Everybody Get Down

Funk Filharmonik band members in alphabetical order: Tom Bowes, vocals; Brent Carter, vocals; Vinnie Cinquemani, trumpet/vocals; Lee Finkelstein, drummer/band leader; Steve Finkelstein, percussion; Ron Fox, trumpet; Chris Karlic, baritone saxophone; Jack Knight, bass; Dave Lavender, guitar; Ozzie Melendez, trombone/vocals/musical director; John Scarpulla, tenorsaxophone; Greg Schleich, keyboards. Invited musicians: Barry Danielian and Carl Fischer, trumpets; Jillian Armsbury,rap;Tim Lawless,bk vox;Ted Kumpel,guitar Funk Filharmonik, New York's premier funk, soul, jazz, R&B band, features musicians who have played and are currently playing with a who's-who list of music icons including: Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, John Mayer, Tito Puente, The Allman Brothers, Diana Ross, Bill Cosby, the Saturday Night Live Band, Mark Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Original Blues Brothers Band, B.B. King, Bebe and Cece Winans, Arturo Sandoval, Willie Colon and many more. Long Island is loaded with great tribute bands. But many of the members of Funk Filharmonik are actually alumni of one of the bands whose music they've been playing all these years: Tower of Power (T.O.P.). Vocalists Tom Bowes and Brent Carter, as well as saxophonist John Scarpulla, toured and recorded with T.O.P. for several years. Drummer and bandleader Lee Finkelstein was called as a substitute to cover the T.O.P. northeast tour and Ozzie Melendez, trombonist and musical director for Funk Filharmonik, has written songs for T.O.P. Now, after 20+ years this in-demand group of top shelf musicians has finally put together a record of all original music that's a combination of slick retro 70's horn driven funk-soul R&B with jazz players' chops and the precise arrangements characteristic of a Latin jazz band.