Tropea & Spinozza to perform with the Les Paul Trio

(John Tropea)

NY Session Aces - John Tropea and David Spinozza - Perform with the Les Paul Trio at Iridium Oct. 12

If you’ve ever been anywhere near a radio or a TV in the past 40 years or so, you’ve heard John Tropea and David Spinozza. As two of New York’s most in-demand session guitarists in the early 1970s, Tropea and Spinozza were versatile young guitar aces who served as first-call sidemen for Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Claus Ogerman, Michael Brecker, Paul Simon, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Barretto, Hubert Laws, Deodato, Luiz Bonfá, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack and countless others. Together they will descend on New York's famed Iridium Jazz Club on Monday, October 12 to sit in the chair formerly occupied by the late guitarist and innovator Les Paul.

Tropea has written for and played with major recording artists from around the world. In his long career, his contributions to other artist’s successes have been numerous, including his work with Deodato (the epic solo on "2001/Zarathustra" theme from the best-selling "Prelude" LP for CTI, plus many other albums), projects with Laura Nyro, Harry Chapin (Cat’s in the Cradle), Paul Simon (Fifty Ways), Alice Cooper (Goes to Hell), Eric Clapton (Journey Man), Dr. John, and many others. He is also a composer, arranger, and producer whose vital work is ably demonstrated by his personal projects. He is currently working on his latest project which will be his 11th record as a leader.

Throughout his ’70s-era heyday, Spinozza played on and often arranged countless sessions, dozens of hit records and innumerable commercials and film scores. A short list would include “Band of Gold” (Freda Payne, 1970), “Another Day” and Ram (Paul McCartney, 1971), “American Pie” (Don McLean, 1971), “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” (Paul Simon, 1972), Mind Games (John Lennon, 1973), “Right Place Wrong Time” (Dr. John, 1973), "Walking Man" (James Taylor, 1974), "Hotcakes" (Carly Simon, 1974) and "You’ve Got a Friend" (Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway 1972).

Spinozza just completed a tour with the recently reunited L'Image featuring Mike Mainieri, Warren Bernhardt, Tony Levin and Steve Gadd. A cd of this effort was recently released.
Click here to get your copy.
For tickets, please call the box office at (212) 582-2121 or visit Iridium Jazz Club.

(David Spinozza)