TOWER OF POWER

[Scottysax73]

The funkiest band alive!!!!! Especially their older stuff. Was wondering what everybodys favorite 3 sax solos are from over the years???

[sax_appeal]

I was listening to Tower of Power yesterday! Man can they play. I have no idea what my favourites would be... I've only listened to one CD and I have no idea who the tenor player is, but boy s/he is amazing. Like the bari as well, great chunky sound.

[Vader]

Tom E Potolla.......I hope I spelled got his last name right. I met him a few months ago when he came by my gig. He played with us.........it was a good time.
Huge sound..............

[Scottysax73]

who is that? Ya mean the new sax player Tom Politzer??????

[David Spiegelthal]

Tower of Power has never been the same since Lenny Pickett left the group. If you want to hear the best tenor solos Tower of Power ever played, go back to Lenny and forget all the pretenders who followed.

[Scottysax73]

Well, i agree that Lenny was amazing, but lets not forget Dave Mann, he kicks butt. The new stuff is pretty funky too. And didnt Russo play with them too?

[Vader]

who is that? Ya mean the new sax player Tom Politzer??????

LOL. Yep. That would be who I was making reference to.
Yes Tom E Politzer. It's funny..........he says the E all the time, so I thought he went by Tommy.......but then he gave me his card.
I got a kick out it.

[Scottysax73]

How is he? Know what tracks hes on soloing?

[connman]

He is on their newest CD, which they were selling when I heard them live at Havana in New Hope PA last fall. They will be there again this fall. You can check out their website www.bumpcity.com and also check out Strokeland Records which is Doc Kupka's label which features alot of TOP alumni. There are also links to Cold Blood and other funk groups such as Jack Mack and the Heart Attack. Some very hip stuff.

[Morry]

I think Tom is the best lead tenor player that they've had since Lenny. He really seems to feel at home in the part, and it shows. He's a nice guy to boot. His work on The Oakland Zone is excellent.

[Mark R]

The "Gunner Chair" solo tenor chair has always been the revolving door to TOP and though LP was the high water mark there have been several notable great funkmeisters in the slot. FWIW regardless of whatever their individual contributions to the spot I am sure most of them felt the need to play the gig with the LP vibe to keep it cohesive to what LP laid down while playing there. Several IMHO put a nice slab o' funk on the squibcake while there.

Richard Elliot
John Scarpelli...sorry can't remember how to spell but great NYC funkster
Norbert Sachel
Euge Groove...aka Steve Grove
and let's not forget PRE LP....Skip Mesquite....also great songwriter.

If I could play half the funk these guys did I would be happy.

[Bill Mecca]

Tom Timko filled that chair for a while, however, i dont think they recorded during his tenure.
most recently he was/is Gloria Estefan's sax man.

but to my ears, Lenny is TOP (along with Doc)

[sax rookie]

Sweetwater Sound, possibly the biggest internet and mail-order pro music supplier is located in Fort Wayne, IN, where I live.

They are celebrating their 25th anniversary and they rolled out the red carpet for all to see their amazing facilities and to take advantage of clearance pricing at Gearfest.

The owner of Sweetwater is a sax player and has made it very clear that TOP was/is his favorite band of all time.

As a gesture to his clients, all you had to do was stop by Sweetwater, look around at all the cool toys, and give them your name. Sweetwater would then send you as many tickets as you would like to the FREE Tower of Power concert that they were hosting at the local concert hall.

I took the liberty of taking a couple who had no idea who TOP was, or what they played and wached with a grin as they were completely blown away by these guys.

This was a brilliant show that I would have paid good money to see. The fact that it was free just added to the fun. Hands down possibly the best show I have ever seen.

If I had to guess, I bet we stood for half of the show. We are still talking about it.

[Morry]

Yeah, Mimi wants the audience on their feet at a TOP concert. He often says "this ain't no jazz concert...get up and move your feet".

[tomsch]

I'll be seeing TOP tonight at the Gold Country Fair in Auburn, CA. They open for our band.... well, not really. TOP plays McCANN Statium, at 8pm, and our band, CleanSlate, plays at 9:30pm on a different stage. Should be inspiring to hear TOP and then run off to play two sets.

[ramZsax]

Lenny pickett - "Knock your self out"

[citizn cane]

For the record, I think it's John Scarpula who occupied the tenor chair for a TOP side released about 5 years ago. Tom Politzer, Norbert Stachel, & Scarpula all can tear it up with the best of 'em.

[Keith Ridenhour]

Heard TOP last night in Petaluma at the Mystic Theater. Really good live show. Great lead singer , rhythm section and of course the horns. I was knocked out by their lead trpt who would often play a screaming high note and then with his other hand pick up a trombone and join in the harmony. (I used to play trpt, how the hell did he do that??) I might have misheard but the lead tenor (solos) was Tony P??? At first I liked what he was doing , first solo was good, right out of the Lenny Picket lick book and a nice sound. But I think his ear moniter wasn't working because he started to play as much in the alt as possible ( I do that too when I can't hear a damn thing on stage) and some of his notes were flat. Bari (Doc) stole the show with his shaking get down dancing holding that huge piece of metal around his neck. Great time. Tony P did do an extended solo on one tune and took it outside which I liked alot. The leader had a shiny Selmer (Series 3??) and Tony had a black Keilwerth. Both guys looked like they were using Duks. It was my wifes Birthday party and we stood and danced the whole time. One of the best live concerts I've seen. Tomsch, you're gonna kill me for saying this but I couldn't help thinking during the concert that except for his alt you could have done very well standing next to Tony last night. I kept imagining Tony playing a minor pentatonic line in eights and you doing one of your chromatic 16th runs and people going what the heck was that???? ( In a good way.) All in all wife was very happy. I'm gonna get out my Maceo Parker Cd and see if I can't get a little funkier. (Maybe 1/3 as good as what I heard last night.) Inspireing

[Vader]

Tom is bad. He was playing a Keilworth? That's new. They were endorsed by Yamaha at least earlier this year(which may mean nothing, as i'm pretty sure he played a six when he sat in with me). I've never heard him play alto. Wow, he must have not been able to hear. I hate that. Actually, maybe he was just trying th Keilworth, and he wasn't comfortable on it, so he went to alto. I'll have to ask him.
He was using a modified link last time I saw him. I could not believe how loud he was on it.
Sounds like you had fun. I had a blast when I saw them last month. Such a great band.............such great music.

[Bill Mecca]

Keith didn't mention him playing Alto, he meant altissimo...
Could have been a black lacquer Yamaha?

[maestroelite]

I wanted to go to that sweetwater sound concert, couple of my buddies went.. they said it was awesome.