T O M M Y
B O L I N
'TRIBUTE SHOW'
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
JOE VITALE AND KENNY PASSARELLI
OF 'JOE WALSH AND BARNSTORM'
WITH MUSIC JOURNALIST
TRACE KEANE
SPECIAL EVENT ON
THE RAY SHASHO SHOW
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 and Kenny Passarelli of ‘Joe Walsh and Barnstorm’ and music journalist
Trace Keane.
But first here is a little background about Tommy
Bolin and our special guests …
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.
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.
Joining
us today to help share the life and music of Tommy Bolin is …
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.
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. He has no plans for slowing down. This year will be Joe's first
appearance at The Tommy Bolin Music Festival.
Joe came to Tommy Bolin's funeral
with Joe Walsh.
You can read more about Joe on
his website:
Visit www.joevitaleondrums.com for more information
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.
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.
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.
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 …
Music Journalist 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.
Music Journalist 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.
For more details
consult the Tommy Bolin Archives website tommybolin.com
For further information about
TOMMY BOLIN visit …
For further information about
JOE VITALE visit …
Joe's official website
Bio page
All Music.com credits
For further information about
KENNY PASSARELLI
visit …
Here is a link to Kenny's music credits from All
Music Guide.com
Here is a link to Kenny's website.
Kenny's discography
THE TOMMY BOLIN TRIBUTE SHOW
with special guests
JOE VITALE and KENNY PASSARELLI
also TRACE KEANE
ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW -BBS RADIO
CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN
JOE WALSH AND BARNSTORM
And don’t forget to
purchase a copy of my book entitled Check the Gs -the true story of an eclectic
American family and their Wacky family business available now at amazon.com.
You’ll live it!!!
Have a great week everybody!
