album:Straight Up Deal genre:Jazz+Funk streams:71 creation date:2008-12-09
Song Information
A Review By: Edward Blanco, Ejazznewswww.myspace.com/tonyrocadamoBay area vocalist Tony Adamo garnished a five star rating from Smoothjazz.com for his latest...
A Review By: Edward Blanco, Ejazznews www.myspace.com/tonyrocadamo
Bay area vocalist Tony Adamo garnished a five star rating from Smoothjazz.com for his latest release, "Straight Up Deal." However, there's a lot more to the smooth jazz sound found on this recording than what they would have you believe. Tony Adamo, equipped with a deep baritone voice,
belts out some real gyrating funk, R&B;and soulful jazz tunes on this fourteen piece CD, which also includes a selection of straight ahead beautiful contemporary jazz vocals.
Adamo records the album with nineteen players among them, funk bassist Paul Jackson, saxophone great Ernie Watts and trumpeter Eddie Henderson. He also enlists the help of The Tower of Power Horns which appear on five tracks.
As I previously alluded to, the music is quite varied with three of the first four tracks firmly grounded in the funk genre ("No Strings," "Passport," and "Up In It"). Ernie Watts showcases his sax on the R&B;-shaded "In The Winelight," while Adamo gets jazzy on the first straight jazz number in "Milestones," with the trumpet voice of Eddie Henderson setting the pace.
Tunes like "Autumn Leaves," "Wouldn't You," "Stolen Moments," and "Speak Low" fall in the smooth jazz side of the music where Adamo shines singing beautiful lyrics from some great standards. One of my favorite numbers is the spunky and lively "Lolita" featuring the Tower of Power Horns.
"Straight Up Deal" reveals the vocal talents of a superior singer who is able to convey the essence of different musical styles with ease and grace. An album that will obviously appeal to a broad audience considering the varied selection of music on this disc. I enjoyed the album; it was truly a "Straight Up Deal" from Tony Adamo. Straight Up Deal is Produced by Jerry Stucker
11/01/17 10:12:58PM @avmo:
Great Groove ...great track...loved it!
05/31/09 01:22:45PM @vesa:
THIS SOUNDS so cool thru my best headsets Tony ...I was looking for Funk, & here found some awesome playing. Your vocals have a solid range & good tone...so well arranged composition..love the horns, not often heard..great arranging & fine, most fine harmonies by those lovely ladies. GREAT GROOVE!!
Great funk/blues. Sax is not often heard,(my fave brass instrument-it alters me) sounds so sweet.Catchy phrasing, like the sultry, lyrics...does well for the genre. A very top notch production. The horns I gotta say really add...SUPERBLY thought through tune. Sweet sound. Your singing really makes it so fine. btw fine keys...Great instrument choice & good sound levels. EXCELLENT tune. Into my faves...Worth more listens...a couple of times already. Where's all the reviews for such a rich funk tune.
Great stuff Tony. -Vesa.
12/10/08 09:14:16AM @dazed:
very well done tune Tony. Great vocals and music is solid.
12/12/08 07:46:54PM @tlt50:
Incredible.... love the groove,vocals and talent.... Tony....thank you for the D/L.... great work.!!!! I'm spreading the word. !!!
all the best,
Larry T.....
<p><br />Tony Adamo's What is Hip?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><p>Singer/songwriter Tony Adamo and his producer/guitarist Jerry Stucker have re-grooved the Tower of Power (TOP) songs "What Is Hip" and "This Time It’s Real," and have added their unmistakable smooth groove to these TOP hit classics.</p><p>Adamo and Stucker have reimagined "What Is Hip" in a totally fresh and hip style that pays homage to, but never attempts to duplicate, the classic Tower of Power original.</p><p>Adamo told us that during a recent meditation he had a musical insight about the music for a cover for this tune. He brought the idea to his producer, Jerry Stucker, who immediately contacted Stephen "Doc" Kupka about a remake. This was when they discovered that Doc had been thinking about retooling "This Time It’s Real" along with several other TOP tunes. Doc was knocked out when he heard the rough mix and gave the high sign for them to groove on.</p><div><img src="TonyMicTomStudio300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /> <span style="font-family: Arial Black,Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Tony Adamo, Mic Gillette, Tom Politzer (l-r)</span> Photo by Mark Leialoha</div><div style="margin: 12px 12px 80px -8px; border: 1px solid #000000; width: 300px; clear: left; font-family: Arial Black, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; float: left; background-color: #d3c660;"><div style="padding: 4px 12px; color: #ffffff; font-size: 18px; background-color: #000000;">About Strokeland MP3 Downloads</div><div style="padding: 12px;"><p>A first for Strokeland Records, this sneak preview MP3-only release of Tony Adamo's new tracks allows Strokeland fans to download a full MP3 version of the track LONG before the release of the CD—right here on the Strokeland Records site.<br />With no Digital Rights Management (DRM), the song is downloadable as a standard MP3 file, which will play in any standard MP3 player. In other words, there's no copy protection. <br />Of course, we urge you to tell your friends to download their own copy in order to support our artists. Without your financial support in these tough times, there can be no new music from these great artists.</p><p>Please let us know what you think and report any download problems by emailing us at <a class="goldbglink" title="Email Strokeland" href="mailto:service@strokeland.com">service@strokeland.com</a>.</p></div></div><p>The horn section for Adamo’s new cover of "This Time It’s Real" is made up of current TOP members, Stephen "Doc" Kupka, Tom Politzer (solo) and returning Tower of Power member, Mic Gillette, who wrote the horn arrangement for the remake.</p><p>Doc Kupka suggested Adamo take a listen to several other TOP classics including "Recapture the Magic" and "Knock Yourself Out." Adamo and Stucker now have several other TOP tunes simmering on the back burner.</p><p>Sandy Shore of Smoothjazz.com has launched a national radio promo for "This Time It’s Real." This song will definitely be added to Adamo’s new 2010 CD release, which you will find here on Strokeland Records when it becomes</p><p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
Great Groove ...great track...loved it!
THIS SOUNDS so cool thru my best headsets Tony ...I was looking for Funk, & here found some awesome playing. Your vocals have a solid range & good tone...so well arranged composition..love the horns, not often heard..great arranging & fine, most fine harmonies by those lovely ladies. GREAT GROOVE!!
Great funk/blues. Sax is not often heard,(my fave brass instrument-it alters me) sounds so sweet.Catchy phrasing, like the sultry, lyrics...does well for the genre. A very top notch production. The horns I gotta say really add...SUPERBLY thought through tune. Sweet sound. Your singing really makes it so fine. btw fine keys...Great instrument choice & good sound levels. EXCELLENT tune. Into my faves...Worth more listens...a couple of times already. Where's all the reviews for such a rich funk tune.
Great stuff Tony. -Vesa.
very well done tune Tony. Great vocals and music is solid.
Incredible.... love the groove,vocals and talent.... Tony....thank you for the D/L.... great work.!!!! I'm spreading the word. !!!
all the best,
Larry T.....