For almost a decade, Tower of Power and Yoshi’s were linked by a near disaster that almost rewrote the combo’s history.
Just before showtime on Jan. 12, 2017, the legendary East Bay funk band’s longtime drummer David Garibaldi and part-time bassist Mark van Wageningen started crossing Embarcadero after a slow moving northbound freight train passed by, only to be struck by an Amtrak train heading rapidly in the other direction.
Both men were severely injured, the gig was cancelled, and TOP didn’t play Yoshi’s again until Jan. 16, when the band sold-out the first of four three-night stands. Judging by Sunday night’s packed house, the East Bay has been waiting to welcome TOP back to Jack London Square. Talk about a triumphant return.
As founding tenor saxophonist and sometimes vocalist Emilio Castillo reminded the audience, TOP got its start in the late 1960s just a few blocks away at On Broadway, a long defunct R&B joint where the band first started honing a book rife with hits like “You’re Still a Young Man.”
TOP hasn’t been avoiding Yoshi’s out of trauma, Castillo said in a conversation a few days before the show. Garibaldi retired from the band last January, and van Wageningen, who performs as Mark VW, took over TOP’s permanent bass chair in 2018. He headlined his own gig at Yoshi’s less than a year after the train incident, and has been back with other bands several times.
What temped TOP to return to the venue was the opportunity to show some hometown love. Almost every night in the remaining Back to Oakland Residency (Jan. 23-25, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, and Feb. 5-7) has sold out.
“We love the idea of doing a residency,” Castillo said. “We’ve been looking around for one in Vegas for several years, but we’re not quite big enough. In the Bay Area, and particularly Oakland, it seemed like a perfect fit.”
Castillo and baritone saxophonist Stephen “Doc” Kupka are the only two founding members still in the band, but they’re also authors of most of the band’s best known songs. Trumpeter Adolpho Acosta has anchored the horn section since 2000 and tenor saxophonist Tom Polizer, a veteran of jazz big bands led by Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson, delivers a majority of the solos.
It’s the combination of veteran talent and new blood that makes the latest incarnation of TOP so much more than a nostalgia act. The horn section sounds deep and crisp, punching out riffs on Kupka’s brawny bari foundation. The rhythm section is relentlessly greasy, calibrated on Jerry Cortez’s expert guitar work, while VW and drummer Pete Antunes are simultaneously loose and tight, the sweet spot for funk.
TOP’s most conspicuous attribute these days, aside from a repertoire that encompasses sweet soul ballads, wicked James Brown funk and the band’s trademark East Bay grease, is lead vocalist Jordan John. A recent addition, he’s a powerhouse soul belter who hails from funk royalty. His father, Mumbai-born Indian-Canadian bassist Prakash John, recorded seminal albums with George Clinton and Lou Reed in the 1970s and was an architect of the bass-heavy R&B style known as the Toronto Sound.
Since the late-1970s he’s led the popular Toronto R&B combo The Lincolns, a band that often crossed paths with TOP. “We saw a tape of Jordan performing and we immediately recognized Prakesh in the band,” Castillo said. “He’s a phenomenal talent who really grew up in the world of funk and soul.”
On Sunday’s 90-minute show, he sounded magnificent on a wide spectrum of material, belting, crooning and soaring into a glorious falsetto. On “Soul Vaccination” (health departments missed a real opportunity not utilizing this song during the pandemic) he punched out the lines with complete authority.
When Castillo took over lead vocals for “You Got to Funkifize,” John picked up a guitar and added some extra texture to the rhythm section. Liberated by a cordless microphone, he roamed through the house on several pieces, including an extended version of “Diggin’ on James Brown.”
At 58, TOP is a survivor from a musical age that’s rapidly receding. Judging by their energy at Yoshi’s, the band is gaining stream for a major celebration marking 60 years of providing an emphatic answer to the ever-relevant query: What is hip?
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
TOWER OF POWER
When: Jan. 23-25, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, and Feb. 5-7
Where: Yoshi’s, Oakland
Tickets: $109-$199; yoshis.com