Monterey Herald Posted on Thu, Mar. 31, 2005

So you think a concert with the Sons of Champlin is going to be nothing but a flashback from the Psychedelic Sixties? Think again.

The songs they are known for, like "Freedom" and "Get High," may be anthems of an era, where doing your own thing was the mantra.

And they may have been part and parcel to the scene at The Fillmore, Avalon and Winterland venues where Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service came to prominence.

But check out the music, man. Unlike the space jams of the Dead and Quicksilver, the Sons are and always were a very tight musical experience.

They are part funk, part jazz, a lot of blues and rock, and a large chunk of R&B. They feature a horn section and vibraphones in addition to the standard guitar, bass, drums and keyboards of their peers.

They were a product of the diverse radio programming that really set the Bay Area apart from other California locales. And their sound had a lot to do with the tastes of its founding member and namesake, Bill Champlin.

"San Francisco's AM world," Champlin said, "was also Oakland's AM world with KDIA and KSOL. It put a little color on the stuff. The guy I learned more vocally from in those days was Lou Rawls, before his hits. We all knew who Lightnin' Hopkins was, and Son House (early blues pioneers).

"All we ever did was be what was around us," he continued. "For me, I just tried to let my influences dictate where it was going. We were all James Brown junkies. Not so much for me as the singer, but that band really led the way for a lot of people."

The Sons worked up their style out of the band's Marin headquarters around the same time Sly and the Family Stone put the polish on its funky soul-infused sound in the East Bay.

The Sons played the San Francisco rock halls and lived communally in the North Bay, but Champlin's roots in his native Oakland never left him.

The Sons worked the Bay Area scene and headlined over future big-name bands like Santana regularly.

They lived the hippie lifestyle they extolled in their music. Unfortunately, that also meant foregoing success and living by their wits, often clouded by smoke.

Their classic double-record debut in 1969, "Loosen Up Naturally," demonstrated their distaste for commercialism and featured neither a photo of the band nor the band members' names.

They released a total of seven records and reached their career high with the song "Hold On," a 1976 minor hit single.

They hung on for another two years before calling it quits. Champlin made the move to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician and songwriter to support his young family.

He collaborated as songwriter on two hits that each took R&B songwriting Grammy honors, "Turn Your Love Around" (George Benson) and "After The Love Is Gone" (Earth, Wind and Fire).

In 1981, he was hired by the multi-platinum selling rock-band-with-horns Chicago, and he's been with them ever since.

They do at least 80 gigs a year, he said, and when he has the time, he returns to work with the Sons, which reunited in 1996.

They all agreed it felt too good to give up and have vowed to work together as much as they can.

A live performance in Emeryville in February 2002 was recorded and last year the band released a DVD and CD titled "Secret," as in best-kept secret.

"We have three former Tower of Power guys and Marc Russo also plays with the Doobie Brothers," Champlin said. "We rehearse for a full week. We don't fool around. We really bring it together. People are starting to get it. Whenever the Sons play, go check it out. They're not bored or jaded with their stuff. They're sharp and laying into it. We're doing as much to knock each other out as the audience. And it's a real cool thing if the audience gets into what we're up to. Plus we have a lot of fun."

On board for the concert Friday night at the Brookdale Lodge in the Santa Cruz mountain community of Brookdale are Champlin (keyboards, guitar and vocals), Geoff Palmer (vibraphones and Hammond B3), James Preston (drums), Mic Gillette (brass and vocals), David Schallock (bass), Marc Russo (saxophones), and Carmen Grillo (guitar and vocals).

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