After some time on the radio and some gigging with rock bands (as a drummer) Tony Adamo 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 he 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. Tony’s Ropeadope Records release is titled ‘Was Out Jazz Zone Mad’, and he pays tribute to the greats, to the players behind him, and to the art of improvisation.
I had the hip pleasure of getting toGether with Tony to discuss the road that led him to right here, right now. How the brand new album came together and we even dissected a couple of the tracks to get you, the listener to wear his creative shoes. We find out who some of the key players on the release are, with a centralized focus on the co-producer of some of the work and friend of this program, Mr. Mike Clark. We also learn that if Tony was to come into the studio to do his thing and share some tunes with the listeners of greenarrowradio, I could probably walk slowly back to the studio since everyone would be in radio bliss.
