Rocco Prestia
 | This article may be a rough translation from Spanish. It may have been generated, in whole or in part, by a computer or by a translator without dual proficiency. |
Rocco Prestia |
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Francis «Rocco» Prestia is an american musician, the official bassist of the legendary funk band Tower of Power and one of the most important figures on the electric bass' history.
Biography
Born on 7th March 1951 in Sonora, California, Francis started on electric guitar being still an adolescent. When he made an audition for Emilio Castillo's group Tower of Power, he persuaded Francis to swichting to electric bass in the band.
Prestia remembers an "inmediate and incendiary" connection with the band's drummer, David Garibaldi, with whom he would establish one of the most original and influential rhythm sections of all times: the fast and nervous drummer's style blended perfectly with the bassist' dry and percussive approach, and the resultant combination, along with the band's powerful horn section would thenceforth define the band's distinctive sound.
Francis worked with the band for the next three decades, but unfortunately he would fall seriously ill in the last years. His fans and friends created a foundation in order to help payin' the artist' medical costs. Finally, in 2002, Francis underwent a successful liver transplant surgery and since then has slowly resumed his professional activity.
Technique and Evaluation
Francis "Rocco" Prestia has build one of the pillars wich support the modern electric bass and he is a recognised master of the fingerstyle funk, a technique that he interprets in a very personal way: by lightly muting the strings with his righ hand, he gets a characteristic percussive sound, with the pitch remaining clear and accurate, that the musician uses to develop the highly inventive lines -employin' often 16th notes- that makes his sound unmistakable.
With James Jamerson, Stanley Clarke, Anthony Jackson and Alphonso Johnson, "Rocco" Prestia belongs to the generation of bassists that, a few years before, made possible the great revolution on the electric bass that Jaco Pastorius entailed with his innovations on mid '70s. The influence of Prestia over the great bassist, that Jaco recognized openly, is clear on classic Tower of Power tracks as the famous 1973 hit "What's Hip". On the other hand, Rocco cites James Jamerson and the different musicians whom worked for James Brown (particulary Bootsy Collins) as his main influences[1].
The figure of Francis "Rocco" Prestia has been largely identified with his Fender Precision basses, but in the last years he maintains an association with the Conklin company, that has build for him one of the few four string instruments on its catalog.
Discography with Tower of Power
- East Bay Grease (1970)
- Bump City (1972)
- Tower of Power (1973)
- Back To Oakland (1974)
- In The Slot (1975)
- Urban Renewal (1975)
- Live and in Living Color (1976)
- Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now (1976)
- We Came to Play (1978)
- Back on the Streets (1979)
- Power (1988)
- Monster On A Leash (1991)
- T.O.P. (1993)
- Souled Out (1995)
- Rhythm & Business (1997)
- Direct Plus (1997)
- Direct Plus (1997)
- Soul Vaccination Live (1999)
- Dinosaur Tracks (2000)
- Oakland Zone (2003)
- The Great American Soul Book (2009)
Discography as Soloist
- Everybody on the Bus! (1999)
External Links
References
- ^ Bass Player Interview, Feb. 2009