Tony Newton TNT Xtreme
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Tony Newton TNT Xtreme

Marina del Rey, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | INDIE | AFM

Marina del Rey, California, United States | INDIE | AFM
Established on Jan, 2010
Band Rock Instrumental

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"SINGLE REVIEW: Follow Your Heart by Tony Newton"

Tony Newton is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with a fascinating history anda career in the music industry that spans over thirty years. After being somewhat of a child prodigy playing in orchestras, it was as a virtuoso bass player that he played on many classic Motown recordings and can lay claim to playing on hits by Michael Jackson, Diana Ross & The Supremes and Stevie Wonder.

He also acted as musical director to Smokey Robinson and in his youth was the prize student of his bass tutor, the legendary James Jamerson (himself a Motown recording staple). He can also lay claim to being one of the creators of the Jazz-Rock-Fusion genre with Miles Davis’ drummer in the Tony Williams Lifetime. Since then he has developed his talents as a composer and even formulated his own acclaimed harmonic language which he calls ‘novaphonic sound’, which is based on quartal and quintal harmonics.

Following his last two releases from his White Light Collection (Prophecy and Romance) which were both solo classical piano pieces, this track Follow Your Heart is taken from the same album but shows a whole different side to Tony’s musical style. It’s a funk rock/soul epic at fourteen minutes long (an eight minute version is also available, accompanied by a video) featuring Tony on bass and a stellar cast of musicians playing a wide range of instruments including keyboards, guitar, drums, a string section and French horn as well as female backing vocalists.

After a brief spoken word intro, we hear a Tubular Bells-style melody on piano with some female vocal extemporizing. The song breaks out into a taut funk-rock groove based around a simple but effective guitar riff, played in unison with strings on certain lines. Tony’s mindbending bass playing underpins the music and drives it forward relentlessly. This forms the foundation for Tony to give a great lead vocal performance, augmented by gospel-tinged backing harmonies along the way.

The song itself is hugely spiritual and uplifting, about letting your intuition and soul guide you through life, along with love. Around the five minute mark there’s a marked rhythmic shift which works well with the anthemic title hook. From then on the music grows organically, with a wonderful jazzy piano and lead guitar section, as well as a superb bass solo from Tony around the nine minute mark.

From there the music climbs even higher through modulations, culminating in a final section that features Tony rapping, entering an almost mystical section that brought to mind the end of Marvin Gaye’s classic What’s Going On album.

Overall, this is a track that shows the enormous scope of Tony Newton’s musical vision and highly accomplished musicianship. With a hugely talented group of musical cohorts, Tony has created a monumental fusion of funk, rock, program, soul and even rap that takes the listener on an epic journey. With its inspiring message and infectious positivity, true aficionados will appreciate the special gift that Tony Newton gives the world with his music. - Alex Faulkner


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

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Bio

“Quantum Artists Productions presents one of the original pioneers of Jazz-Rock-Fusion, former Motown Funk Brother, Legendary Bass guitarist, Keyboardist and Composer, Tony Newton. Tony Newton in concert with his dynamic group TNT XTREME is wowing audiences with his own distinct brand of “Thunder-Funk-Fusion”; which also is the title of his latest CD release. Tony describes his music as Motown meets Hendrix, meets Miles. This Jazz-Rock-Fusion Funk master documents his experience as a musician in the Motown family and the “Funk Brothers” in his new biographical literary work entitled “Golden Thunder” and unconstrained documentary five star Google film “Groove Monster”. Newton skyrocketed to the cutting edge of this high-energy and fervent style writing the fusion classics, “Snake Oil” and “Red Alert” on the critically acclaimed Columbia recording featuring The Tony Williams Lifetime.”

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