LYNN — I’m here to trumpet the power and the glory of horn bands.
Two of the best — Tower of Power and Average White Band — shared the Lynn Auditorium stage Friday night and provided some three hours of booty-shaking, head-bopping, smile-inducing thrills. The outfits differ in the way they deliver their funky soul goodies: AWB, which started in Scotland in 1972, boisterously packs the punch of a double shot of 12-year-old scotch; ToP, which is on its 50th anniversary tour, is more like a smooth, crisp, vintage champagne that affects head and heart and forces toes to tap.
Both are intoxicating and both have gotten better with age. And hot horn players fuel both bands. It’s impossible to sit still while AWB’s two sax players and ToP’s five-piece horn section are doing their thing.
The two bands have new albums out, and interspersed the new stuff with longtime fan favorites Friday night.
The seven-piece Average White Band, with founding members Alan Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre in control, went on first and were on fire from the start. The smart funk of “I Just Can’t Give You Up,” with Rocky Bryant’s powerful drumming setting the pace, kicked things off in fine fashion. Lead vocalist Brent Carter, who in the past held the frontman role for ToP, can unleash a falsetto that sends a song into the stratosphere.
But it’s the solos and interplay of Chris Lyons’ alto sax and Fred Vigdor’s tenor sax that drives AWB’s big hits, “Cut the Cake” and “Pick Up the Pieces,” both of which were wild, swinging blasts Friday.
Two tunes from the new album, “Inside Out,” stood out. A UB40-like reggae version of the Dionne Warwick hit “Walk on By” was well-received. “Stop the Rain,” was slinky and sexy, with the saxes honking, wha-wha guitar churning and Gorrie tossing in bits of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and Ann Peebles/Tina Turner’s “I Can’t Stop the Rain” midway through. Excellent!
Tower of Power is fronted by the young Marcus Scott, an electrifying soul singer from Memphis. He’s the real deal. The ToP horn section, on the other hand, has been together forever, guided by co-founders Emilio Castillo (tenor sax) and Stephen “Doc” Kupka (baritone sax). Lead tenor player Tom Politzer is a standout, as is the longtime rhythm section of Francis Rocco Prestia (bass) and David Garibaldi (drums).
When the horns take a breather, it’s Roger Smith’s Hammond B3 organ work that gets the crowd hootin’ and hollerin’. All 10 band members are in synch and super tight.
Opening songs “Soul With a Capital S,” “You Ought to Be Having Fun” and “Only So Much Oil in the Ground” were uptempo joys. The band’s biggest hit, “You’re Still a Young Man,” became a loud sing-along and featured Scott’s strongest vocal.
However, the audience remained seated, much to frontman Scott’s disbelief. The singer jumped into the VIP section at the foot of the stage and started flirting with a pretty woman in the front row: “Put the phone down and look at me, honey,” he whispered. That got the crowd up and dancing. While the band got a serious groove going, Scott stayed in the audience, boogieing in the aisles with women and sharing fist-bumps with the guys.
That got the party started.
A ferocious, long instrumental, “Squib Cakes,” allowed every band member to solo and show off. It was funky, soulful and jazzy. Again, Politzer’s sax playing stole the spotlight.
The hit “What is Hip?” with twin trumpets blasting and Scott delivering his best “Wicked” Pickett vocal, ignited a dance frenzy in the seats.
At concert’s end, Scott was up in the balcony, snapping an Instagram selfie with shocked fans, who were taking photos themselves.
