Tower Of Power

Tower of Power came onto the scene in the closing years of the 1960s as a horn-driven ensemble delivering an energetic mix of R&B, soul, funk, and AM pop. Joining forces with like-minded bands such as Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears, the group helped steer brass-heavy sounds into the rock mainstream. Fronted by Detroit-born tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo and based in Oakland, California, the outfit notched chart successes including the hits "You're Still a Young Man" and "What Is Hip?" across the 1970s. They also turned into one of pop music’s most in-demand session horn sections, appearing on tracks by Elton John, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith, Josh Groban, and numerous others. Although personnel shifted across decades, Castillo stayed the steady anchor, steering the band both onstage and in recording sessions.

Castillo left Detroit to chase his musical ambitions in Oakland, California, where he assembled the Motowns, a band named for its focus on 1960s soul. Teaming with baritone saxophonist Stephen "Doc" Kupka in 1967, he reshaped the Motowns into Tower of Power; one of their earliest joint compositions, "You're Still a Young Man," later became a signature piece. Throughout the late 1960s the expanding ensemble—often reaching ten members—performed regularly in the Bay Area, featuring core players such as trumpeter and vocalist Greg Adams, saxophonist Lenny Pickett, and bassist Rocco Prestia. The funk collective signed with Bill Graham’s San Francisco Records in 1970, issuing its debut album East Bay Grease that year, though the record made little commercial headway while the band refined its identity.

Momentum built quickly: the 1972 release Bump City launched a run of landmark albums that included the self-titled 1973 set, which introduced vocalist Lenny Williams and featured the enduring track "What Is Hip?," followed by Back to Oakland in 1974 and both Urban Renewal and In the Slot in 1975. Tower of Power kept its status as a premier concert draw even as disco reshaped R&B tastes; their funk-rooted approach lost ground, and disco-leaning efforts such as We Came to Play in 1978 and Back on the Streets in 1979 drew lukewarm responses, leading to a nine-year recording hiatus.

Through those changes the horn section in particular stayed a prized backing unit for major pop and rock artists, contributing to projects by Elton John, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, Little Feat, David Sanborn, Michelle Shocked, Paula Abdul, Aaron Neville, Aerosmith, Public Image Ltd., and others. The group resumed studio work with the 1988 album Power, then joined Epic Records in 1991 and issued five albums there before the decade ended.

Entering the 2000s, Tower of Power upheld their reputation for powerful live performances with a busy touring calendar. They founded their own TOP Records imprint in 2009 for The Great American Soulbook, a collection of twelve soul and R&B standards rendered in the band’s signature style. A special 40th-anniversary concert at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium in 2007 was documented the following year as a CD/DVD package titled 40th Anniversary. In 2013 the group revisited earlier material with the live radio broadcast recording Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, captured in 1974, and announced joint tours with fellow Northern California acts Journey and the Steve Miller Band for 2013 and 2014. Their 50th anniversary arrived in 2018 with the Joe Vannelli-produced studio album Soul Side of Town on Mack Avenue Records. Material recorded in the same sessions yielded Step Up, the band’s 26th full-length album, released two years later and topping both the Billboard Jazz and R&B charts. The concert album 50 Years of Funk and Soul: Live at the Fox Theater followed in 2021, preserving two hometown performances from June 2018 at Oakland’s Fox Theater.