What Is Hip? Roger Smith.

Tower of Power and the magical interconnectedness of NorCal music history.

Roger Smith, Charlie Peacock, Aaron Smith & Eric Heilman live circa 1990

Last Friday evening, our friend Roger Smith from California called us. We were scanning the TV streamers for a drama worth watching (why is this so difficult?). Roger's call was the rescue we needed. A story from a friend is much better.

Rog kindly wanted to know how we were doing. Thank you. But what about you? We asked. Without any fanfare, he casually mentions that it’s been two weeks since he retired as keyboardist from the band Tower of Power. Joining them in 1998, Rog had close to a three-decade tenure with the band, which he was born to play in. And that is no exaggeration.

I knew retirement was coming sooner than later, but this was big news. Especially so, having grown up in northern California—with Oakland and the Bay Area as Tower's birthplace. Yes, it's just Tower after you're hip to the band.

Tower emerged in 1968 and released their first album, East Bay Grease on San Francisco Records in 1970. Two songs on the debut album set the style for everything to come: “Knock Yourself Out” and “Sparkling in the Sand.” The first sent up a signal flare for what became an entirely original East Bay approach to funk played by a horn band. The second composition, sung by vocalist Lenny Williams, mapped out all their ballads and mid-tempo hits on the horizon, such as "You're Still a Young Man."

I was hipped to this album by Andi's older sister Paula. Think of it as indie vinyl instead of a major label release. I don't recall exactly, but it may have been the first time I visited Andi's home after we started "going steady" in 1971. I was converted (to Andi and Tower). Though I was a fan of other horn bands, including those like Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tower was the unique sound of NorCal and my allegiance was strong.

San Francisco Records was an indie record label based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by the legendary music promoter Bill Graham and music producer David Rubinson (distributed by Atlantic Records). David Rubinson produced the debut, East Bay Grease.

Little did I know in 1971 that ten years later, producer David Kahne would bring David Rubinson to hear my band play at the club The Stone in San Francisco. For the next year, Rubinson would (loosely) manage me and generously fund recordings at his Automatt studios (produced by Kahne) in hopes of a record deal for me.

David Kahne was and is a remarkable producer. I learned a great deal from him, though I ultimately sabotaged my “record deal” chances with immaturity, ego, and substance abuse. David did fine without my mess. Teaming up with Columbia Records as VP of A&R/Producer, he began his phenomenal hit-making career with Billboard chart-topping songs from Romeo Void and The Bangles, and later sublime recordings with a wide variety of artists including Lana Del Rey, Tony Bennett, and Paul McCartney.

In another four years, I’d be clean and sober, possess a vision for artistry, and managed by Bill Graham Management (thanks to an introduction from percussionist Bongo Bob Smith). I was on my way to a better story. But I shared these distinctly NorCal beginnings with Tower.

Apart from the smile-inducing music, the most beautiful element of Tower is that they modeled an multiracial band—something musicians in NorCal often did well. I mention this in an excerpt from my book Roots & Rhythm, remarking on the camaraderie with musicians like Roger, drummer Aaron Smith, bassist Al Kee, and recording artist Brent Bourgeois for so long:

We shared the stories of our past and created new ones together surrounding music and family—still do, forty-five years later. Among our generation in Northern California, it was more common than not for our bands to be multiracial. Respect for the music and for one another’s skill gave birth to diversity. NorCal 1970s heroes like Tower of Power, Santana, War, Malo, Sly and the Family Stone, Herbie Hancock, and Azteca bore witness to this way of being in the world. A pattern that still defines us today.

Thank you, Roger, for your contribution to popular music. Well done! You kept organist Chester Thompson's original contribution to the band intact and innovated beyond it, bringing new energy with your own unique mastery of the Hammond B3 organ. You are in good company with Chester, Jimmy McGriff, Lonnie Liston, that other Mr. Smith, Jimmy and your pal, the great Joey D!

Friends, see what I mean live from London, 2:59 to end:

Just so you know, my top fave Tower of Power albums are:

Bump City 1972

Tower of Power (self-titled) 1973

Back to Oakland 1974 (I saw the band at the Oakland Coliseum on this tour)

From the 40^th Anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Dig Roger’s solo at 3:11. This is the essence of both Roger and Tower.

50 Years of Funk & Soul Live at the Fox Theater—Oakland, CA—June 2018—lots of stellar playing from Roger on this set.

Also visit Roger’s own winery!

https://bumpcitywineco.com/about-roger-smith/

CP quintet outside Rudy’s Jazz Room in Nashville, TN (L-R: Brian Blade, CP, Scott Mulvahill, Roger Smith, Jeff Coffin)

A Few CP Songs from the Wayback Machine that Roger Plays On

This first one is Rog on piano and Vince Ebo and I singing.

Forgiveness has me on piano and Roger on Hammond B3.

Roger Smith Bio

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 Loudon 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.

One of Roger's friends happened to be Norbert Stachel, Tower of Power's lead tenor sax player at that time. At a time when Tower was making some personnel changes, Norbert suggested that the band listen to Roger Smith, and as a result, he has been TOP's keyboard player ever since. According to Roger, when he is on stage with Tower of Power, he goes through many different emotions. Smith says when they are in the groove, "It's the best feeling there is."