Tommy Bolin

Tommy Bolin with Deep Purple 1975

Thomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin (* 1. August 1951 in Sioux City , Iowa ; † 4. December 1976 in Miami , Florida ) was an American rock - and fusion - guitarist , among other things, with the bands James Gang (1973 –1974) and Deep Purple (1975–1976) was engaged. His father was from Sweden , his mother was of Syrian origin.

Life

After Tommy Bolin attended an Elvis concert with his father and brother Johnny , it was clear to him that he wanted to become a musician. Inspired by his brother Johnny, his first instrument was the drums. The piano followed, which he later composed on. At the age of 14 he played for the first time in a band called Patch Of Blue , and when he was 15 he formed his first band, Denny & The Triumphs . His peers were school friends he met before he was expelled from school for refusing to have his hair cut. He learned to play the guitar mostly on a self-taught basis, as he did not harmonize with at least two teachers.

For two years he played with the "Triumphs" cover versions, then he oriented himself elsewhere. Tommy Bolin moved to Denver and briefly joined the band American Standard and guitarist Lonnie Mack . At the end of 1968, he was not even 18 years old, he founded the band Ethereal Zephyr , which later called itself just Zephyr . She released her first LP Zephyr in 1970 . A year later the second album, Going Back To Colorado was released .

In 1972 he got out and formed the band Energy , but could not find a record company to release an album. The most important band members were u. a .: Jeff Cook (vocals, harmonica), Tom Stephenson (keyboards, vocals), Stanley Sheldon (electric bass), Bobby Berge (drums). In the film "Tommy Bolin - A Tribute" (1996), Jeff Cook mentions that the band named themselves after Jeremy Steigs ' 1970 album "Energy" .

The next and most important station in Bolin's career was Billy Cobham's band . On his LP Spectrum in 1973 he played the guitar on eight jazz-rock tracks. Almost simultaneously, the James Gang's LP Bang was also released in 1973 . There he got on as a replacement for Domenic Troiano . In 1974 the second LP of the James Gang with Bolin, Miami , was released, but this already marked the end of the collaboration with the James Gang . Bolin has not recorded more than two studio albums with any other band.

After leaving the James Gang , he decided to pursue his career as a solo artist. In the meantime he worked for the band Rainbow's Canyon and for Dr. John with and was in November 1974 during the recordings for another jazz - rock -Klassiker for Alphonse Mouzon involved - Mindtransplant . At the beginning of 1975 he played their first album as a studio guitarist for the Canadian band Moxy . The work on his solo album Teaser , which was released in November 1975, lasted almost a year. In the same year Ritchie Blackmore got out of Deep Purple . David Coverdale proposed Bolin as his successor and invited him to audition.

Teaser was released in November 1975 in the USA and showed Tommy Bolin for the first time on a full LP as lead singer. In the same month, Deep Purple's album Come Taste the Band came out, for which he contributed eight songs. Come Taste The Band sold and was well received. On March 15, 1976, after 52 appearances as lead guitarist and a studio LP, the Deep Purple era for Bolin was over. In 1977 the live LP Last Concert In Japan was released , recorded on December 15, 1975 at Nippon Budōkan in Tokyo . In May 1995 Deep Purple's concert, which for a long time was only available as a bootleg, was released on February 27, 1976 in the Long Beach Arena with two tracks from January 26, 1976 in Springfield, title: On The Wings Of A Russian Foxbat .

In September 1976, Tommy Bolin's last record was released during his lifetime: Private Eyes . On the album, u. a. the following musicians with: Narada Michael Walden , Mark Stein , Norma Jean Bell . Tommy Bolin died just a few weeks later, on December 4, 1976. The night before, the "Tommy Bolin Band" played as opening act for Jeff Beck in Miami. After the performance, Tommy Bolin fell faint at the hotel and went to bed. The next day his girlfriend found him in a very weak condition and called a doctor. Before that happened, Tommy Bolin died of an alcohol-related heroin overdose.

Tommy Bolin was only 25 years old; He worked in the music business for around eight years. His legacy is now managed by his brother Johnny, who founded The Tommy Bolin Archives label in 1996 .

Equipment

Since his time at Zephyr, Bolin mainly played Stratocaster guitars, while until then he had experimented with other guitar models (e.g. at Zephyr with a Gibson Les Paul and a Gibson SG ). Bolin owned three Stratocasters, including an unmodified model from 1963, which he played the most, and one with a Telecaster neck. For the Slide game he put a Ibanez -Explorer one, he also used a Yamaha - Acoustic Guitar He pulled very thin strings of the Company Ernie Ball and used an extra thick Herco Gold - plectrum , but on which he was chewing a day, so that it got about medium thickness.

Around since his time at Energy, Bolin Hiwatt DR103 had been using 100 watt amplifiers with Sound City 4X12 " speakers in which Eminence loudspeakers were built. With the amplifier, he set the bass to maximum and cut the treble completely. He had behind the amplifier a Sam Ash fuzztone switched on, in which he amplified the highs to the maximum. With this setting it no longer sounded like a fuzztone, but just gave the guitar "more bite and assertiveness". He describes his guitar sound as "between Stratocaster and Les Paul lying ".

Another important part of his sound was the Maestro Echoplex tape delay , which he had also been using since his time at Zephyr, after seeing it on American guitarist Rick Derringer . Bolin placed this device on a stand or chair next to him and operated it with his hand and a foot switch while playing. He is described as a "master" in his use, for him it is "like a second instrument" from which he could "get all possible rhythms".

Discography

zephyr

• 1969 Zephyr
• 1971 Going Back To Colorado
• 1997 Live At Art's Bar and Grill (May 2, 1973)
• 2014 Zephyr - 3-CD box set (limited edition, first studio album & 2 live CDs: 1969–1973)

Energy

• 1998 The Energy Radio Broadcasts 1972
• 1999 Energy (1972)
• 2003 Tommy Bolin & Energy, Live in Boulder / Sioux City 1972

James Gang

• 1973 Bang
• 1974 Miami

Billy Cobham

• 1973 Spectrum
• 2001 Rudiments: The Billy Cobham Anthology
• 2006 Spectrum (Atlantic, 8122731742, with bonus track: "All 4 One (Out-Take)")

Alphonse Mouzon

• 1975 Mind Transplant
• 1993 Mind Transplant (RPM, 116, with bonus track: "The Real Thing")
• 1999 Tommy Bolin & Alphonse Mouzon Fusion Jam (Rehearsals 1974)

Rainbow Canyon

• 1974 Rollin in the Rockies (One song, only as a session player)

Moxy

• 1975 Moxy (two songs, only as a session player)

Deep Purple

• 1975 Come Taste The Band
• 1977 Last Concert in Japan (live 1975)
• 1995 On the Wings of a Russian Foxbat (live 1976)
• 2000 Days May Come & Days May Go (Rehearsals 1975)
• 2000 1420 Beachwood Drive (Rehearsals 1975)
• 2001 This Time Around (live 1975)
• 2011 Phoenix Rising (live 1975 + 1976)

Tommy Bolin

• 1975 teaser
• 1976 Private Eyes

Posthumous Publications:

• 1989 The Ultimate .... (compilation)
• 1996 From The Archives, Vol. One
• 1997 From The Archives, Vol. Two
• 1996 The Bottom Shelf, Vol.1 (Studio / Live '72 -'76)
• 1997 1976: In His Own Words (INTERVIEWS, 2-CD set)
• 2000 snapshot
• 2000 Naked - Vol.1
• 2002 Naked - Vol.2
• 2002 After Hours - The Glen Holly Jams Vol.1
• 2004 Live at The Jet Bar
• 2006 Whips And Roses Vol.1 and Vol.2
• 2013 Whirlwind
• 2013 Captured Raw (Uncut Glen Holly Studio Rec. 1973-1976: Jams Vol.1)

Tommy Bolin & Friends

• 1996 Live At Ebbets Field (June 3-4, 1974)
• 1999 Ebbets Field 1974 Alternative takes

Tommy Bolin concert recordings

• 1996 Live at Ebbets Field (May 13, 1976)
• 1996 Live at the Northern Lights Recording Studio (Sept. 22, 1976)
• 2000 First Time Live, 2-CD set (April 28, 1976)
• 2001 The Tommy Bolin Band Live 9/19/76
• 2002 Live at Miami Jai Alai - The Final Show (Dec 3, 1976)
• 2003 Alive on Long Island, May 22,1976 RKS My Father's Place in Roslyn, NY
• 2004 Albany, NY, Sept. 20,1976 with Bonustrack New Orleans, LA

Tribute albums

• 1996 Various Artists - Tommy Bolin Tribute Concert
• 2012 Great Gypsy Soul (with John Scofield , Nels Cline , Jan Hammer and others)

Bolin's recordings are still appearing continuously.

Films about Tommy Bolin (selection)

• "Tommy Bolin - A Tribute" (1996)
• "Tommy Bolin - 'The Ultimate' Documentary" (2000)

(So ​​far only available on VHS via the "Tommy Bolin Archives" ; currently (2007) out of print).

DVDs with Tommy Bolin

• The Barry Richards TV Collection Volume I _{(Includes a live performance by ZEPHYR: "St. James Infirmary")}
• Deep Purple - "Phoenix Rising" _{(Live & Documentation from the 1975/1976 tour)}
• Deep Purple - History, Hits & Highlights '68 - '76 _{(Live & TV documentary from New Zealand 1975)}

TV appearances

• Don Kirshner's Rock Concert , (Episode # 1.12), broadcast on January 21, 1974 (USA) _{(including a live performance by JAMES GANG, including the songs "Ride the Wind", "The Devil is Singing Our Song", "Standing in the Rain")}
• The Old Gray Whistle Test , (episode # 3.34), aired May 21, 1974 (UK), an interview with Tommy Bolin and Jim Fox from "JAMES GANG".

literature

• Ingo Jansen: A Life In Purple - The ultimate DEEP PURPLE Bible (also source of this biography)
• Prato, Greg: Touched by Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story , lulu.com 2008, ISBN 978-0-578-00317-7

Web links

• The Official Tommy Bolin Archives (English)
• The Tommy Bolin Memorial Fund (English)
• English fanpage
• Australian fan page
• Tommy Bolin News at the Deep Purple Appreciation Society
• Tommy Bolin at allmusic.com
• Entry at findagrave.com
• Tommy Bolin discography at discogs.com

Remarks

1. ↑ Bolin's first solo album features the following musicians: Stanley Sheldon - bass (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), Paul Stallworth - bass (4, 8, 9), Dave Foster - piano / synthesizer ( 1, 2, 3), Jan Hammer - synthesizer (6, 7), drums (6), Ron Fransen - piano (9), David Sanborn - saxophone (6, 7), Jeff Porcaro - drums (1, 2, 3 , 5), Prairie Prince - Drums (4, 8), Narada Michael Walden - Drums (7), Bobbie Berge - Drums (9), Phil Collins - Percussion (4), Sammy Figueroa - Percussion (6, 7), Rafael Cruz - percussion (6, 7), Dave Brown - background vocals (1), Lee Kiefer - background vocals (1).
2. ↑ ^{a b c} "Bolin" on treblebooster.net
3. ↑ ^{a b} article from "Guitar World" from 1988
4. ↑ ^{a b} Interview in "Guitar Player" from 1977
5. ↑ Interview in "Guitar Player" from 1977 : "... more bite and attack."
6. ↑ "10 Things you gotta do to play like Tommy Bolin" in "Guitar Player" ( memento of the original from September 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : “The Echoplex was almost like another instrument to him,” says Johnnie [his brother]. "... He had it down to where he knew how to get all kinds of rhythms out of it." 
7. ^ Whistle Test Archive: Old Gray Whistle Test 3.34 - Montrose, Tim Buckley and James Gang {21 May 1974}. Retrieved January 26, 2019 .