"Laying it down for Sly & The Family Stone, Greg Errico had more
pocket than a giant in dungarees. The band busted down musical barriers
at will, blending soul, funk and even psychedelic rock. Underpinning it
all was Errico’s impeccable syncopation and dance-floor friendly
grooves."
Greg Errico
Imagine how blown away I was back in the early part of 2012 when I started networking with musical friends of newfound friends on Facebook and considered the things some of them had accomplished. Last year, when I saw a list of the "100 most influential drummers of all time" (which the quote above came from) and saw the name Greg Errico in there, I thought, "Hey, I know that name."
When you listen to the Sly song "Dance To The Music" and the drum is highlighted, that's Greg Errico you're listening to. It was his syncopation that was a crucial ingredient in some of the great Sly & The Family Stone tunes, a groundbreaking soul and funk outfit from the late '60s and early '70s that was incendiary both on- and off-stage, having a part in Woodstock and going on to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He left the Family in 1971, but his resume would be added to with touring stints in Weather Report in 1973, David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" tour in 1974, Santana, the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band, blues harp master Lee Oskar, to name just a few. He still plays and produces. In soul/funk/rock music history, his reputation is etched in (Sly's) Stone.
It's gonna be a night for partying, no doubt about that. It's not every day that you usher in a new year. We're not just talking nationwide here, we're talking a worldwide celebration.
Goodbye 2012! Hello 2013!
I'm content to bring in the new year in a relatively quiet way -- spent with family members at home eating chips and dip, maybe watching a movie or two, playing some games and listening to some music, tuning in to a rockin' New Year's Eve show on television as it gets closer to the stroke of midnight before giving my lovely wife the first kiss of a new year and hugging the kids.
That's how it'll be this year. But two of our kids are away from home this time, and our oldest is getting ready for a big life adventure of his own to start his year, living out a dream. It's going to be a very quiet, very simple New Year's celebration at home for us this year.
But I know exactly where there's going to be one whale of a party today. I know because I was at one just like it at this same time last year. It's not your typical New Year's Eve party. There's a birthday celebration that goes along with it. It's a birthday celebration for a musician, a "brother" of mine who has a whole lot of good musician friends to play with. It's filled with good food, good drinks, good friends, family, and plenty of good jamming.
My "brother" is a musician who appreciates a solid groove, whether it's soul or rock or blues or jazz or fusion or something even more progressive. It can be a groove that's funky, simple or more complex. But there's one thing that it has to be more than anything else: the groove has to be SOLID!
My "brother" and I have spent many hours listening to those grooves together, mostly in our younger years. That's how it was last year at this time too. While I was being lazy as I tried to kick a nasty cold, he was busy tooling around his house -- setting up microphone stands, mics, cables, guitar stands, guitars, a drum kit, amps, a laptop computer to record it all -- and the music we listened to back in our younger days was playing on the stereo while he was working away. It was music that brought smiles to our faces, even all these years later. Just like it used to be.
When his numerous other friends arrived for the party toward late afternoon and the live music started playing, it was good. It was very good. It lasted for hours, pretty much non-stop until the clock ticked midnight and 2012 arrived.
It was all about the groove. It will be that way again this time around, I'm sure.
When I was a kid, I listened to Stevie Wonder albums ... a lot. I liked all of his music, but the music of his that touched me most deeply were the songs that made a statement on society as a whole. That was the music that stirred my soul, the music that "funked up" my thoughts on the world around me.
Stevie may have been born blind, but just by listening to his lyrics and the emotion behind them when he sang -- particularly on a song like "Livin' For The City" -- you knew he had a special kind of "inner vision."
In the times when Stevie makes a social statement, he pulls no punches. He names no particular political parties when he writes and sings about politicians, he just sings against hypocrisy and "doing nothing" when there's much that needs to be done.
I admired him for that then, as a kid, when I'd listen to his music. I still admire that.
As we approach a big Election Day, this day is for Stevie Wonder, and for the powerful statements that he's made through his songs.
And now, to wrap up a week of memorable concerts that I've been able to see from all my live music-loving (yet not having enough time or money to be able to see all the live shows I'd like to see) days, I'll go to the last live show I've been able to see.
I started the month of September with the launch of this blog, writing about this year's Salt Lake City Jazz Festival. I wanted to kick off this blog on the right foot. So when I saw Jerry Cortez -- guitarist for the powerhouse funk and soul group Tower of Power and a Utah resident himself -- posting on Facebook about his band wrapping up the festival that Labor Day weekend Sunday night, I knew that I just had to go.
I'd tried out Tower of Power's music years ago with an audiophile copy of the classic album "Back To Oakland," and I was immediately hooked.
The playing was so tight, so fun, so groovy. It made you just want to get up and boogie. The rhythm section, the soulful singing ... perfect.
But one thing that truly defines Tower of Power's music are those horns. Those mighty horns.
It's one of those things where you use a tired stand-by way of describing something, but in a musical sense it fits perfectly: If you look up the word "tight" in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of Tower of Power to go along with it.
