''Back to Oakland'' is the fourth album by
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...
based band
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 ...
, released in early 1974 on
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
. It was voted by ''
Modern Drummer
''Modern Drummer'' is a monthly publication targeting the interests of drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, columns offering advice on technique, and information for the general public. ''Modern Dru ...
'' 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
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, commonly referred to as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco an ...
, 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
John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), often known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned 40 year ...
, 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 Stroke" (Castillo, Garibaldi, Kupka) - 1:08
Personnel
Tower of Power
*
– lead vocals
* Chester Thompson – acoustic piano,
Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
,
clavinet
The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...
,
organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
,
bass pedals
Bass pedals are an Electronic instrument, 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 Pedal clavier, pedalboard and analog synthesi ...
, backing vocals, arrangements (5)
*
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 rej ...
– guitars, backing vocals
*
Francis Rocco Prestia – bass guitar
*
David Garibaldi – drums
* Brent Byars –
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 ...
s
*
Lenny Pickett
Lenny Pickett (born April 10, 1954) is an American saxophonist and musical director of the ''Saturday Night Live'' band. – alto saxophone,
bass saxophone
The bass saxophone is the third lowest member 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 trans ...
, soprano saxophone, first tenor saxophone,
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
alto flute
The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and 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 chara ...
,
piccolo
The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...
*
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 ...
– baritone saxophone,
English horn
The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...
, backing vocals
*
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 b ...
– second tenor saxophone, backing vocals
*
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 p ...
– trombone,
bass trombone
The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...
, trumpet, flugelhorn, backing vocals
*
Greg Adams – trumpet, flugelhorn,
orchestra bells
The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone.
The ...
, backing vocals, string arrangements, string conductor (1−9, 11), arrangements (3, 4, 6, 8, 10)
* Tower of Power – arrangements (2, 4, 7, 9)
Additional musicians
*
Bud Shank
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...
– alto saxophone (10), flute (10), alto flute (10), piccolo (10)
* Ray Gillette – trombone (6)
* Kell Houston – trombone (6)
*
Frank Rosolino
Frank Rosolino (August 20, 1926 – November 26, 1978) was an American jazz trombonist.
Biography
Rosolino was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, He performed with the big bands of Bob Chester, Glen Gray, Tony Pastor, Herbie Fields, G ...
– trombone (10)
* Tommy Shepard – trombone (10)
* David Duke –
French horn
The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...
(10)
*
Vincent DeRosa
Vincent Ned DeRosa (October 5, 1920 – July 18, 2022) was an American hornist who served as a studio musician for Hollywood soundtracks and other recordings from 1935 until his retirement in 2008. Because his career spanned over 70 years, duri ...
– French horn (10)
* Richard Perissi – French horn (10)
*
Harry Betts
Harry Betts (September 15, 1922 – July 13, 2012) was an American jazz trombonist.
Background
Born in New York and raised in Fresno, California, he was active as a jazz trombonist and played with Stan Kenton's orchestra in the 1950s. He can be h ...
– string conductor (10)
* Marylin Scott – backing vocals (2, 3, 4, 6, 8)
* Pepper Watkins – backing vocals (2, 3, 4)
* Alice Thompson – backing vocals (6)
Production
* Tower of Power – producers
* Emilio Castillo – supervising producer
* Alan Chinowsky – sound production, mixing
* Tom Flye – recording
* Jim Gaines – recording, mixing
* Bruce Steinberg – album design, photography
Charts
Singles
References
External links
Tower Of Power-Back To Oakland at Discogs
{{Authority control
1974 albums
Tower of Power albums
Warner Records albums