The late 1960s saw big band and jazz enthusiasts embrace rock ‘n’ roll and vice versa, spawning numerous horn-heavy big-beat groups. One was Tower of Power, from Oakland, California. There, during the summer of 1968, tenor sax player and vocalist Emilio Castillo met baritone sax man Stephen Kupka. The two formed a band, The Motowns, that became popular enough in Oakland and Berkeley to interest the Fillmore, a storied San Francisco music hall. Renaming themselves Tower of Power, the group drew the ear of Fillmore owner Bill Graham, who had a record label that put out their first LP, East Bay Grease, and deejays at KSAN, a progressive Bay area FM station, who aired the record. Warner Bros. Records beckoned, and TofP signed, leading to the LP Bump City and the hit 45 “You’re Still a Young Man,” a Castillo/Kupka composition. An eponymous third vinyl featured singer Lenny Williams and lead tenor player Lenny Pickett (later to lead the Saturday Night Live house band). Singles “So Very Hard To Go,” “This Time It’s Real,” and “What is Hip?” hit big, driving fan interest and leading to the 1974 LPs Back to Oakland and Urban Renewal. Since then, personnel have changed but the big, bold sound has held firm, with a host of other artists inviting the TofP horn section to augment their recordings, including Aerosmith, Labelle, Stevie Nicks, Graham Central Station, the Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart, Phish, Lyle Lovett, and Heart. Dozens of highly skilled musicians have cycled through the band’s ranks, but Castillo and Kupka are still on the case, and the funk just keeps on coming. — Michael Dolan

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