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Roger Smith

Roger Smith was born to play the Hammond organ, and destined to become a member of Tower of Power. Since 1998, Roger has been a part of the Tower Sound, drawing on all of his earlier experiences and influences to lead him to where he is today.

From the time he was a child Roger played piano and took music lessons. His early musical education began in church but because of creative limitations he soon lost interest. At that time, Roger and his family had moved from Texas to Sacramento, CA. As fate would have it, a fellow 6th grader who lived down the street had an uncle who's occupation would change young Roger's musical tastes forever. Philadelphia's Jimmy McGriff, a legendary jazz organist had a brother that lived just a few doors down from the Smith's. During a visit, Roger was introduced to a sound that fascinated him, the Hammond B-3 organ. Jimmy McGriff taught him a couple of signature blues songs, "Down The Road A Piece" and "Little Red Rooster". From that time on the keyboard, and the Hammond organ in particular, became an important part of Roger's life.

After spending some time in the service, Roger, now 20 years old and living in Austin, Texas, formed a band called "Blind Mellon". His band mates in Blind Mellon were are very young Eric Johnson on guitar, and Roscoe Beck on bass. Roger was honing his keyboard skills and becoming well known in the area. At this point, he was ready to move from the garage to the stage. In 1971, Roger was given an opportunity to fill in for a member of Freddie King's band for about 5 weeks. This would be another life-changing event that led Roger to work with many other artists such as Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Louden Wainwright III.

Now residing in the capitol of CA, about an hour from the East Bay area, Roger had heard about Tower of Power and went to see them perform many times even before they added keyboardist Chester Thompson. Smith recalls "When I saw Tower of Power with Chester Thompson, well no one sounded like him. His style is very unique." Now working as a professional musician, Roger was a member of "Sunbear" which was the house band for the immensely popular television show "Soul Train". Roger held that position for and was on the road after that with artists like Gladys Knight, Harvey Mandel, Jeff Beck, and Jan Hammer. Smith refers to himself as a utility player at that point in time, working in many different situations as a keyboard artist.

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Album Review

Tower of Power: 50 Years of Funk and Soul

Read "50 Years of Funk and Soul" reviewed by John Pietaro


In the realm of power funk and jazz-rock, Tower of Power was an original voice, one carved from a unique place within an exceptionally heady moment. And this convergence of forces, clearly, has yet to cool some 53 years hence. Horns? They've carried up to six at a time, to hell with diminished door splits. A big band of scorching funk, Tower of Power traces its roots to 1968 Oakland, where it flourished in a thicket of sound ...

3
Album Review

Tony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

Read "Was Out Jazz Zone Mad" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


The translation of “Adam" from Hebrew--from which the surname Adamo springs--means from the “ground" or “soil." It also derives from the Hebrew word for red, a la “red clay." Perhaps that is why any work from Tony Adamo is rare earth--gritty, and flaming crimson. Was Out Jazz Zone Mad Adamo's latest, his first for Ropeadope, is all of those things and more.Adamo is the Heavyweight Champion of “hipspokenword," wherein lingo meets vocalizing at the corner of jazz and ...

5
Album Review

Tony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

Read "Was Out Jazz Zone Mad" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Some African cultures preserved their history not by the written but by the spoken word, kept by oral cultural historians known as griots. On Was Out Jazz Zone Mad, vocalist Tony Adamo aspires to serve in this same role, as a verbal historian of both official and unofficial African-American jazz and blues culture. This type of jazz jive might wear quickly thin but Adamo writes about jazz and jazz musicians with such detailed intimacy and vision that his words snap, ...

106
Album Review

Roger Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo: The Butterfly and the Bee

Read "The Butterfly and the Bee" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Former Brotherhood of Breath drummer Louis Moholo and British free-form acoustic guitarist Roger Smith lay their cards out on the table during this extremely attractive studio set. Essentially, neither man acts as an antagonist here. It's more about intrinsic communication, topped off with acutely enacted improvisations featuring great depth and variable rhythmic maneuvers. Moholo's complex drumming parameters are counterbalanced with his alternating use of small percussion instruments. They pursue mechanisms for altering flows and pulses in areas where Smith's buzzing ...

122
Album Review

Roger Smith: Extended Plays

Read "Extended Plays" reviewed by Robert Spencer


Roger Smith plays a Spanish guitar, upon which he improvises freely, somewhat in the manner of Derek Bailey, who was for a time his teacher. Yet Extended Plays illustrates that Smith is no imitator, but a freely improvising guitarist with very much his own style. Like Bailey, Smith avoids grooves of any kind, but he is not disdainful of a bit of motivic repetition when it serves his purpose (see the quasi-chording and strumming of “Summer Afternoon Sequence 4B"). As ...

121
Album Review

Roger Smith: Extended Plays - solo guitar improvisations 1993-97

Read "Extended Plays - solo guitar improvisations 1993-97" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Guitarist Roger Smith is well known for his long association with the late John Stevens’ now legendary, Spontaneous Music Ensemble of which he spent nearly 20 years. Smith is recognized for his ingenuity as a free-improvisational guitarist. Here, on Extended Plays-Improvised Solos we are treated to 9 pieces from this truly amazing, starkly original and somewhat under appreciated guitarist. Throughout, Smith utilizes an unamplified acoustic guitar.

Smith is a master improviser and possesses a unique, singular voice. A one-time student ...

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Music Industry

Tony Adamo and Roger Smith of Tower Of Power Collaborate on "Rain Man Make it Rain Love my Way"— Becomes All About Jazz Top Track

Tony Adamo and Roger Smith of Tower Of Power Collaborate on "Rain Man Make it Rain Love my Way"— Becomes All About Jazz Top Track

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Tony Adamo on his collaboration with Roger Smith... My Tower of Power (TOP) connection goes back more than 20 years to a recording session in Dave Hartel’s studio in Half Moon Bay, California. Hartel was the organ player for Lydia Pense and Cold Blood at the time, and brought in Mic Gillette and Skip Mesquite to lay down the horn tracks on one of my new songs. From that session Mic and I became fast friends. He continued to write ...

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