Sunday, February 28, 2010

T. Bone Wolk, R.I.P.



Taken from The Music's Over:

T-Bone Wolk was a brilliant bassist who, though likely not a familiar name, was a familiar presence on stage and television since the 1980s. Born in Yonkers, New York, Wolk, like so many of our rock heroes, decided on the night he first saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, that he was going to be a musician. And within a few years, Wolk was playing in local garage bands. His first break came in the early ’80s when he was asked to fill in for Will Lee in the Late Show With David Letterman band. Wolk would later be the bassist for the Saturday Night Live house band. In 1981, Wolk was hired to play in the Hall & Oates band, with whom he spent over 20 years. He also co-produced several of their records. As a session player or producer, Wolk also worked with, among others, Carly Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Harry Nilsson, Roseanne Cash, Elvis Costello and Billy Joel. T-Bone Wolk died of a heart attack on February 27, 2010.

Thanks to T-Bone’s friend, Michelle Aquilato for the sad news.

8 comments:

jeff said...

I seem to remember him with a guy named buffalo playing behind Kinky Friedman at the Lone Star in the late 1970s.

soundsource said...

very very sad news. the world needs all the good bass players and nice guys it has.

FD13NYC said...

Wow, what the hell, so sudden? I was just watching the latest Live From Daryl's House not a week ago. Just proves you could go that fast. Must have not been taking care of himself.

God guy, good musician. RIP T.Bone

steve simels said...

A terrific player indeed.

cmealha said...

One of those guys that when you saw him play you thought "He get's it!" Great bass player but even more impressive guitar player as evidenced by his work on "Live From Daryl's House". He's going to leave a big hole and will be sorely missed. I feel truly sad about his passing as he seemed genuine and so down-to-earth.

allen vella said...

Oh man, that's sad. great bass player, always dug his work. thanks for posting, have not heard this anywhere..

Gene Oberto said...

My Goodness! Like FD13NYC, I just saw him with Toots Hibbler. I have seen him with the SNL bands, where he worked (I think) with GE Smith, and all the work with Hall & Oates. It seemed that he was Darryl's best friend. They certainly were in synch with each other musically.
What a shock for Darryl and what a loss for we music fans. He seemed genuinely enthusiastic about playing and had an encyclopedic knowledge of music. A good bass player, yes, but a really good guitar player, as well.
Man, the heavenly house band is filling up the stage.

Unknown said...

Actually, he took very good care of himself, always did. And yeah, while known for his bass, he played EVERYTHING well, accordian may have actually been his first love, great on mandolin, guitar, fender rhodes, banjo, you name it, Bone played it. He was also a very good producer.

I had the pleasure of working with him for a year on his record label, Say See Bone Records, and knew him for about 14 years. He will be sorely missed, I never heard anyone say an unkind word about T Bone, and that is a rarity in the music biz!

R.I.P. Bone.