This short story was posted on the East Bay Soul facebook page September 12th. 2010.

San Francisco 1968. At the time I was 16 and a junior in high school. Westmoor HS in Daly City, just south of The City. Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago were big then and I was way into them because of, well, you know, horn bands. So when they came to town to play Fillmore West or Winterland I was the first one there on Thursday night. In the past I’d buy a ticket for opening night and talk my way backstage.

The first time I met Lee Loughnane from Chicago or Lew Soloff from BS&T was simply walking up to them and introducing myself. Which I thought was pretty brave of me. But both were very kind to me and after a little trumpet talk, I’d ask if I could be on the guest list for the next 3 nights. No problem. And hanging out backstage was, well how cool was that! There was always 3 bands on the playbill and sometimes two shows a night. I knew then that I just had to play there one day. Wow, look how that turned out.

This particular gig in 1968 was with BS&T and Lew put me on the guest list. It was at Winterland and If my memory is correct the bill was Cream, Buddy Miles Band and BS&T. Security was of course tight, but I was able to get a back stage pass thru Lew. San Francisco’s who’s who of the music scene was out in full because of this shows bands and, remember I’m only 16, I’m thinking yes, I could definitely deal with this sort of career.

As posted on Strokeland:

Rosco’s Place II, the anxiously-awaited follow up to Roger Smith’s original Rosco’s Place, is here and ready to light a fire in the contemporary jazz world.

Featuring world-class musicians throughout, Roger takes us on a fanciful romp filled with delicious grooves, soulful changes, and well-crafted melodies. Roger is a true master of the keyboard and his technical abilities are astounding, yet he never lets the technical side of his playing overshadow the soulfulness.

Roger stretches out on the organ, piano, Rhodes, synthesizer, and bass and never fails to delight, alongside beautifully crafted solos from his many special guests. Many present and former members of Tower of Power make appearances on JAZZ ROSCO II, along with other stellar musicians.

Rosco’s Place. It’s a great hang.

Also check out Roger Smith’s great previous contemporary jazz release, SITTIN’ IN, and the original ROSCO’S PLACE, also available right here on Strokeland Records.

Rosco’s Place II will be available at other outlets like Amazon, CDbaby, Itunes and more on October 31st.

For more on Roger Smith and Rosco’s Place II go to:

Roger at Stokeland
Jazz Rosco or
Roger Smith On Myspace

As posted on Strokeland:

Rosco’s Place II, the anxiously-awaited follow up to Roger Smith’s original Rosco’s Place, is here and ready to light a fire in the contemporary jazz world.

Featuring world-class musicians throughout, Roger takes us on a fanciful romp filled with delicious grooves, soulful changes, and well-crafted melodies. Roger is a true master of the keyboard and his technical abilities are astounding, yet he never lets the technical side of his playing overshadow the soulfulness.

Roger stretches out on the organ, piano, Rhodes, synthesizer, and bass and never fails to delight, alongside beautifully crafted solos from his many special guests. Many present and former members of Tower of Power make appearances on JAZZ ROSCO II, along with other stellar musicians.

Rosco’s Place. It’s a great hang.

Also check out Roger Smith’s great previous contemporary jazz release, SITTIN’ IN, and the original ROSCO’S PLACE, also available right here on Strokeland Records.

Rosco’s Place II will be available at other outlets like Amazon, CDbaby, Itunes and more on October 31st.

For more on Roger Smith and Rosco’s Place II go to:

Roger at Stokeland
Jazz Rosco or
Roger Smith On Myspace

For a bunch of Tower Of Power fans October 4th was the finale’ of a weekend of music that began on Thursday September 30th.  Thursday evening a bunch of us made it to the M resort in Las Vegas to catch Lon Bronson who with his smaller band, had members of Tower Of Power sitting in.  Tower members Adolfo Acosta, Larry Braggs, Tom E. Politzer and Rocco Prestia sat in and treated us to some vintage Tower songs.  Friday through Sunday was spent catching Tower Of Power at the South Point Hotel and Casino.  The band was firing on all cylinders and has not sounded better in years.  Sunday we were treated to a visit by Fred Ross who sat with our group for the show.  Now comes Monday night.  A group of fourteen of us headed over to the Palms to check out Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns.  Santa Fe never ceases to entertain, and the evening was made even better as Fred sat in with the band for two songs.  None of the other folks in our group, except for my wife and myself, had heard Fred live before, so the evening was a great treat for them.  Below are videos of the songs performed by Santa Fe with Fred Ross fronting the band.

For more information on Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns go to www.santafeband.com

For Fred Ross go to www.myspace.com/fredrossvocalist

Video Courtesy of Brian Rachlin.

Still trying to catch up to Greg we are posting another of Greg’s short storeis.  Posted on East Bay Soul’s facebook page September 5th 2010

Greg writes:  2003…Being known primarily as an arranger for horn oriented music is my legacy. And of that I’m very proud. It’s both flattering and humbling when my writing is identified by listeners as “my sound”. Over the last 40 years I’ve had the pleasure of participating on several major recording sessions and I still to this day get a thrill when I hear something I know is going to be very special. One of my true loves, though, is writing for strings. I caught the bug early when I did the strings for You’re Still A Young Man on Bump City. From then on, it was always a thrill on each project the day arrived when we would be cutting the orchestra. Conducting is like a drug! I’ve had the good fortune to work with some of the finest string players in L.A. and New York. Also the Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam. What a band THAT is…But Amsterdam is another story altogether. The food. The coffee shops. But I digress. Back to the strings.

One of my favorite two people in the world are Miwa Yoshida and Masa Nakamura. They are the super pop group Dreams Come True from Tokyo. I’ve arranged and played on numerous CDs with them over the last 15 years. I’m sure you can remember me talking of them in past SSS’s. Miwa also has 2 solo projects to her credit. They are entitled Beauty And Harmony and Beauty And Harmony 2. The string date for B and H 2 was recorded at Sony Studios in New York City. Here is the story. Miwa and Masa, her producer on her B and H 2 lined up a stellar cast of musicians for this CD. We recorded in L.A. and N.Y.C. ( see the line up of players following ) She composed a song of but a single melody. No chords. She then asked me to write it for strings and take it where I wanted to. It was kind of like taking a charcoal drawing and making it into an oil painting. I spent alot of time on it because it just had to be right for her. It had to reflect her…

My role as an arranger is to become a chameleon of sorts and, while bringing my sound to the song, morphing myself into the artist’s own sense of who they are and giving a proper representation of where they are going in their song. This can be the difficult part for some, but to me it comes very easy. Especially with Miwa. Day of session. Sony has very tight security and you have to go through metal detectors to enter the building. I got there early and as some the orchestra started to arrive, we learned of a commotion at security. We later found out that one of the violists was packing heat. I kid you not. Oh boy….And he was not giving it up. Scratch one viola from the date. Now you have to know here that Miwa has no idea what I’ve done here with her melody and I am not capable of playing this arrangement on the piano. I know what it sounds like in my mind though, and I’m anxious for her to hear it. The players are all in their seats and I go into the studio to discuss tempo and bow marks, etc. We do a couple of run throughs to warm up and get the kinks out. Al Schmitt, our engineer says, “Let’s make one, then come in and take a listen”. We do just that. I go into the booth to hear how it sounds. I ask Miwa, “Do you like it?” She turns to me with tear in her eye and a big smile. I have my answer. These musical moments are magic for me.

For more on Greg Adams go to http://www.eastbaysoul.com/ or http://www.gregadamsmusic.com/