Electric Flag and the Tower of Power horns is comprised of leading bluesmen with histories as long and resplendent as the electric guitar itself. Nick Gravenites leads the band, sings, and plays guitar. Roy Blumenfeld keeps the beat on drums in sync with John Beckwith on bass, Greg Douglass burns on the blues with incredible guitar riffage, Mic Gillette soars on trumpet while Skip Mesquite honks away on the tenor sax.
The band played many crowd pleasing favorites including "Cicero Blues", "Wine", "Fantasy World", and Dino Valenti's famous hit "Get Together". There was standing room only in front of the Clock Tower Stage, so the crowd danced in place, threw their hands in the air and called and whistled with delight and praise for the band for the entire 90 minute set. Photos from the concert are now available for viewing in the Photo Galleries.
Nick Gravenites - bandleader, vocalist and guitarist
"Blues is what a bluesman says it is," according to Nick Gravenites, legendary bluesman, songwriter, and bandleader. "The life of a bluesman is often irrational and mysterious, made up of complexities and contradictions." So wrote the master for Blues Revue magazine many years ago, and what was true then is still true today.
"The blues that captivated me was not of the church, but what the church called Devil's Music," Gravenites wrote. "This 'Devil's Music' was played in whorehouses and funky dives peopled by sinners and criminals, drunkards, slackers and dope fiends, the underground elements of society. It was this underground element that I identified with, was kin to. I felt at home in this underground society because, let's face it, I'm a Chicagoan."
Gravenites [rhymes with arthritis] is a fighter and a survivor, but his professional and personal life has always been colored by friends who have succumbed to the underground culture. He'll be 70 this year. He had hip replacements four months ago, so he remained seated throughout the concert.
"My hips go 'dingety dong' when I go through security at the airport," Gravenites said.
The band played "Buried Alive In The Blues", a song Gravenites wrote for his old pal Janis Joplin.
"Her band recorded this song and she was supposed to come in the next day and do the vocals," Gravenites said at the concert, "but she died that night and never got a chance to sing this song. It was on her last album as an instrumental."
Nick Gravenites grew up on the south side of Chicago in the mid-50's with his pals Elvin Bishop, Paul Butterfield, and Michael Bloomfield, the founders of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. His music is grounded in Chicagoland with primary influences from Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, and Otis Rush. In 1965, he settled in the San Francisco Bay Area and forged a new blues that set him apart from other bluesmen. San Francisco Chronicle pop music critic Joel Selvin referred to Gravenites as "the original San Francisco connection for the Chicago crowd."
The underground culture wasn't all the fun and games that drugs and booze are frequently made out to be, as Gravenites experienced first hand.
"Whiskey, pussy and drugs was the name of the game, and I was a daily player," Gravenites wrote. "I'd start drinking before noon and I'd scrounge drugs throughout the day, a little pot, some acid or DMT, some speed, and by the time my shift ended at the Burning Bush [a Chicago club where he was a partner], I was drinking shots of 151 Rum and washing them down with scotch and sodas. Not to mention that because of my early experiences with psychedelics in California, I was the designated tester of any West Coast LSD that arrived on the scene."
"One wee morning at about a quarter to four I was stumbling down North Avenue, drunk and violently angry, a pistol in my belt and hate in my soul, looking for someone to take it out on when, for some reason, I saw myself for what I really was, a drunk, a thief, and a thug," Gravenites wrote. "The toughest thing in the world is to see yourself, and what I saw I didn't like at all. I made a decision to leave Chicago and go back to San Francisco and leave all my bad-luck blues behind."
Gravenites was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame in 2003 for his song "Born In Chicago", a personal theme song which he penned in the 60s.
He also wrote the huge hit "East West" for Paul Butterfield, as well as hits for Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Michael Bloomfield, Electric Flag, Pure Prairie League, Tracy Nelson, Roy Buchanan, Jimmy Witherspoon, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and James Cotton. He has recorded solo albums, has scored and played on the soundtracks for "The Trip", "Medium Cool", and "Steelyard Blues", and has appeared on over 40 albums as singer, songwriter, guitarist, or producer.
In 1969, he joined Big Brother And The Holding Company, staying for three years. He also formed the band Blue Gravy, a short-lived venture. He released the album "My Labours", which is considered by many to be one the all-time best blues albums, and was recently reissued on CD.
In 1973, he lent his musical talents to "Steelyard Blues" as well as the live album with Taj Mahal and Mike Bloomfield.
In the summer of 1978, his band Nick Gravenites Blues played on Huey Lewis' "Monday Nite Live" sessions.
In 1980, Gravenites recorded "Bluestar" for Germany-based label Line Records with John Cipollina on guitar and Huey Lewis on harmonica. Gravenites also produced the first Quicksilver Messenger Service albums with John Cipollina, then formed the Nick Gravenites-John Cipollina Band which went on a European tour with former Clover drummer Marcus David. While in Germany in 1982, Gravenites recorded "Monkey Medicine" with Cipollina on guitar, David on drums and Al Staehely on bass and vocals.
In 1984, Gravenites recorded "Thunder and Lightning" with Cipollina in San Francisco.
In 1991, he released the live album, "Live At The Rodon".
In 1996, Gravenites released an album of psychedelic blues called "Don't Feed The Animals" on the Taxim label, another German record company. The CD is a live recording from his regular gig at the Bodega Bay Grange, a small Marin County, Calif., club. His sidemen on that project were Doug Kilmer on bass, Mark Adams on harmonica, and Roy Blumenfeld on drums.
In 1999, Gravenites released "Kill My Brain", an album with Huey Lewis on harmonica.
In 2005, he released his latest work, "Buried Alive In The Blues".
Gravenites lives in Sebastopol, Calif., and plays regular shows in Occidental and San Francisco.
Mic Gillette, trumpet and Skip Mesquite, tenor saxophone
Tower of Power original members Mic Gillette and Skip Mesquite joined forces with Electric Flag for the 40th anniversary of the Montery Pop Festival on July 29, 2007. Gillette is the original lead trumpet for the Tower of Power. Mesquite and Gillette have known each other since grade school. They first met when their fathers played in the big bands around the Bay Area and would bring them to rehearsals.
In addition to his work with Tower of Power, Gillette has also played with Blood, Sweat & Tears, and has appeared on hundreds of recordings and toured with the Rolling Stones, Elton John, The Doobie Brothers, and Santana, among others.
In 2005, Gillette released his CD "Ear Candy" at a party in Roanoke, Virginia. He was joined by alumni from Tower of Power and the Sons of Champlin.His song "Funky Good Time" has been played on the shows of late night talkers Jay Leno and David Letterman.
Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Larry Graham, Redbone, and many others have sat in with Tower of Power at Frenchy's famed East Bay Night Club, the Fillmore Auditorium, and other major music venues throughout the world. Mesquite was also a member of Cold Blood with Lydia Pense, with whom Gillette also briefly played.
Cold Blood's 1973 groundbreaking LP "Thriller!" included Stevie Wonder's "You Are The Sunshine of my Life" as well as tunes penned by Boz Scaggs and Bill Withers and backing vocals by The Pointer Sisters.
Mesquite has recorded with Carlos Santana, Redbone, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, the Pointer Sisters and Merle Saunders, Jerry Garcia,and Jennifer Warnes, and has toured or performed with Percy Sledge, Irma Thomas, Deniece Williams on Earth, Wind, and Fire's American and European tours, Betty Harris, Lenny Williams, Confunkshun, LaToya London from American Idol, The Sons of Champlin, The Electric Flag, and has played the Porretta Soul Festival.
Mesquite built a fan base starting over 30 years ago, and is still going strong. Bump City [a Tower of Power fan site] called his solo on the Tower of Power song "You've Got To Funkifize", "one the most memorable solo performances in Tower of Power's vast repertoire."
Mesquite was a a member of Tower of Power during the band's first six years, playing lead tenor, flute, and vocals. He is recorded on the "East Bay Grease" and "Bump City" albums. After leaving the Tower, Mesquite spent a few years with Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, returned to school in the midwest, recorded some independent productions, and got his degree.
In the 1980s, Mesquite collaborated with an experimental band in Los Angeles called Takit which included former Tower members David Garibaldi and Danny Hoefer.
In the early 1990's, Mesquite took some time off, only to resurface in 1997 with Lenny Williams.
Mesquite endorses Cannonball Saxophones.
Greg Douglass, lead guitar
"Here I was, learning how to play guitar in front of huge crowds, and having to follow Jeff Beck to boot. It wasn't tough being humble," Greg Douglass said of his formative years in the Bay Area.
He was playing in Country Weather, the evolution of a Beatles tribute band called The Virtues. Douglass also played with Terry and the Pirates, John Cipollina, Van Morrison, Link Wray, Hot Tuna [a Jefferson Airplane spinoff], Charlie Musselwhite, Bo Diddley, Kathi MacDonald, Andy Warhol chanteuse UltraViolet, and many others. From there, Douglass joined The Steve Miller Band. He recorded 75 albums over the years, five of which went platinum.
Then in 1977, at the height of his fame, he fell through a plate glass window, nearly severing his right hand. He was blessed with amazing surgeons who allowed him a full recovery. The story made the cover of Guitar Player in the November 1979 issue.
In 1982, he joined The Greg Kihn Band and toured the world for three years, including appearances on American Bandstand, Saturday Night Live and Solid Gold.
In 1985, Douglass left Kihn, divorced, and went to work for AT&T, selling network services. He thought his guitar days were over. Then in 1992, he left AT&T, moved to Escondido, Calif., and started over. Today he is remarried, a successful guitar teacher, a frequent contributor to Outré Magazine and marketing his acoustic CD "The Natives Are Restless".
Roy Blumenfeld, drums
Performing at events like the Monterey Pop Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, and evening concerts at Lincoln Center are just another day at work for legendary drummer Roy Blumenfeld.
He was a founding member of Blues Project and Seatrain and has performed and recorded with soul, funk, blues and rock legends such as Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Carlos Santana, Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop, Nick Gravenites, Barry Goldberg, David LaFlamme of It's A Beautiful Day, Barry Melton of Country Joe and the Fish, Banana of The Youngbloods, Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead, and Peter Albin of Janis Joplin's original band, Big Brother and the Holding Company.
His most visible gig was with Al Kooper on the live shows that became Soul Of A Man, according to All Music Guide.
"I've come to envision music as the place where the mind, heart, spirit and soul intersect and bring inspiration, nourishment, and joy to the celebration of life," he said on Electric Flag's MySpace blog.
Originally from New York City, Blumenfeld has made his home in Sonoma County, Calif., since 1985.
John Beckwith, bass
A 25 year veteran of the Northern California blues circuit, Beckwith has performed with Al Kooper, Harvey Mandel, Nick Gravenites, Freddy Roulette, and David LaFlamme, among others. His music is characterized by a hard driving melodic sound that encourages dancing and having a whooping good time while the band plays.
Barry Goldberg, keyboards
Famed for his association as Bob Dylan's original organist, Goldberg was also the musical partner of Steve Miller in the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band, just before Steve Miller left and formed his own band after the pair got signed by Epic Records and cut a couple 45s. He also played with Harvey Mandel and Charlie Musselwhite. Some of his most famous recordings include "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "That'll Be The Day".
All the members of the band have biographies that read like a who's who of the blues. These sketches only scratch the surface of a very plush tapestry. Books have been written about these guys, and the musical giants that powerfully influenced them as kids. Whenever and wherever these cats come to play, the audience will never be the same, because they will have experienced a concert played by some of the most authentic living torchbearers of the blues alive today.
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}