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One of rock’s great unfinished stories
Ultimate Guitar publishes an article by Greg Prato on the “Tommy Bolin dilemma”:
When Tommy Bolin stepped into the James Gang, he was replacing Domenic Troiano and, previously, Joe Walsh. When he later joined Deep Purple, he was replacing Ritchie Blackmore. Two wildly different guitarists, two established legacies, and Bolin was expected to fill both without missing a step.
What made Bolin’s path unique is that he didn’t approach either role as a continuation of what came before. Rather than mimic Walsh’s laid-back, groove-driven style or Blackmore’s classically influenced precision, Bolin leaned into a fluid, genre-blurring approach that pulled from jazz, funk, Latin rhythms, and straight-ahead rock. And this was evident throughout the two studio albums Bolin appeared on with the James Gang (1973’s “Bang” and 1974’s “Miami”), as well as the lone studio offering he appeared on with Deep Purple (1975’s “Come Taste the Band”).
That instinctive, open-ended style reshaped the bands around him as much as it defined his own voice. In the James Gang, it marked a return to a heavier, more direct rock feel; in Deep Purple, it pushed the group into unfamiliar territory, adding color and looseness to a band previously rooted in structure and precision. Bolin wasn’t trying to outdo the players who came before him—he was rewriting the role entirely, even if audiences and expectations hadn’t quite caught up yet.
Continue reading in Ultimate Guitar.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great player, but not a fan of his guitar sound with Purple, especially live, very fuzzy.
May 4th, 2026 at 10:24I only want fresh news from DP
May 4th, 2026 at 10:56😅💜
Part of the tragedy of the Bolin story is that when he was with Purple, the biggest stage he ever trod upon, he was not at his best.
It’s not really a question of how good his chops were throughout his career, it’s that they were often impaired while he was with onstage with DP.
Those looking for a deeper glimpse of his skills should check out “Teaser” or “Spectrum” or “Live at Ebbets Field 1974” or “Zephyr: Live at Art’s Bar & Grill.”
May 4th, 2026 at 15:53Is here to bring such sad news, as our Deep Purple fan and friend, Pete Pardo of his you tube channel ( Sea Of Tranquility ) has been dealt with a terrible illness. He has brought much attention of Deep Purple on his channel many times, and is a member of the Deep Purple family tree. The website is here if anyone is interested. Thank you for this matter. https://gofund.me/ce516e607.
May 4th, 2026 at 16:06Greg Prato is of course a fervent Bolinista, but he‘s right, Tommy‘s playing was one-of-a-kind. He was also an incredibly ill choice to replicate the style of any other guitarist, but – before the usual suspects here start cheering – so was (by his own admission even) Herr Blackmore!
Tommy didn‘t copy Joe Walsh and he couldn‘t copy Ritchie, you can add to that Cobham‘s Spectrum where he couldn‘t and didn‘t copy John McLaughlin though Jan Hammer‘s McLaughlinesque synth lines were often erroneously attributed to him – inter alia by David Coverdale and Jon Lord!
But where Tommy was allowed to be himself, he did great work: CTTB, Bang (sort of the sister record to CTTB, they have a lot in common), Spectrum and his two solo albums – they all have the same charming ebullience.
A case can be made that Tommy was too loose in feel for DP who had been shaped by Ritchie‘s stern and regulated Strat artistry. Perhaps he would have been better placed to play with the Stones as a successor to Mick Taylor, that would have been something. Doubtful though whether the Stones organization would have hired him with the same lack of due diligence as DP: One call by DC to Dale Peters or Jim Fox would have revealed that Tommy‘s departure from James Gang was not solely fueled by musical differences , but that Tommy‘s general reliability and drug consumption already played a role.
May 4th, 2026 at 16:33@1 His guitar sound with Purple was great. Maybe your memory is “very fuzzy.”
May 4th, 2026 at 22:52Re Tommy’s lasting musical legacy in unexpected places, lookee here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oay0xWL04Pw&list=RDOay0xWL04Pw&start_radio=1
I have yet to hear Gary Moore play a Rainbow number.
May 5th, 2026 at 01:21Come Taste the Band is my 6th best Purple album after In Rock, Machine Head, Burn, Perfect Strangers, and Purpendicular.
Regardless of what have been said, Tommy Bolin certainly had left a great legacy in Deep Purple discography. CTTB is a great guitar album with well-crafted songs compared to Stormbringer. Even Ian Gillan himself can’t help himself for not saying that is a fine album, although he also thought it’s not really a Purple album (musically).
My favorite tracks showcasing his guitar skills are “Coming Home” (that solo!), “Gettin’ Tighter”, and “Drifter”. I am kinda surprised they never played Coming Home live.
May 5th, 2026 at 02:30And “You Keep on Moving” to me is the 2nd best power ballad Purple has ever created after the mighty “Child in Time”
I really like Tommy’s work with DP and the James Gang. He was certainly different from RB, but, to
May 5th, 2026 at 10:23me, that was a good thing.
Tommy was a different guitarist, and arguably better, than Blackmore or Walsh. I would have liked to see where he would have been today. Come Taste the Band and Bang are two great albums, along with his solo Teaser. He was not a replacement but could only succeed Blackmore and Walsh.
May 5th, 2026 at 12:50Hey, hey James, I understand what RB is aiming at, compared to Blackmore’s puristic Strat with treble booster into the Revox pre-amp and then the Marshall, Tommy’s sound (which I loved) was a fireworks of effects, Echoplex, flanging-drenched (I think he even used Leslies), that was quite a change for a diehard DP fan used to Ritchie’s bare bones sound. I apprecíated Tommy’s sonics, but they were a radical departure from how the guitar had sounded with DP before, too radical for some.
Andre S, Coming Home was in fact played a few times on the tour, there even exists a broadcast recording, but unfortunately with a fade-out midsong which is why it has never been officially released. That song would have been a Highway Star-worthy opener.
I think it is worth a mention that both Joe Walsh (who recommended Tommy to his former James Gang colleagues as a successor to Domenic Troiano) and Ritchie rated Tommy highly as a guitarist. I couldn’t say that he is better than both of them though, I honestly don’t think that Tommy had the classical scales dexterity to ever have played Ritchie’s Highway Star solo note for note. But it didn’t matter, Blackmore couldn’t have copied Tommy’s jazzy-funky-jammy noodling either. And there must have been something very inspiring in Tommy’s playing for other guitarists, his work on Spectrum turned a “been there, done that” master like Jeff Beck onto fusion – in contrast I don’t think that any Blackmore album ever inspired Beck to anything.
Speaking of Domenic Troiano, he was a fine guitarist and singer, but he and Roy Kenner (the James Gang lead vocalist, also during Tommy’s tenure) were white soul musicians (with an added country tinge in Domenic’s case):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL3EklGdu-0&list=RDsL3EklGdu-0&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtLHOUednuw&list=RDWtLHOUednuw&start_radio=1
It’s a direction the two legacy James Gangsters Dale Peters and Jim Fox wanted to redivert into a more rocky direction, hence the change to Tommy.
Kenner and Troiano had played in Canadian blue-eyed soul outfits like The Mandala and Bush:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvplBbsR5fc&list=RDHvplBbsR5fc&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Vn27tpPvo&list=RDh0Vn27tpPvo&start_radio=1
May 5th, 2026 at 17:51Pete’s brain tumor is horrible news – and the fact that he has to worry about the costs of his treatment and the reconvalescence period is mind-boggling. Just don’t get ill in the Land of the (health insurance-)Free unless you are a multi-millionaire.
May 5th, 2026 at 17:57Tommy Bolin -Timeless! Listening to his solo albums always seem fresh ! Sorry we didn’t get more- what a loss!
May 5th, 2026 at 23:56@…12 so true Uwe, even if you have health insurance in the USA, it’s impossible that the insurance will cover tests, etc.
May 6th, 2026 at 12:06@11
He certainly abused the Schulte Compact Phasing ‘A’ (a german pedal, of course:-) a bit too much with DP, me thinks.
On ‘Stratus’ it sounds definitely like a Leslie speaker (both slow and fast).
I did own TB’s boxset from decades ago, it showcased a great player, perhaps not much thrilled by the DP job assignment but who knows…
Best, J.-
May 6th, 2026 at 15:36We Will Never Forget You ; T.R. Bolin. Guitar God …
May 7th, 2026 at 06:45Bolin never understood Blackmore’s guitar runs.
May 10th, 2026 at 09:31His playing on CTTB is just gorgeous guitar playing.
It is such a great album.
“Bolin never understood Blackmore’s guitar runs.”
I think that is actually true, it was a totally alien way to play to him.
May 10th, 2026 at 22:42The one thing about CTTB is that Bolin was fully engaged in making a DP album. That’s not something you can say about Blackmore on Stormbringer. It sounded like he was already on his way out of the band, which he was.
May 11th, 2026 at 21:14Oh yes, Tommy was enthusiastic on CTTB and Blackmore band-weary on Stormbringer.
May 12th, 2026 at 14:36