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Guitarist and friends keep the - flame burning | South China Morning Post 6/19/15 1:42 PM

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LIFESTYLE › ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BLUE NOTES Guitarist John Tropea and friends keep the jazz- FOLLOW SCMP funk flame burning

Robin Lynam PUBLISHED : Saturday, 13 June, 2015, 6:45pm UPDATED : Saturday, 13 June, 2015, 6:45pm SCMP Like 205k

For about a decade from the early 1970s to the early '80s, an elite coterie of SHARE session musicians - who were also gifted improvisers - were kept almost MOST POPULAR (/MOST-POPULAR) permanently busy in the studios of New York and adding jazzy 1 1 sophistication to some of the biggest pop hits of the era. VIEWED (#QT-MOST_POPULAR-UI-TABS1) Like Share As well as performing for singers who wanted the groove only those players SHARED (#QT-MOST_POPULAR-UI-TABS2) could provide, they made their own instrumental albums. It was the heyday of jazz-funk. 6 submit COMMENTED (#QT-MOST_POPULAR-UI-TABS3) Times have changed, but some of those musicians have kept the flame Tweet reddit President of Apple and Samsung burning: some of the top New York names can be heard on Gotcha Rhythm supplier to become China's richest Right Here, the latest album from guitarist John Tropea. 0 woman (/lifestyle/technology/leaders- founders/article/1739027/president-apple-and- Tropea and fellow guitarist (who died in 1994) were the east coast Share samsung-supplier-become) counterparts to and in the west. Among those who got a call from Tropea were on drums, the Brothers Band Hong Kong app takes the pain out of saxophonist , trumpeters and , two of the 0 arranging a junk party (/lifestyle/travel- Band's former , and , and long- serving Band keyboardist . leisure/article/1822789/hong-kong-app-takes- pain-out-arranging-junk-party) Soloff, whose many credits included Blood, Sweat & Tears and the Print Orchestra, died in March this year. 'Expat brats' give their take on growing (http://www.scmp.com/print/lifestyle/arts- up in Hong Kong as 'third culture kids' entertainment/article/1820532/guitarist- (/magazines/post- john-tropea-and-friends-keep-jazz-funk- magazine/article/1822696/expat-brats-give- flame) their-take-growing-third-culture-kid-hong) Email (http://www.scmp.com/printmail/lifestyle/arts- Four top Instagramers in Hong Kong entertainment/article/1820532/guitarist-john- and Macau share their secrets tropea-and-friends-keep-jazz-funk-flame) (/magazines/48-hours/article/1822826/four- instagramers-exploring-hong-kong-and-macau- one-snap-time)

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(http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health- John Tropea beauty/article/1822245/seven-best-places-hong-kong-watch- dragon-boat-races) Younger players who enjoy the sort of esteem that those representatives of COMMENT the jazz-funk old guard commanded in the '70s also feature, among them - on Mistresses and second the bonus track Boulevard Strut - drummer Keith Carlock whose credits wives of Hong Kong include and , and who now occupies the Toto drum stool. businessmen in the Pearl… "I am very proud of this, my 11th solo project which is a showcase of some of 03 Jun 2015 the finest musicians I have been fortunate to record and perform live with over the years," says Tropea. (http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight- opinion/article/1815628/mistresses-and-second-wives-hong- He has quite a career to look back on. A graduate of the Berklee College of kong-businessmen-pearl) Music in Boston, Tropea's first major gig was with Brazilian keyboardist and NEWS bandleader . Tropea's work featured prominently on Chinese woman killed Deodato's Grammy-winning 1973 adaptation of the Sunrise theme from minutes after messaging Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra - which was popularised as the her car was stranded theme to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. by… 17 Jun 2015 Big-selling albums to which he has contributed range from 's Stars and 's Veedon Fleece, to Alice Cooper Goes to Hell and Eric (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1823126/chin Clapton's Journeyman. He also contributed to some of 's last, ese-woman-killed-minutes-after-messaging-her-car-was- posthumously released, recordings. stranded) LIFESTYLE In between those sessions he made more jazz-oriented contributions to Six Italian restaurants albums by , , Lou Donaldson, , Grady in Hong Kong worth Tate and , among others, as well as contributing bluesy licks to trying for lunch or sessions for , , John Mayall and Dr John. dinner 09 Jun 2015

http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1820532/guitarist-john-tropea-and-friends-keep-jazz-funk-flame Page 2 of 5 Guitarist John Tropea and friends keep the jazz-funk flame burning | South China Morning Post 6/19/15 1:42 PM

He started making solo albums in 1975 starting with Tropea, the most recent (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1819151/six- being 2007's Take Me Back to the Ol' School. Since 1997's A Simple Way to italian-restaurants-hong-kong-lunch-or-dinner) Say I Love You Tropea has worked closely with Hammond B3 organist and NEWS multi-instrumentalist Chris Palmaro, making albums strongly influenced by Outcry over sexy photo organ trio , and he credits Palmaro as a full partner in the writing, shoot featuring naked arranging and recording of Gotcha Rhythm Right Here. model at Beijing’s…

Palmaro's Hammond is heard on every track, but he also contributes parts on 01 Jun 2015 and other keyboards, bass, drums and percussion. (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1814407/outcr Black Eyed G's is by Pendarvis, and the easy-swinging NYC Direct 2014 is y-over-sexy-photo-shoot-beijings-forbidden-city) composed by Tropea alone; he and Palmaro are credited as co-composers on PROPERTY everything else. Made for Hong Kong mini-flats: foldaway bed The opening Gotcha Rhythm Right Here, Part 1 features Tropea and Palmaro makers get creative in a bluesy fusion mode reminiscent of John Scofield. The other tracks on which a larger band is deployed range from retro '70s style funk to a more 09 Jun 2015 modern take on the genre. Tropea's guitar is the dominant instrument throughout, and his growth as a player since the rockier solos for which he (http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong- was often employed at the outset of his career, is evident. His sound is a little china/article/1818696/foldaway-bed-makers-perfect- more electronically processed than it used to be, but characteristically clean, disappearing-act-creative) and with each note clearly articulated. VIDEOS US and Japan say Anyone who likes a little funk in their jazz will enjoy this. China's island-building in the South China Sea Take Three is… 31 May 2015 Three more albums featuring Tropea's guitar work. (http://www.scmp.com/video/china/1813359/us-and-japan-say- Live at Mikell's (1982, Video Arts Music): Tropea leads an all-star band chinas-island-building-south-china-sea-eroding-regional) including , Steve Gadd and Will Lee through a fine and funky LIFESTYLE 1980 club date with some subsequent overdubbing of additional Naked, muddy Miley instruments. Cyrus hugs pigs; talks Standard Influence (2003, Video Arts Music): a set of mostly ballads, blues about attraction to girls and bossa, allowing Tropea to tip his hat to some of the players and tunes which first inspired him. 10 Jun 2015 The Time is Right (2007, Video Arts Music): with additional guitar work from and Hugh McCracken, Tropea tackles a mixed bag of tunes (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts- including jazz standards and pop songs. entertainment/article/1819514/naked-muddy-miley-cyrus-hugs- pigs-talks-about) COMMENT Common courtesy isn't quite so common in Hong Kong For unlimited access to: SCMP.com 04 Jun 2015 SCMP Tablet Edition (http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight- SCMP Mobile Edition opinion/article/1816296/common-courtesy-isnt-quite-so- 10-year news archive common-hong-kong) SPORT Chinese football fans Subscribe now told: 'don't underestimate black (https://customerservice.scmp.com/su skin, yellow… bscribe/digital? Existing subscribers, login here (/user/login) 09 Jun 2015 utm_source=scmp_pointer&utm_med ium=bottom_pointer&utm_campaign= (http://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1819148/chinese- scmp_bottom_pointer) football-association-warns-fans-not-underestimate-hong-kongs) COMMENT FROM SCMP (LAST 24HRS) Appalling English LIFESTYLE LIFESTYLE standards in Hong (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food- (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashiWeird, wonderful and (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/articlWhat's wrong with Kong: the biggest drink/article/1823456/boutique-hong-kong-honey-and- on-luxury/article/1823408/weird-worth a lot: London men's e/1823457/whats-wrong-portuguese-Portuguese wines, and how culprit is ... hotels-where-you-can-eat-it) wonderful-and-worth-lot-london-fashion week wines-and-how-estates-have-put-it-estates have put it… 22 May 2015 mens-fashion-week) right)

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