Cool and super hip jazz musician Tony Adamo has release a
brand new single titled “Did Mark Murphy Believe in UFOs." The song is a mix of jazz rhythm, funk and rap.
Born in San Francisco, California, Tony Adamo has strong
ties to his Italian American family in the Bronx and Brooklyn. After his stint in the Navy, he attended the
Actor’s Studio and discovered a whole new world referred to as “method
acting.” He discovered that he was
terrible at remembering lines, and soon headed back to music as his true
calling, with a very improvisational intent.
After some time on the radio and some gigging with rock
bands (as a drummer) Tony moved to Los Angeles for several years. By day, he
went to work putting up billboards; to workin’ on the rehab of the famous
Hollywood sign; to joining the Studio Utilities Union where I worked in the
background on TV shows. That gig led him to a job as a Hollywood agent at the
Beverly Hecht Agency, where he booked TV commercials and models for print ads.
But by night, Tony was out was performing with local bands.
Heading back to San Francisco, Tony landed a studio gig and
was introduced to Tower of Power original members Mic Gillette and Skip
Mesquite, who agreed to record with him. Mic and Tony became fast friends, and
Mic later introduced him to Stephen “Doc”
Kupka, co-founder of Tower of Power and owner of Strokeland Records. Over the next few years “Doc,” Mic, Skip and
Tom Politzer recorded on Tony's early recordings with Mic writing all the horn
arrangements.
Somewhere in this mix of experiences Tony found a new groove
- spoken word delivered with a full band. He had worked with drummer Mike
Clark, and was very hip to the fact Mike could bring out the groove needed for
his lyrics. Mike laid down some screamin’ drum tracks, and Tony improvised the
rest. While he does write out what he intends to record, Tony's actual
recordings have all the words in different places as the improvisation and the
beat take over.
Adamo has written and recorded songs about some of the
greats of jazz, including Mark Murphy, Joe Henderson, Eddie Gale, Sun Ra, Eddie
Harris, Mike Clark, Art Blakey, B.B.
King and James Brown.
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