"The actual Tower of Power Anniversary date is Aug. 13, 1968. Back then our band was called The Motowns and we’d been playing under that name for over a year when I met Doc on the 4th of July weekend at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, CA. He went by the name Steve Kupka back then and he was the first “Hippie” I’d ever met.
Read MoreNo signs of rust surface on Soul Side Of Town, Tower Of Power’s first album in eight years.
A shiny mix of taut instrumentals, soaring, medium-tempo ballads and tunes suggesting actual locales and characters, this 50th-anniversary recording affirms the trademarks of the meticulous 10-piece ensemble: a razor-sharp horn section of distinctive saxophone drama, versatile lead vocalists, song titles demanding the listener join in the fun and just enough variety to avoid predictability.
Read MoreForged in the iconic R&B horn band Tower Of Power, the magic and mystery of Rocco’s playing—and how he’s able to fit so many notes seamlessly into the pocket—remains, 50 years on.
Read MoreCity honors funk band Tower of Power for forging ‘Oakland sound’
Read MoreFifty years have passed since the year 1968, and there have been plenty of retrospectives about the events from that tumultuous year. A book was written about the Tet Offensive and a commemoration took place in Memphis on April 4 – the day 50 years ago when the Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Read MoreTOWER OF POWER have been mixing rock and soul with hot, hyperactive horns for a half-century now, having signed with impresario Bill Graham’s San Francisco Records imprint for their 1970 debut, East Bay Grease.
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