THE 'LIFE AND MUSIC'
OF LEGENDARY GUITARIST
T O M M Y B O L I N
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
DRUMMER JOE VITALE
AND BASSIST KENNY PASSARELLI
OF JOE WALSH'S BARNSTORM
JULY 4TH AT 5PM PACIFIC/
8PM EASTERN -BBS RADIO
WELCOME to a very special edition of The Ray Shasho
Show. Today we Honor & Remember ‘The Life & Music’ of legendary
guitarist, singer and songwriter TOMMY BOLIN. And to help us relive those
incredible and historic events… We will feature three very special guests … Joe
Vitale, Kenny Passarelli and Trace Keane. But first here is a little background about Tommy
Bolin and our special guests …
Tommy Bolin was born in Sioux City, Iowa and began playing in bands around the city as a youth before moving to Boulder, Colorado in his late teens. He played with American Standard before joining Ethereal Zephyr, named after a train that ran between Denver and Chicago. When record companies became interested, the name was shortened to Zephyr. The band featured Tommy on guitar, David Givens (bass), and Givens' wife Candy (vocals). They produced two albums with Tommy and began performing larger venues, opening for more established acts such as Led Zeppelin.
Tommy Bolin was born in Sioux City, Iowa and began playing in bands around the city as a youth before moving to Boulder, Colorado in his late teens. He played with American Standard before joining Ethereal Zephyr, named after a train that ran between Denver and Chicago. When record companies became interested, the name was shortened to Zephyr. The band featured Tommy on guitar, David Givens (bass), and Givens' wife Candy (vocals). They produced two albums with Tommy and began performing larger venues, opening for more established acts such as Led Zeppelin.
In 1972
Tommy, aged 20, formed Energy, a fusion jazz-rock-blues band which featured Stan Sheldon (bass),
Bobby Berge (drums), Tom Stevenson (keyboards) and Jeff Cook (vocals) who
shared writing credits with Tommy over throughout his career. While the band
never released an album during his lifetime, several recordings have been
released posthumously. Around this period, he was invited to play on Billy
Cobham's (ex Mahavishnu Orchestra) highly acclaimed Spectrum album (1973), with Tommy on
guitar, Cobham (drums), Leland Sklar (bass) and Jan Hammer (keyboards). The
album allowed Tommy to reach a far wider audience, and to this day, is
considered one of his career highs. Jeff Beck reportedly was so impressed, he
went down a similar path – ‘Stratus’ is a regular on his current concert
set list. Of note, ‘Stratus’ was also sampled by Massive Attack
on their 1991 track, ‘Safe from Harm’.Reportedly,
at Joe Walsh's recommendation, Tommy joined the James Gang in 1973. He
recorded two albums, Bang! in 1973 and Miami in 1974.Tommy signed
with Nemperor Records to record ‘Teaser’, his 1975 debut solo album.
Musicians included; David Foster, David Sanborn, Jan Hammer,
Stanley Sheldon, Phil Collins and Glenn Hughes. While
recording Teaser, he was contacted to replace Ritchie Blackmore
in Deep Purple.
A year
earlier Blackmore had mentioned in an interview that Tommy was ‘the only
American guitarist worth listening to’. But, it was apparently on the
recommendation of David Coverdale – Purple's then current vocalist, that he was
invited to audition for the band in July 1975. The job was immediately his.
Contracts were quickly drawn up between managements allowing Tommy to continue
his solo career during Purple's downtime. The band relocated to Munich to begin
work on a new album. ‘Come Taste the Band’ was released in late 1975 (around the same time of the release of
‘Teaser’) with Tommy writing or co-writing seven of the album's nine tracks.– the
group disbanded in March 1976. Tommy
returned to the States to record his second solo album, Private Eyes,
released September 1976. He then went on the road to promote the album with a
rotating cast of players which included Narada Michael Walden, Mark Stein,
Norma Jean Bell, Reggie McBride and Jimmy Haslip. The tour, which saw him
opening for Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck, proved to be his last. His last
performance was at the Jai Alai stadium in Miami December 3, 1976 where he
opened for Beck. Ironically his last song was ‘Post Toastee’ – a song
warning of the dangers of addiction. A day later, Tommy was pronounced dead from a drug overdose. He is
buried in Calvary Cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa … Tommy Bolin was only 25 years
old.
Joining
us today to help share the life and music of Tommy Bolin is …
JOE
VITALE
Joe Vitale is a veteran musician and drummer whose
career has spanned over forty years of touring, recording, song writing, and
producing with legendary and Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame artists. Along
with vocals, he also plays percussion, keyboards and flute. His drumming
encompasses all styles of music. A dedicated professional, his quality of
performance is evident in his resume.
He has recorded and toured with Ted Nugent, Joe Walsh,
Dan Fogelberg, Peter Frampton, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and CSNY to
name a few. In addition, he has recorded with Rick Derringer, Ringo
Starr, John Lennon, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Ronnie Wood, Van Morrison, Carl
Wilson, Don Felder, Boz Scaggs, John Entwhistle and many others.
Joe Vitale’s songs & performances have appeared in
many movies & TV: Spy Games, Joe Dirt, the 40-Year-Old Virgin, The
Warriors, Devil’s Rejects, Beverly Hillbillies, History of the Eagles, Fringe, that
70’s Show, just to name a few.
Vitale has also co-produced albums for Joe Walsh,
Stephen Stills, CSN & CSNY. His many songwriting credits include the
classic Joe Walsh song, “Rocky Mountain Way,” and also, “Pretty Maids All in a
Row,” from The Eagles classic album, “Hotel California,” both co-written with
Joe Walsh.
He has three solo albums, “Roller Coaster Weekend,” “Plantation
Harbor,” and “Speaking in Drums,” and a book, “Back Stage Pass,” about his
career in music. He’s also produced his son, Joe Jr.’s, first album, “Dancing
with Shadows.”
In 2010 and 2011 Joe played drums for the historic “Buffalo
Springfield Reunion”
Joe continues to tour, record, write and produce. He's
also added to his resume, counselor and music director at Rock & Roll
Fantasy Camp. Visit www.joevitaleondrums.com for
more information
ALSO ON THE SHOW IS KENNY
PASSARELLI
Kenny was born in Denver, Colorado … A
meeting with Stephen Stills changed his life forever. Kenny was impressed
by Stills, and who wouldn’t be? Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young was
producing some of the most amazing music. Kenny recalls this
introduction, “I was introduced to a guy that owned a local music store that
knew Stephen Stills. He took me up to Goldhill, which was a place in
Colorado that Stephen spent a lot of time.” Stills took a liking to Kenny
and played him some tracks that Stills had been working on. Stills then
played Kenny a rough version of Carry On, and Kenny was simply
blown away.
Shortly thereafter, Kenny was slated to join Stills at
Woodstock, but a bout with hepatitis ended his dreams with sudden
swiftness. In the summer of 1971, Kenny got his first big break.
>He received an invitation from Joe Walsh to join Barnstorm.
Kenny recalls that Joe was the person responsible for his getting involved with
the fretless. Joe received one of the very first fretless P-Basses and gave it
to Kenny. Though intimidated at first, Kenny eventually made it his
trademark, and started to get a great deal of session work because of it.
Kenny worked with some of the best … Russ Kunkel, Joe Vitale, Dan Fogelberg and
so many others from that memorable period. Things hit a high point when
Kenny co-wrote the classic track Rocky Mountain Way with Joe
Walsh.
Kenny’s biggest break came when Joe Walsh recommended
him to Elton John, who was in need of a new bassist. Elton flew Kenny to
Paris, where he auditioned. Kenny remembers, “I really didn’t know a
whole lot of Elton’s music. When I auditioned, it was just the two of
us. I was intimidated the whole time, but he was impressed by some of the
people that I recorded with. In 1976,
Elton recorded his double album entitled Blue Moves. Kenny
saw that the music on this album was much more difficult, so he put down his
fretless P-Bass, and cut all the tracks on an Alembic Bass, obviously one of
the earliest models. When Elton toured in support of Blue Moves,
Kenny kept playing his Alembic.
During a week of sold out shows at Madison Square
Garden, Elton informed his band that that was his last tour for a while.
Kenny recalls that Elton was very gracious and generous with the band.
When Elton stopped touring, Elton’s entire band became the backup band for the
up and coming duo Hall and Oates.
He recorded Along the Red Ledge, and the
live LP entitled Livetime. In time, Kenny left Hall and Oates
and started touring with Dan Fogelberg. In 1983, Kenny finally got his
chance to play with Crosby, Stills and Nash, but it was a bittersweet
experience. Kenny was dissatisfied with the band’s new sound.
In addition, Kenny was starting to get burnt out from all of the touring.
By the mid 1980’s Kenny decided to stop touring. This period lasted well
into the mid 1990’s.
During this 10-year period, Kenny reinvented himself,
getting back into playing the piano, and composing his brand of music which he
calls “Contemporary Classical Music.” His recent CDs include Twelve
Twelve and Miracle of Tepeyak. He now makes New
Mexico his home and is playing quite a bit these days. He produces and
tours with Otis Taylor, a blues guitarist that Kenny really believes in, and he
recently played a show with his old pal Stephen Stills.
Visit www.kennypassarelli.com
for more information
ALSO
JOINING US IS TRACE KEANE
Trace
has been working with Johnnie Bolin on The Tommy Bolin Archives for the last 13
years. He’s a Staff writer for Hush Music Magazine (Spain), the Spanish Deep
Purple Fanzine since 2009.He does media work for a variety of musicians, Kenny
Passarelli, Mark Andes, Joe Vitale, Johnnie Bolin, Russell Bizzett.
Trace has worked with dozens of radio stations and
programs about life and music of Tommy Bolin. He started working on The Tommy
Bolin Festival when it was in very bad shape and has since gotten the attendance
to escalate. The Festival runs this year from Aug. 1 (Tommy's
birthday) to Saturday Aug.4 in Sioux City, iowa.
For more details
consult the Tommy Bolin Archives website tommybolin.com
Wednesday July 4th 2018
5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on BBS Radio 1
