Francis Rocco Prestia

As I continue my study on jazz bassists I chose to modernize my search a little bit and Francis Rocco Prestia came to the top of my list. Rocco is the current bass player for the band known as Tower of Power.

Prestia was born in Sonora California on March 7th, 1951. Having gone to school with Emilio Castillo, (who currently plays with Tower of Power as well) Prestia had been taking guitar lessons and he auditioned for Castillo’s band at the age of 14. After studying with Terry Saunders Rocco made the switch to the bass guitar. As Castillo started to get more proficient on his tenor sax, Saunders added horns to his band and they began playing songs by bands such as The Temptations and James Brown.
As they added a total of five horns the band became known as Tower of Power or”T.O.P.”. At this time the band began composing original songs and having successful major performances they became more noticed. In 1971 Bill Graham signed the band to his management company and they released their first recording known as East Bay Grease with his San Francisco Records label.  As the band toured excessively for the next 10 years they started to lose a little bit of their luster. Substance abuse began to take its toll on the band and in 1977 Prestia was fired to set an example in the band.

Prestia continued to tour and play with bands such as the Bay Area blues band. In 1983 he was hired by Frank Fiore who was the conductor of Lola Falana. He took Prestia in and began to teach him how to read music. Much to his surprise, in 1984 Prestia received a call from Castillo and was offered to rejoin the band. He continues to play with them today.

In 2002 Prestia was diagnosed with severe liver failure and was told he would need a liver transplant. The Rocco Prestia Medical Fund was formed and this made his operation and recovery possible. Over the next 8 years he recovered and in 2010 he rejoined the stage with Tower Of Power. A quote from Prestia shown by allaboutjazz.com Prestia states “I'm proud I've had a vehicle like Tower of Power to develop a personal style. A lot of cats - great players - never get that chance. They bounce around bands and sessions; they don't have the opportunity to cultivate a sound. So it’s been an honor and a privilege to be able to grow as an artist, as a player, in this band. Thank God I happened to be in the right place at just the right time.”[1]

For my listening selection this week I chose to spice things up a little bit. I chose a song by Tower of Power called Diggin on James Brown. this song features the band as a whole. I picked this song because it has Rocco Prestia playing bass. You can hear the "funk" he puts in his playing. It's ridiculous! This is an AABA song in a four beats per measure time feel. In this song you can tell the band thrives on each individual musician. They are very articulate and tight as a band. There is a saxophone solo around 2:45 min into the song that is very good. This song is very repetitive. Over all a very solid piece that is very fun to listen to! I especially thought this was cool being a live piece. The ending is spectacular. Give this one a listen!