Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL February 2015 NAMM Issue

ROCCO Interview by Eric Parsons His full name is Francis Rocco Prestia, but he is most ROCCO PRESTIA roccoprestia.com facebook.com/RoccoPrestia twitter.com/RoccoPrestia towerofpower.com often referred to simply as Rocco. He is the driving force, along with Drummer David Garibaldi, of the funkiest and arguably the most soulful band in the land: Tower of Power. Rocco’s staccato 16th notes, ghost notes and muted left hand techniques are all the VIDEOS 2008 Show at the Montreux Jazz Festival subjects of well documented legend. The man can lay down the finger funk. It’s a percolating, undulating, funkifized, mix of velvety smooth muted 16th notes, burping with ghost notes and stutters, all delivered via the sledgehammer of soul. And it’s all locked up tight with Tower of Power’s other phenom, drummer David “You’re Still a Young Man” from the 40th Anniversary Live Garibaldi. Actually, every member of Tower of Power is a musical bassmusicianmagazine.com | 02.15 force in their own right. They have been a band for “What is Hip” - Live in Basel over forty years now and are still going strong as ever. If you’re not too familiar with their song catalogue and you love funky soul, let me give you some suggestions. As I just mentioned, the band has been together for over forty years, so they have a healthy selection of tunes to choose from. Even though they have had a

Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL February 2015 NAMM Issue | Page 12