RIP Tommy Bolin

I saw a tweet from Glenn Hughes today. He is the bass player for Black Country Communion and spent some time in Deep Purple in the mid-to-late 1970s. His tweet was about his friend Tommy Bolin, who passed away 36 years ago today.

Tommy Bolin is one of those great guitarists who died way too soon (drug overdose) and only gets talked about in guitar magazines. He spent some time in bands like Zephyr before replacing the guy who replaced Joe Walsh in The James Gang. He only stuck around for two records before replacing Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple for the only non-RB record of Deep Purple that matters (that would be Come Taste The Band). Meanwhile he made two very cool solo records, Teaser and Private Eyes. Then in 1976 while on tour with Jeff Beck he was found dead in his hotel room. Drug overdose. He was 25.

That's "The Grind" from Teaser. If you listen to enough of his playing you appreciate what a great guitarist he was. You can't really shoe-horn him into a particular style. There's straight-ahead rock naturally but then there is a lot of jazzy stuff, some Spanish-style stuff.

He was a real talent who like many went away too soon. I was struck by Glenn Hughes' tweet because it seemed so heartfelt.