neil Diamond, Patti La Belle, Paul Simon, Pet Shop Boys, Helen Reddy, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, John Fogerty, Janet and Michael Jackson. He has also provided the vocals for TV themes such as " Baretta's Theme", and "Movin' on Up" for ''The Jeffersons''. Waters has also contributed to movie soundtracks including ''Happy Feet'', ''The Lion King'', ''The Matrix'', '' Saint Seiya: The Legend of Crimson Youth'', ''Avatar'' and '' American Gangster''. He currently teaches vocal performance at the California College of Music. Waters lost his home in the Eaton Fire in January 2025, and so did his sister Maxine. The home of his sister Julia was not harmed. The Waters In 2013, the group featured in the film ''20 Fee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Gilstrap
James Gilstrap is an American singer and session musician. He is best known for his 1975 solo hit single " Swing Your Daddy", as well as singing co-lead to the theme from the TV series ''Good Times''. Career Gilstrap was born November 10, 1946, in Daingerfield, Texas to Jodie and Pearlie Mae (Tolbert) Gilstrap. He joined the U.S. Navy Reserve. He began his career in the music industry when he returned from serving in the Vietnam War. Early groups he worked with include the Doodletown Pipers and The Cultures. In the early 1970s, Gilstrap was one of the backing vocalists in Stevie Wonder's backing outfit, "Wonderlove", appearing on Wonder's albums, ''Talking Book'' and '' Innervisions''. Gilstrap sang the opening two lines of the Wonder song, " You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (with Lani Groves singing the next two lines). He subsequently signed a recording contract with Chelsea Records in 1975. His recording of the Kenny Nolan-penned "Swing Your Daddy" was a number 4 hit in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Adams (musician)
Greg Adams is an American trumpet/flugelhorn player and music arranger, probably best known for his work with the band Tower of Power. Early life Adams grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and while attending Westmoor High School in Daly City he had already established a reputation as a musical prodigy. Career He had made plans to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston, but instead accepted an invitation to join Tower of Power for their first album, ''East Bay Grease'' (1970). He remained with the band for 25 years and was responsible for many of their distinctive horn arrangements, including "What Is Hip?" (1973) which earned him a Grammy Award nomination. In 1995 Adams recorded his first solo album, ''Hidden Agenda'' (Epic), which reached #1 on the U.S. smooth jazz charts. His subsequent albums include ''Midnight Morning'' (Ripa, Blue Note) (2002), ''Firefly'' (215) (2004), and ''Cool To The Touch'' (Ripa) (2006). Adams has recorded with and/or arranged for othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mic Gillette
Mic Gillette (May 7, 1951 – January 17, 2016) was an American brass player, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay. He is best known for being a member of the bands; Tower of Power, Cold Blood, and The Sons of Champlin. He played in the horn section with Tower of Power for 19 years. Early life His father Ray Gillette was a trombonist, playing with acts such as Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, and other big bands. A child prodigy, Gillette picked up the trumpet and was reading music by age four. Career At age 15, he joined the band that would later be known as Tower of Power, playing various brass instruments for the band including the trumpet, trombone, baritone horn and tuba. He took a brief break from Tower of Power to tour in the 1970s and record with the band Cold Blood. He re-joined Tower of Power a year later, touring and opening for Santana and Creedence Clearwater Revival. As its reputation as a premier horn band grew, Tower of Power to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen "Doc" Kupka
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. The band has had 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, and hired Kupka after a home audition on the advice of his father. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, attracting audiences from minority and counterculture communities. In order to play Bill Graham's Fill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emilio Castillo
Emilio Castillo (born September 24, 1950) is an American saxophone player and composer, best known as the founder of the band Tower of Power. Background In 1965, Emilio Castillo took to music after he and his brother Jack were caught stealing by his father who told him he could stay in his room until he thought of something to 'Keep him off the street'. Castillo and his brother chose music. Emilio chose saxophone and Jack chose drums. He took lessons in saxophone, piano, and guitar, and also took lessons in music theory from one-time Dave Brubeck bass player Norman Bates. His first musical endeavor was in Extension Five which later became The Gotham City Crime Fighters due to the Batman craze at the time. He played both organ and sax. The group also consisted of his brother Jack on drums, Jody Lopez on guitar Frank “Rocco’ Houghton on bass (later going by the name of Francis Rocco Prestia), and Dave Genthner on vocals. In March, 1966 they released the song "Who Stole Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Jeffries (singer)
Michael Jeffries (born August 16, 1954) is an American R&B singer from Memphis, Tennessee, best known for his stint as a lead vocalist for the R&B/soul band Tower of Power from 1978 to the mid-1980s. Biography Jeffries started his career as part of the California band known as The Two Things in One and scored a regional hit with the 1973 single "Together Forever". It would lead to his stint with Tower of Power starting with 1978's '' We Came to Play!'' and he would stay with the band through the mid-1980s, making his tenure with Tower of Power the second longest as lead vocalist, behind Larry Braggs. Jeffries later began a solo career releasing the single "Razzle Dazzle" in 1986, which was from the soundtrack to the movie ''Wildcats''. He would also record with Jeff Lorber and fellow R&B singer Karyn White before releasing his first self-titled solo album for Warner Bros. Records; the same record label as Tower of Power. The album was produced by Janet Jackson's producers and f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
