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Tower of Power Organ (Only So Much Oil in the Ground)


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Love this guy! I believe it is David Matthews. Rocco's passing made me remember being at this show.

 

Ames, Iowa; Iowa Public Television. 250 person venue. Semi Truck out front of the club for the IPT recording was pretty astounding.

 

The tightness/funk of this performance is just unbelievable.

 

[video:youtube]

J  a  z  z  P i a n o 8 8

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Yamaha C7D

Montage M8x | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven

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Interesting. There's always a lot to dig about any TOP performance. Their vocalists have sometimes seemed to lift the band up, other times seemed to drag it down a bit. But everyone who has sat behind the organ has been outstanding. Last I heard about Dave Matthews, he was still a presence in the Oakland area. In that video his style contrasts a bit with CT, he's playing more fills. I will always associate the TOP sound with CT's particular style and technique.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

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Interesting. There's always a lot to dig about any TOP performance. Their vocalists have sometimes seemed to lift the band up, other times seemed to drag it down a bit. But everyone who has sat behind the organ has been outstanding. Last I heard about Dave Matthews, he was still a presence in the Oakland area. In that video his style contrasts a bit with CT, he's playing more fills. I will always associate the TOP sound with CT's particular style and technique.

David K. Matthews joined TOP when CT left for Santana, and again, he replaced CT in Santana when CT retired.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Pure fire. What year?

4/3/86

Cool. I was 10 miles from you that night. I was a 14 year old living in Nevada...

Nice! I was in Ames from 1981 - 1995, and 2019 - Current :)

J  a  z  z  P i a n o 8 8

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Yamaha C7D

Montage M8x | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven

K8.2 | 3300 | CPSv.3

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I had forgotten that David played with TOP. He's always struck me as one of those guys who deserves more recognition than he's gotten. I first became aware of him when I had to cop some of his parts from a Maria Muldaur record for a tour I did with her, and I was impressed with how inventive he could be within an acoustic blues context, but still make the results sound natural and unforced. He sounds really great here.
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ITs just amazing to me how TOP keeps up such a level of excellence with all the personel changes over the years. Wonder if they provide charts to the new faces to learn the parts ? Sort of a Buddy Rich thing, keep firing them and plugging in new guys. There seems to be no time when you would say, "yea but you should have heard TOP in xxxx year "

I've got to get to see them one more time when all these restrictions are over.

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Every time I hear something from TOP I am taken back to the middle of 1975, when 'Back to Oakland' was first being heard here in the UK

(In the 70s a lot of US jazz records only made it to the UK via the few guys who specialised in importing).

Still remember picking my jaw up off the floor after first hearing Chester's solo on 'Squib Cakes' ...

 

Loved them ever since... in all their incarnations.

And as for those who have been lucky enough to have seen them live --I'm so jealous! :)

Yamaha - YC61 - P105 - MOX6 - HC2 -- Neo Vent 2
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Slightly OT: I used to have a live ToP recording on a cassette tape where CT did an awesome solo. I am trying to find it again, but can't remember when it was or even the name of the song. The only thing I can specifically remember is CT's introduction just before it started that went something like ".... Chester Thompson -- CT!". Anyone know what it might be?

Stan

Gig Rig: Yamaha S90 XS; Hammond SK-1; Rehearsal: Yamaha MOX8 Korg Triton Le61, Yamaha S90, Hammond XK-1

Retired: Hammond M2/Leslie 145, Wurly 200, Ensoniq VFX

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There"s a 1976 live album called âLive and in Living Color' where the entire B-side is a 26-minute version of âKnock Yourself Out' that includes a lengthy CT solo spanning his bass-pedal bumpin' groove over a string machine to a pretty nasty Clavinet solo, and back into the chorus.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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I've told this story before but it remains one of my favorite memories. In 1974, me and friend went to Paul's Mall in Boston without tickets to try to see TOP. Waiting in line couple in front of us heard us talking that we hoped we could get in. They turned around and said they had two extra tickets. We bought them at ticket price. BTW, Paul's Mall was a tiny venue we were literally 15 feet from band.

 

There was no seat assignments and we got front row seats. Original members, front row; it was amazing. I'm the kind of person who has to bop around when there's funky music being played. People around me were stiff as boards. Felt extremely lucky that night.

 

Just to remind those who don't know. There is a must have live album that came out Hipper than Hip, Live studio recording

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Just to remind those who don't know. There is a must have live album that came out Hipper than Hip, Live studio recording

 

 

I think the source for that album is the Hempstead live radio bootleg that has been floating around for many years. The recording is fantastic and the organ is REALLY hot in the mix. You can hear all the little nuances that Chester does on every song.

Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com

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There"s a 1976 live album called âLive and in Living Color' where the entire B-side is a 26-minute version of âKnock Yourself Out' that includes a lengthy CT solo spanning his bass-pedal bumpin' groove over a string machine to a pretty nasty Clavinet solo, and back into the chorus.

That's IT!

 

Thanks!

Stan

Gig Rig: Yamaha S90 XS; Hammond SK-1; Rehearsal: Yamaha MOX8 Korg Triton Le61, Yamaha S90, Hammond XK-1

Retired: Hammond M2/Leslie 145, Wurly 200, Ensoniq VFX

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Crazy good. Tucktronix opened for TOP in 2010. Roger Smith is a monster player.

 

I opened for Tower of Power back in the mid-1970s - one of several recording acts our band opened for during that time of my life. ToP relentlessly toured up and down the west coast back then, so a lot of bands opened for them. We just happened to have a two week gig in a large nightclub up in North Seattle at the same time they were booked for a night. It was common at this particular club for the local band to swing into opening position when they booked recording acts.

 

CT was great, and the band was the tightest group I'd ever heard in my life. Other than that, I don't remember that much about it... it was so long ago.

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David K. Matthews joined TOP when CT left for Santana, and again, he replaced CT in Santana when CT retired.
I assume this is yet another Dave Matthews from the horn arranger active in the 70s and 80s (did a lot of work for Phil Ramone, including the horn sections for Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man" album) and leader of "Dave Matthews Big Band?" I corresponded with that Dave Matthews once to see if he still had the charts for "Easy Money" filed away anywhere, but he said they were all lost to the ages...

Samuel B. Lupowitz

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David K. Matthews joined TOP when CT left for Santana, and again, he replaced CT in Santana when CT retired.
I assume this is yet another Dave Matthews from the horn arranger active in the 70s and 80s (did a lot of work for Phil Ramone, including the horn sections for Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man" album) and leader of "Dave Matthews Big Band?" I corresponded with that Dave Matthews once to see if he still had the charts for "Easy Money" filed away anywhere, but he said they were all lost to the ages...

Yes, David K. Mathews (sorry, ONE "t") is another one of those. The sixth or seventh one. :-)

 

Apparently, he was with TOP only 2 1/2 years around '82 to '85.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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