Tommy Bolin was one of the greatest guitar players and musicians the world has ever seen. Being the quintessential guitar prodigy of the 70’s, Bolin focused his talents within the burgeoning rock/metal scenes of the early 70’s as well as mastered a highly lauded jazz fusion technique catching the attention of rock tastemakers and guitar legend peers.

It was just a matter of time before Bolin was making a name for himself playing on projects as diverse as Billy Cobham‘s “Spectrum“ (considered one of the great jazz fusion recordings of all time), replacing Joe Walsh in the James Gang, playing session work on seminal fusion projects by Moxy and Alphonse Mouzon, to replacing Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple and thus becoming a member in one of the biggest rock bands of the world.
During this time, Bolin was also working on his very fi rst solo album, “Teaser”. Despite the heavy touring and promoting schedule for Deep Purple’s “Come Taste The Band”, Bolin fifi nished the recordings of “Teaser” and both records were released in late 1975. Hailed by critics,“Teaser” united hard rock, jazz, reggae and latin music to an impressive whole.

After the split of Deep Purple in 1976, Tommy Bolin kept on touring and started working on his sophomore album which has been release the same year. Bolin’s tour for “Private Eyes“ should have been a red letter moment for Bolin, opening up for Jeff Beck in Miami but sadly turned tragic as Bolin was found dead of a heroin overdose just one day after the show on December, 4th, 1976.

Tracklisting:

01. The Grind (with Peter Frampton)
02. Teaser (with Warren Haynes)
03. Dreamer (with Myles Kennedy & Nels Cline)
04. Savannah Woman (with John Scofi eld)
05. Smooth Fandango (with Derek Trucks)
06. People People (with Big Sugar & Gordie Johnson)
07. Wild Dogs (with Brad Whitford)
08. Homeward Strut (with Steve Lukather)
09. Sugar Shack (with Glenn Hughes & Sonny Landreth)
10. Crazed Fandango (with Steve Morse)
11. Lotus (with Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes & Nels Cline)

35 years after Tommy Bolins death, some of the best rock musicians of the last decades (most of them had played alongside Bolin in his lifetime), were given the chance to jam with their friend and hero for the last time. Produced by Warren Haynes (Allman Bros, Gov’t Mule) and Greg Hampton (Alice Cooper Band, Lita Ford), “Tommy Bolin & Friends - Great Gypsy Soul” is a unique piece of work: blessed and approved by Bolin’s family, the original multi-tracks of his best songs have been reworked with the contribution of a great group of guest stars.

The contribution of the musicians and the production of Greg Hampton and Warren Haynes made the original recordings come to a new life. Some of the best rock musicians of the world sang and played on “Great Gypsy Soul”: Glenn Hughes & Joe Bonamassa (solo stars and together in Black Country Communion), Peter Frampton, Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Steve Lukather (Toto), Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), John Scofi eld, Derek Trucks, Myles Kennedy (Slash, Alter Bridge) and Warren Haynes took the chance to play alongside their friend and hero one more time. Mainly based on the original “Teaser” album, “Great Gypsy Soul” also features the rework of 2 very rare B-sides (‘Crazed Fandang’, ‘Smooth Fandango’) and outtakes (‘Sugar Shack‘) from the original recording sessions of “Teaser”. ‘Sugar Shack’ is a song originally intended to appear on “Teaser” but due to Bolin’s sudden death he was never able to fi nish. Glenn Hughes now “co-wrote” with his ex Deep Purple bandmate while adding fresh vocals and words to create a song that Bolin was never able to bring to an end. “Great Gypsy Soul” will be released as a special vinyl replica digipak edition – a CD within a nice digi-pak both looking like a vinyl.

Preorder the album at Amazon!