{"id":143779,"date":"2026-01-21T23:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/143779\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T23:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:10:25","slug":"tower-of-power-back-at-yoshis-delivering-trademark-east-bay-funk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/143779\/","title":{"rendered":"Tower of Power back at Yoshi’s, delivering trademark East Bay funk"},"content":{"rendered":"

For almost a decade, Tower of Power<\/a> and Yoshi\u2019s<\/a> were linked by a near disaster that almost rewrote the combo\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Just before showtime on Jan. 12, 2017, the legendary East Bay funk band\u2019s longtime drummer David Garibaldi<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Both men were severely injured, the gig was cancelled, and TOP didn\u2019t play Yoshi\u2019s again until Jan. 16, when the band sold-out the first of four three-night stands. Judging by Sunday night\u2019s packed house, the East Bay has been waiting to welcome TOP back to Jack London Square. Talk about a triumphant return.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cYou\u2019re Still a Young Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

TOP hasn\u2019t been avoiding Yoshi\u2019s 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\u2019s permanent bass chair in 2018. He headlined his own gig at Yoshi\u2019s less than a year after the train incident, and has been back with other bands several times.<\/p>\n

What temped TOP to return to the venue was the opportunity to show some hometown love. Almost every night in the remaining\u00a0Back to Oakland Residency\u00a0(Jan. 23-25, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, and Feb. 5-7) has sold out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love the idea of doing a residency,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been looking around for one in Vegas for several years, but we\u2019re not quite big enough. In the Bay Area, and particularly Oakland, it seemed like a perfect fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo and baritone saxophonist Stephen \u201cDoc\u201d Kupka are the only two founding members still in the band, but they\u2019re also authors of most of the band\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019s brawny bari foundation. The rhythm section is relentlessly greasy, calibrated on\u00a0Jerry Cortez\u2019s\u00a0expert guitar work, while VW and\u00a0drummer Pete Antunes are simultaneously loose and tight, the sweet spot for funk.<\/p>\n

TOP\u2019s most conspicuous attribute these days, aside from a repertoire that encompasses sweet soul ballads, wicked James Brown funk and the band\u2019s trademark East Bay grease, is lead vocalist Jordan John. A recent addition, he\u2019s a powerhouse soul belter who hails from funk royalty. His father, Mumbai-born Indian-Canadian bassist\u00a0Prakash 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.<\/p>\n

Since the late-1970s he\u2019s led the popular Toronto R&B combo The Lincolns, a band that often crossed paths with TOP. \u201cWe saw a tape of Jordan performing and we immediately recognized Prakesh in the band,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cHe\u2019s a phenomenal talent who really grew up in the world of funk and soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday\u2019s 90-minute show, he sounded magnificent on a wide spectrum of material, belting, crooning and soaring into a glorious falsetto. On \u201cSoul Vaccination\u201d (health departments missed a real opportunity not utilizing this song during the pandemic) he punched out the lines with complete authority.<\/p>\n

When Castillo took over lead vocals for \u201cYou Got to Funkifize,\u201d 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 \u201cDiggin\u2019 on James Brown.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 58, TOP is a survivor from a musical age that\u2019s rapidly receding. Judging by their energy at Yoshi\u2019s, 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?<\/p>\n

Contact Andrew Gilbert at\u00a0jazzscribe@aol.com.<\/p>\n

TOWER OF POWER<\/p>\n

When:\u00a0Jan. 23-25, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, and Feb. 5-7<\/p>\n

Where: Yoshi\u2019s, Oakland<\/p>\n

Tickets: $109-$199; yoshis.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For almost a decade, Tower of Power and Yoshi\u2019s were linked by a near disaster that almost rewrote…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2644,967,1533,181,971,330,143,145,144,182,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-143779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-concerts","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-keywee","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-oakland","15":"tag-oakland-headlines","16":"tag-oakland-news","17":"tag-pm-report","18":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}