BOLIN, BECK AND BERGE
Tommy Bolin had at least one personal encounter with Jeff Beck previous to the night of Tommy’s passing after opening with the Tommy Bolin Band for Jeff Beck on December 3, 1976 in Miami. This is given light by an interesting piece of audio that collectors have enjoyed for years, a jam with Tommy, Jeff and Bobby Berge on drums. Bobby Berge relates: “Jeff Beck was in town playing a gig at a venue called the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, CA. Since Tommy knew Jeff was in town doing this gig, he got in touch and invited him over to Philip Polimeni’s Glen Holly Studio. We first jammed for a half hour or so with Tommy on bass and Jeff on guitar, then took a little break and started again with Tommy on guitar and Jeff on bass. We lost the first jam with Jeff on guitar though because Philip recorded over first jam somehow, he recorded the second jam over the first one.” The existing audio in the collectors network is not of perfect audio quality, but the performance is strong from all the participants. Tommy sounds a lot like he did in his glory jam days with players such as Jeremy Steig, playing with power and imagination. Jeff Beck played the Starlight Bowl on June 12, 1976, so the BBB jam was recorded close to that date. It’s also interesting to note that the jam took place after the departure of drummer Narada Michael Walden from the Tommy Bolin band and prior to the short Private Eyes tour of the Tommy Bolin Band with Berge on drums.
MIKE FINNIGAN
After leaving the James Gang in August, 1974 Tommy attempted to form a band with noted keyboardist/vocalist Mike Finnigan, who had played with artists including Jimi Hendrix and Dave Mason. The proposed band would consist of Mike Finnigan on keyboards and vocals, Stanley Sheldon on bass, Guille Garcia on percussion and Marty Rodriguez on drums and vocals. Garcia and Rodriguez had played on Captain Beyond’s Sufficiently Breathless album with ex-Deep Purple member Rod Evans in 1973, Garcia also played on Joe Walsh’s So What album in 1974. The new band lasted only three weeks, so it’s tantalizing potential went unfulfilled.
LONNIE MACK
After the breakup of American Standard in 1968, Tommy left Denver and travelled to Cincinnati, where he continued to live on the streets. This resulted in serious problems with the police, and he wound up doing a small amount of time in jail. While in Cincinnati Tommy played in Lonnie Mack’s backing band. Mack was a roadhouse blues-rock legend who had scored a national hits in 1963 with an instrumental version of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis” and it’s follow-up “Wham.” Tommy would soon return to Colorado, where in the fall of 1968 he would form Zephyr in Boulder. Noted Tommy historian Tim Martin relates that in 1988 he had the opportunity to talk with Mack and ask about Tommy playing with him. Mack said he didn’t remember Tommy, even when shown pictures of Tommy that Tim had brought along. It’s possible that Mack played with so many different sidemen over the years that they all blended together for him.
THE T&O SHORTLINE
Otis Taylor hooked up with Tommy Bolin in early 1971 to form the T&O Shortline. Tommy was on the rebound from the breakup of Zephyr, and was working with Taylor while also putting together Energy, which initially included bassist Kenny Passarelli, whom Taylor had known from their days together in Denver in 1967 and 1968. T&O Shortline didn’t last long, and according to Taylor, “We only played three times, but we got a great poster out of it.” Taylor and Passarelli would rejoin in 1997 to produce a series of acclaimed blues albums.
Copyright ©2005 John Herdt.