Tommy Bolin

[GuitarGeek]

I didn't realize Bolin worked with Hammer on a different session apart from Spectrum.

I'm not sure how he ended up playing on the Jeremy Steig session, but I seem to recall it was from that, that Hammer recommended Tommy to Cobham for the Spectrum sessions.

It really gives insight on Tommy Bolin progressing further away from Rock

Well, I think it was less a matter of "progressing away from rock" (as if "rock music" were a bad thing) and more that he was just into all kinds of different things and didn't want to be pigeonholed in just one bag. Or maybe playing with Zephyr, The James Gang and Deep Purple was how he "paid the bills", ya know, like a day job. (shrug)

Certainly, on Teaser, there's some very good songs that don't sound to me like he was "moving away" from rock, but rather incorporating both things into his personal trip. I still think Wild Dogs is an amazing song.

[Enid]

I'm not sure how he ended up playing on the Jeremy Steig session, but I seem to recall it was from that, that Hammer recommended Tommy to Cobham for the Spectrum sessions.


Well, I think it was less a matter of "progressing away from rock" (as if "rock music" were a bad thing) and more that he was just into all kinds of different things and didn't want to be pigeonholed in just one bag. Or maybe playing with Zephyr, The James Gang and Deep Purple was how he "paid the bills", ya know, like a day job. (shrug)

Certainly, on Teaser, there's some very good songs that don't sound to me like he was "moving away" from rock, but rather incorporating both things into his personal trip. I still think Wild Dogs is an amazing song.

Yeah, I do remember his solo albums being Rock. I think I heard something in his playing that was progressive and that blew me away as a teenager. I remember thinking of him in the same light as Ronnie Montrose and Buck Dharma due to the fact that either one of those guys could have released an instrumental Progressive Rock album in a heartbeat. Rock musicians were often stamped and placed on a lower level in the 70's.... perhaps by critics and fans of Prog.... but in all fairness many of them were eclectic and never received enough credit.

[proggosaurus]

I don't think it's listed in Tommy's discography but Jim Fox asked him to play on a song for a band's album which he was producing back in 74. the band was Rainbow Canyon, the album was Rolling in The Rockies (I think). I know the song is definitely called Invisible Song.

[Dave]

Jan Hammer plays on a couple of my favorite tracks on Teaser (People, People and Marching Powder). That being said I think this is some of the tastiest playing he ever recorded.