This month, we travel back to 1970—the explosive dawn of funk music. At the time, James Brown ruled the genre, building its very foundation alongside legendary drummers Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks. Concurrently, Sly and the Family Stone were riding the wave of their iconic 1969 album Stand! The groove blueprints laid down by these rhythm pioneers would deeply shape this month’s featured artist. On July 23, 1970, David Garibaldi was invited to join a rising group called Tower of Power, but he wasn’t the band’s original drummer. Tower of Power was preparing to record their debut album for Mercury Records in San Francisco. However, the producer issued a strict ultimatum to the band: replace the current drummer and guitar player, or the record deal is off. Garibaldi was brought in as a replacement immediately. The band had exactly one month to integrate Garibaldi through relentless jamming and live gigs before entering the studio […]