Tower of Power at the Capitol Theatre -- December 13.
Friday, December 13, 7:30 p.m.
Capitol Theatre, 330 West Third Street, Davenport IA
A celebrated R&B and funk based band that originated in Oakland, California and has been performing for more than 55 years running, Tower of Power and its co-founders Emilio Castillo and Stephen "Doc" Kupka brings their "Holidays & Hits Tour" to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on December 13, the group's smashes on the Billboard Hot 100 chart including "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)."
In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Castillo met 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 Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, the band changed its name to Tower of Power, and the moniker stuck. By 1970, the renamed band—now including trumpet/arranger Greg Adams, first trumpet Mic Gillette, first saxophone Skip Mesquite, Francis "Rocco" Prestia on bass, Willie Fulton on guitar, and drummer David Garibaldi—signed a recording contract with Bill Graham's San Francisco Records and released their first album, East Bay Grease, for which Rufus Miller performed most of the lead vocals. The group was first introduced to the San Francisco Bay area by radio station KSAN, which played a variety of artists such as Cold Blood, Eric Mercury, and Marvin Gaye.
Augmented by percussionist/conga/bongo player Brent Byars, Tower of Power was released from their San Francisco label contract and moved to Warner Bros. Records. Rick Stevens replaced Rufus Miller as lead singer on 1972's Bump City, which gave the band their first national exposure. This album included the hit single "You're Still a Young Man," which peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Stevens' pinnacle vocal performance before leaving the band. Tower of Power, released in the spring of 1973, was the third album for the band. It featured soul singer Lenny Williams on lead vocals and Lenny Pickett on lead tenor saxophone. Bruce Conte replaced guitarist Willie Fulton and keyboardist Chester D.Thompson also joined the band during the recording of the album, which spawned Tower of Power's most-successful single "So Very Hard to Go." Although the single peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was included in the top 10 in the surveys of many West Coast Top 40 radio stations, and also charted two other singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "This Time It's Real" and "What Is Hip?"
Roughly 50 years hence, Tower of Power has traveled the world, enjoying hit singles on their own and backing some of the most legendary artists of the last 50 years, a list that includes Otis Redding, Elton John, Santana, the Grateful Dead, John Lee Hooker, Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, and countless others. In the process, they’ve defined an “Oakland soul” sound as instantly recognizable as those from Castillo’s hometown of Detroit, as well as inspirations that include Memphis and Philadelphia. While the Bay Area music scene had become famous because of the Fillmore, across the Bay in San Francisco, ToP launched a whole new sound and wore its less glamorous origins proudly.
Tower of Power brings their "Holidays & Hits Tour" to Davenport on December 13, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert event is $34-110, and more information and tickets are available by visiting FirstFleetConcerts.com/first-fleet-venues/capitol-theatre.
