Tower of Power have been showing the strength of a dynamic horn section more than 50 years.

Breaking out of the Bay Area scene with 1970’s East Bay Grease, the band formed by Emilio Castillo is still going strong, having released Step Up, in 2020.

While they have released plenty of albums, when you hear a Tower of Power song, there’s no mistaking it.

“We have a certain sound and we stay true to that,” Castillo said in a phone interview with Whatzup. “We noticed that whenever we sway from that, it still sounds like Tower of Power, but a bastardized version. So, we just keep polishing the diamond and chipping away at the sculpture.”

On Thursday, Feb. 29, the Oakland, California, band will bring 55 years of funk and soul to The Clyde Theatre. Opening the show will be Fort Wayne’s own band led by a strong horn section, The Sweetwater All Stars.

Like-minded musician

While they were formed in Oakland, the story of Tower of Power begins in Detroit, where Castillo lived until he was 11.

“My parents always had music playing on the hi-fi,” he said. “We listened to people like Dinah Washington and Bill Doggett and Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole. 

“Then we moved out to Oakland and Sly Stone was a disc jockey out there. He started his band, and me and my bass player, we were 16, we’d climb over the fence behind this night club and go in and watch the band from 2-6 in the morning.”

Luckily for Castillo, the music he fell in love with while growing up in Motown was just as popular on the West Coast. 

Another fan of the funk/R&B/soul sound in the Bay Area was Stephen “Doc” Kupka, who auditioned for Castillo and his parents. Castillo’s parents were the driving force behind Castillo asking him to join his band. And the rest is history.

“Doc is a very quirky guy,” Castillo said. “He was the first hippie I ever met. We weren’t hippies back then. We were wearing suits and had razor cuts. We were slick little musicians in the East Bay. Doc came in with that big baritone sax.”

Castillo and Kupka have been the heart of Tower of Power ever since. Drummer David Garibaldi had also been with the band since 1968, although he stepped away a few times before recently retiring. He’s been replaced by Herman Matthews.

According to Castillo, it was not his intent to form a large band. However, as the tenor saxophonist continued to play, more and more folks came aboard, including Greg Adams, Mic Gillette, Steven “Skip” Mesquite, David Padron, Ken Balzell on horns, Francis “Rocco” Prestia on bass, William James Fulton on guitar, and Rufus Miller on vocals.

“I started a band when I was 14. I didn’t even know how to play,” Castillo said. “We did it completely backwards. We started the band, then we learned to play. We just kept growing. 

“At 16, I saw this band called The Spiders and they became my idols. They were a real slick soul band. I wanted to be like them. Right about that time Sly (and the Family Stone) came out and soul music became popular. That was my whole life.”

Catching their break

As the band grew, their eyes were fixated on San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, where Bill Graham was booking the hottest acts.

“The whole world was looking at the Bay Area, musically and culturally,” Castillo said of the vibe in the late ’60s. “Bill Graham kind of shaped the ear of the collective public by bringing in acts like Sam & Dave, Miles Davis, Tito Puente, and Otis Redding … Albert King and B.B. King. They got a real education on all kinds of music. 

“It was always a creative, eclectic community. It just really blossomed out of that ’60s era into the ’70s, where the psychedelic thing had run its course and they were ready for some rhythm, horns, and some soul. We came at the right time.”

Amid all the acts cutting their teeth in the Bay Area, it was Tower of Power that caught Graham’s attention, and he signed them to his San Francisco Records.

“We were nobody,” Castillo said of signing with Graham’s record label. “We were not like this popular band in the Bay Area that got signed by Bill Graham. We were no one. We were this little unknown band in the East Bay playing these little soul night clubs. 

“For some reason, Bill Graham and his partner David Rubinson, who was to be the record producer (on the debut album East Bay Grease), they liked soul music, they liked horns, they liked rhythm. They heard us and were like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to sign these guys.’ 

“All of these famous bands are trying to get signed to that new label Bill Graham had. Famous bands were getting passed on, but we end up getting signed.”

If Castillo was surprised to grab the attention of Graham, he was even more surprised when he heard a song from the six-song album on the radio.

“KSAN-FM radio in San Francisco was the station,” he said. “That was right when FM started to take over in popularity from the AM stations. They started playing long songs, full album sides. We had a song called ‘Sparkling in the Sand’ that was over six minutes. I woke up one morning and I heard that flute from ‘Sparkling in the Sand.’ I banged on the wall because Doc was on the other side. I said, ‘They’re playing us! They’re playing us!’ It was quite a thrill.”

No shortage of songs

Tower of Power released nine albums in the 1970s, with 1973’s self-titled record reaching No. 15 on the Billboard chart with new frontman Lenny Williams belting out singles like “What Is Hip?” and “So Very Hard To Go,” the latter reaching No. 17 on the Hot 100.

Williams was the band’s third lead singer and would not be the last after going solo following 1975’s Urban Renewal.

Following Williams, who replaced Rick Stevens, were Hubert Tubbs, Edward McGee, Michael Jeffries, Ellis Hall, Tom Bowes, Brent Carter, Larry Braggs, Ray Greene, Marcus Scott, and the current singer Mike Jerel, who joined in 2022.

“He’s not only an incredible vocalist, he’s an incredible musician,” Castillo said of Jerel. “He plays keyboards phenomenally. He also plays trumpet. So, we have him playing keyboard on five or six songs and playing trumpet on two or three songs. Plus, he’s a real cool hang.”

You’ll see that prowess at The Clyde, where you’re sure to hear your favorite Tower of Power songs like “Diggin’ on James Brown,” “Soul With a Capital S,” and “Souled Out,” as well as any number of others.

“Lately, ‘So Very Hard To Go’ has been getting a big response,” Castillo said. “That’s an interesting hit. It’s one of our biggest for sure, yet no one can ever remember the title. As a songwriter, I go, ‘I should have come up with something simpler.’ We hit that first intro to the song and people respond.”

A song Castillo also likes to work into sets is “Only So Much Oil in the Ground,” off 1975’s Urban Renewal.

“I remember when we recorded ‘There’s Only So Much Oil in the Ground,’ I remember raving to my manager, ‘This is going to be the biggest song we’ve ever written,’ ” he said. “It has the hippest lyrics. It’s got the hippest rhythm, the best tenor solo, the best organ solo. The background singing, the lead vocals — the horn arrangement is phenomenal. It’s interesting that it was never a hit, but we still play it all the time and it’s more relevant each time. The energy crisis only gets worse and worse.”

Whatever they play, you can expect a raucous crowd jamming along and Castillo soaking it all in.

“I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, so I’m a Midwesterner,” he said. “We like that area and like the people out there. They’ve treated us well.”