I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly and the Family Stone by Jeff Kaliss Read Free Book Online Page B

employed by Billy Preston in Los Angeles. Signing on with future
Santana vocalist Leon Patillo's Sensations, Freddie encountered a
young drummer in the Excelsior district, who was sitting in with
the Sensations during a downtown gig hosted by Sly in his radio
star capacity. Just seventeen, Greg Errico (his Italian family name
is accented on the second syllable) had already been playing beer joints for a couple of years. Freddie decided to include Greg in his
own group, the Stone Souls.

    "Freddie loved me," reflects Greg. "He was totally confident, he
didn't look at color, he didn't look at age, none of that." Greg himself is modest about assessing his early worth, other than to say, "I
did have very good ears, and I was musical as a drummer." His
older brother, Mario Errico, who later became one of Sly's trusted
lieutenants, is more forthcoming about what the brothers Stewart
must have liked about Greg: "It was the way he played, for a white
boy. He was funky, and he had this backbeat. They used to call him
`Hands-and-Feet: I was proud as hell that my brother could play."
    Greg and Mario's parents, Italian Americans who'd raised their
sons to respect financial security and their imported 78-rpm
recordings of Italian opera and popular music, were skeptical
about their younger son's ambitions. "I said to Greg, `I don't
understand this,"' remembers Jo Errico, now in her mid-eighties.
"And he said, `Mom, you just wait. One day, you're gonna hear
things I've played on, on the radio, and you're gonna maybe see
me on television. And we did! You had to give it to him; he pursued his dream."
    Back in '66, the dream meant a booking with Freddie and the
Stone Souls at Little Bo Peep's in the Excelsior, uniformed in
slacks, shirts, and vests, backing such visiting acts as the Coasters
when not performing covers of Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, and
other pop-oriented soul material. Freddie was developing a tight
rhythmic finesse, chopping out a crisp sixteenth-note chord style
in the manner of James Brown band member Jimmy Nolen. Freddie's lead forays, though brief and economical, were executed with
precision and taste on a variety of classy guitars, including the
Fender Jazzmaster, Telecaster, Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul, andunusual for the time-a semi-acoustic (hollow body) Gibson Byrdland. He'd never attain the status of a Clapton or Hendrix,
but forty years later, Freddie was remembered by fans and rock
writers as one of the Bay Area's influential guitar greats.

    Back in April of '66, Freddie's group had earned a booking by
former San Francisco Mime Troupe manager Bill Graham (the
soon-to-be heavy-hitting rock impresario and godfather of the
San Francisco sound) at a hall he'd been using, the Fillmore Auditorium, just west of San Francisco's Civic Center.
    Meanwhile, Sly, after working with groups like the Continentals and the Mojo Men, formed the Stoners. (By this time, he'd
adopted the surname "Stone" on-air). This group included Cynthia Robinson, a high-powered female trumpeter with a spunky
stage presence, whom Sly had encountered on visits to Sacramento. Years later, Sly credited Jerry Martini with inspiring his formation of the Family Stone, an attribution which Jerry still
cherishes. What's clear is that Jerry, on those visits to KSOL, began
urging his musical friend to get off the air and on to a career with
a new band. Sly was reportedly less than satisfied with his old
group and wanted to form a new ensemble, while bandmate Cynthia just quit the Stoners in frustration. Looking ahead together,
Sly and Cynthia checked out Larry Graham, a keyboardist and guitarist who had taken up the bass.
    Like Sly, Larry was originally from Texas but had relocated as
a toddler to Oakland, California, with his family. He'd drummed
in his school band and had begun his musical career per se playing guitar, inspired by bluesmen like Clarence "Gatemouth"
Brown, and had even sat in with a visiting Ike