Doing
that
funky
music
thing

-- Tower of Power

By John Orr

R&B master Johnny Otis certainly will know what's hip by the time he steps on stage Sunday at Fort Mason's Great Meadow to close the San Francisco Blues Festival.

That's because Otis will have the challenge of following what will undoubtedly be a supercharged set from Tower of Power, the East Bay-bred funk masters.

For those who weren't around in the late '60s and early '70s, Tower of Power might be best known as the horn section that toured with Huey Lewis or for its appearances on ''Late Night with David Letterman.''

When painfully hip CBS Orchestra leader Paul Schaeffer needs some extra punch, he calls on Emilio Castillo and Stephen ''Doc'' Kupka, two of the founding members of Tower of Power. (Kupka's the baritone sax player in the hat, the guy with the goofy grin and that stiff chicken-way of moving; Castillo's the sax player who occasionally sings.)

The ''Late Show'' appearances are just part of a recent wave of good news for the 33-year-old band. That surge includes the return of the band's original drummer, David Garibaldi, who had been away from the fold for 18 years.

Back on the streets of Bump City, Tower of Power always laid down the funkiest grooves. Its crisp horns rode the sharpest of rhythm sections with Garibaldi and bass player Francis Rocco Prestia driving the sound.

Now that Garibaldi's back, the band that taught the world to ''Funkifize'' is back to its creative best.

Just as Prestia taught bass players to play fingerstyle funk, Garibaldi innovated a funky drum style that was integral to the Tower of Power sound. It made it tough for the drummers who followed him in the band.

''Our music, it was very personalized, you know?'' Garibaldi said in a recent phone interview. ''It made it kind of difficult for people who came in afterward. .‚.‚. they became stuck in playing music from a certain period of the band.''

The drummers had to ape Garibaldi's grooves on such hits as ''You're Still A Young Man,'' ''So Very Hard to Go,'' ''You've Got to Funkifize'' and ''What Is Hip?''

''Everybody was sort of stuck, but it's toughest on the drummer,'' said Garibaldi. ''Many, many capable drummers played with Tower, but unfortunately that situation didn't allow them to express themselves creatively. Tower has a very specific way they do its music. It's very unique.''

Garibaldi left in 1980, after some tumultuous years with the band. ''We were all going in different directions,'' Garibaldi explained. ''There were a lot of negative influences that are well documented. I didn't want to be in that situation.''

The band had the its share of disputes with recording companies and the usual personnel squabbles. The most notorious incident involved Rick Stevens, the former lead singer, who was heard on ''You're Still A Young Man'' and ''Sparkling in the Sand,'' who was convicted of murder and manslaughter in drug-related slayings.

So, for 18 years Garibaldi did studio work, taught, wrote books and produced videotapes on drumming. He also worked with other bands, including Mickey Hart's Planet Drum, and did session work with other Tower players. He played on Kupka's ''Strokeland Superband'' album, which included Lewis.

When Tower of Power's drummer left a couple of years ago, Garibaldi returned.

''Tower is in a very, very good place now, poised for the next level of whatever this is going to be, creatively .‚.‚. in a very good place mentally, spiritually, physically, and it's run well,'' he said.

He came back to a band that tours constantly, including trips each year to Japan and Europe. Its members have scattered _ to Los Angeles, to Phoenix, some still in the Bay Area.

''The Bay Area is just one of our stops now. Not our base.'' said Garibaldi, although he still lives in Livermore.

The band will take a break this fall to record a new album. But first, Tower of Power will ask its musical question in San Francisco.

''This is where I belong,'' Garibaldi said. ''We're excited about doing the San Francisco Blues Festival. It's where we started. There's no place like the Bay Area. The music scene is like no place in the world, the musicians here are among the best in the world.

''We're coming home.''

Tower of Power web site